MACUL Newsletter Article March 2003

Interested in meeting authors using distance learning? Well, just “ASK”
by Jim Wenzloff

Less than four years ago, Dr. Raymond Kettel from the University of Michigan-Dearborn contacted us about doing a distance learning program with the author of Charlie Pippen, Candy Dawson Boyd. Dr. Kettel had developed a program to improve reading comprehension through a 13 -step reading process. The process is called ASK, Authors, Specialist and Knowledge.
ASK has grown from one classroom with thirty students to well over one hundred and fifty classrooms involving nearly 5000 students this year. The program is so popular that over 170 teachers registered on-line in three days after the 2002-03 school year schedule was announced last May.

What is ASK?
Authors, Specialist and Knowledge is a popular program with teachers because it brings together several teaching strategies that they are already using in their classrooms. In addition, it provides good literature, authors or content specialists for their students.
In the ASK process, students read a book to prepare to interview the author of the book or a subject area specialist on the books topic. The interview is the culmination of the project and motivates the students to read. As the students read, they keep a journal about what they have read. In the journal we have students reflect on what they have read and how it relates to their life or other things they have been learning about in school or in their home.
In addition to journaling, students also write questions about what they are reading. The questions might inquire about how the book was written or how the content compares to the real world. Each day they read, they write in their journal and create questions.
When the class has finished the book the students, guided by their teacher, edit their questions and decide which questions are the best ones to use for the interview.
The class is now ready for the interview. The interviews usually consist of three classes connected via video. The author or specialist is typically at one of the three sites. The focus is on the students and what they want to ask the author or specialist. They are Barbara Walters for a day.
We do a round robin of questions with each class asking three questions. We continue to rotate asking questions until the hour is done. On a typical day, we have between nine to twelve classes that participate in the programs.

Topics for ASK Programs
We have had some very exciting programs over the past few years. We have interviewed numerous authors including:
• Janie Panagopoulos (Traders in Time)
• Christopher Paul Curtis (Bud, Not Buddy)
• Jerry Spinelli (Maniac Magee)
• Mitch Albom (Tuesdays with Morrie)
• Eleanor Coerr (Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes)
• and others who write for children and young adults.
In addition, we use subject area specialists for interviews. The subject area specialists help the students compare what happens in the book to what happens in real life. Some of the subject area specialists we have used in ASK include:
• a holocaust survivor (Daniel’s Story)
• a weather expert (Night of the Twisters)
• a naturalist on wolves (Julie of the Wolves)
• a worker at a shelter for abused women (Cracker Jackson)
• a woman who escaped Afghanistan before the Taliban took over (The Breadwinner).
These are just a few of the authors and specialists our students have interviewed as part of the project.

How We Support the ASK Program
We have been fortunate to be awarded two Technology Literacy Grants from the state of Michigan. Those two grants and additional funds from our ISD have been used to support the program.
We set the schedule for the program, register teachers, schedule the authors and/or specialists, contact the technology persons in the local districts and provide most administrative functions. In addition, we provide a kit to each teacher participating in the program. Each kit varies in composition, but typically a kit will include a classroom set of books if it is a chapter book, directions on how to prepare the students, supporting Websites, and supporting materials such as posters, pictures, videos, and print materials.
By providing the kits we save the teachers time in gathering the books and materials for the program. We can re-use the kits for repeat programs either later the same year or in the following year. This reduces our per program cost.
We also provide teacher training either on-site or via compressed video for teachers served by our ISD. We have also provided training for teachers throughout the state via video. During a typical year we hold six or more training sessions. A training video is also available from the Macomb ISD.

Technology
On the day of the ASK program we typically connect three classrooms of students per session with the author or specialist on site with one of the classrooms. We connect these classrooms to the program using the video bridge at the Macomb ISD. With few exceptions, the bridge is set to dial out to all sites. We do this to put the burden on us of making the technology work, rather than the teacher(s) involved in the program.
Once all sites are connected an audio check is done and then the program is turned over to the host site. For most ASK programs we schedule a three or four session day thereby connecting up to 12 classrooms of students to the author or specialist.

Getting Involved
You can become involved in ASK by creating your own program or by participating in one of our programs though space is very limited.
It is easy to start your own program. All you need is a good book, an author or specialist, and your students. Additional support materials and information can be found at our Website (http://www.projectask.org). If you have additional questions, please contact Jim Wenzloff at jwenzloff@misd.net or Arnie Comer at acomer@misd.net.

Jim Wenzloff is an Interactive Learning Consultant for the Macomb Intermediate School District.