Activities: Wesson

Summary of E-pals Project at Wesson

E-pals was a collaborative project between Wesson Elementary and the Department of Communication Disorders through the Professional Development School Network. The E-pals project was conducted during the 2002-2003 academic year. It was the first service learning project organized within an academic course in the Communication Disorders department at FSU.

E-pals was intended to increase the writing skills of Wesson students and to teach the junior level FSU students how written language develops and appropriate intervention strategies. Specifically, 3rd and 4th grade students at Wesson were paired with juniors in the Communication Disorders department at FSU enrolled in language development and language disorders courses with Associate Professor Donna Crowley. Wesson students were given written prompts each week to keep the content of their writing on target. With support from a grant to Wesson’s Betsy Sperry, Media Specialist, and Christa Hohnstine, SLP, each Wesson student chose a book to read, and a second copy of this book was shared with that student’s “E-pal” at FSU. The Wesson students were encouraged to email their E-pals with information about the book. The FSU students were instructed to give feedback or respond in their emails to their E-pal using strategies to increase vocabulary including “strong” verbs that describe action.

E-pals exchanged emails weekly. In addition to prompts about books, students shared information and opinions about favorite activities, dreams, experiences and current events. The E-pals project culminated with a fun gathering in which the Wesson and FSU students came together face-to-face for the first time to meet their e-pals.