Request for discussion support--Please respond

Greetings to you all!

I received the following e-mail from an alum, Eva Opalka, who teaches sixth grade. She writes:

"
Dear Dr. Haroutunian-Gordon,

I hope you are doing well. I have not had a chance to attend your meetings in a while, but I always read the emails to see what you guys are up to. I am also looking for some sort of an on-line discussion forum - however, not for myself, but for my 6th grade students.

The children are all divided into small reading groups and run their own discussion circles (once a week). Sometimes my former 8th graders come down and lead, but usually, the students write their own questions and manage themselves - this is a fairly functional system, but monitoring quality of discussion is difficult.

I would LOVE to set up some kind of a system where students could communicate on-line with one another is some sort of a supervised way - during and/or after school. That way, students from different reading sections could be in the same book club. Right now, that's obviously not possible and therefore quite limiting. If we had an on-line system, we could also find schools in other countries and hold international book clubs. That sounds far-fetched, but hey, one can always dream.....maybe there is a grant out there somewhere for this sort of thing....

If you guys find something we could use, or if you have any ideas for how I could pursue these possibilities, please let me know!

Also, in the past, with you assistance, I have used NU students to lead discussion. If you have any students in your classes who would like to help out once a week for an hour (on Thursdays or Fridays), please give them my contact info. My group this year is a bit challenging, so experience working with special needs, ADHD, autistic kids would be a plus. We are reading a variety of texts such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Treasure Island, David Copperfield, Watership Down, Antigone..as well as some contemporary classics and easier, below grade-level texts.

I could use a few strong discussion leaders - maybe a few from your interpretive discussion class?

Take care,

Eva Opalka
6th Grade Teacher
Nichols Middle School
Evanston, IL 60201

Kate and Brad in our office have had an idea for this class, and I will let them post it. Meanwhile, others should respond as well. Would you like similar support? Ideas about how to give and get it? I look forward to hearing from you! So far, one current student has volunteered to assist Eva with discussion in her classroom. Would you like to have similar assistance?

Sophie