Torch - Spring 2017

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Pen Pals of the Digital Age:
Connecting with Classrooms Around the World
The world, and indeed Havergal, can be a fast-paced place.
For students with 24–7 connectedness, not to mention
a variety of classes, extra-curricular activities and social
opportunities, the invitation to slow down and reflect, to
pause and really connect, can be a challenge.
All the more reason to discover the upside of slowing
down, says Grade 5 teacher Raeme Lockington. Along
with Junior School Technology and Media Studies teacher
Helen Carayannis, she’s leading the Grade 5 Language and
Social Studies students through a slow journalism initiative
sponsored by Harvard’s Graduate School of Education
research groups. “We thought, ‘What a great opportunity
for the girls to have a real-life, present-day ability to see
the world from a perspective that is so unique and totally
outside of textbooks,’” Lockington says.
The project follows Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and
National Geographic fellow Paul Salopek on a 21,000-mile
Out of Eden Walk, where he retraces the migratory
pathways of ancient human ancestors. Salopek has been
documenting his journey since 2013 and, since then, more
than 1,000 classes in schools from 52 countries have been
following his mission to “slow down to observe the world
carefully and to listen attentively to others” (read more
about the project at
.
In practical terms, the project, which takes place during
Media class time, has students connecting with others from
six or seven other classrooms around the world. Havergal
is paired with classes in Italy, Greece, the United States
and Canada, where students use online platforms to share
aspects of their own regions. “One of our girls took a picture
of her dad shovelling the driveway after a big snowfall and
with it she wrote a brief post. This may be a regular part
of our daily lives, but for a child living in a much warmer
climate, that might seem like a pretty remarkable thing,”
Lockington recalls. The relationship is similar in some
respects to pen pals of past eras, except that in today’s
world the connection is instantaneous. “The girls absolutely
love it because they’re learning about other cultures, other
countries, through the perspective of kids their own age.”
Students also watch Salopek answer questions about his
journey and keep a “slow looking” journal, where they
answer questions such as: “If you could walk around the
world, what do you think you would see?” and “If you could
connect with someone your age from any country across
the globe, what would you tell them about where you live?”
The class is exploratory and often based on what Salopek
is up to in his journey; for example, one week he talked
about the ways that hair is used in other countries and
in another post he explored the dying Aral Sea in central
Asia, near Kazakhstan. This provides the girls with a unique
opportunity to observe aspects of our world that they
wouldn’t otherwise see in the news or other mainstream
media outlets.
Lockington says that reactions to the project have not
only been positive, but also profound. “When I asked the
students what they’ve learned that they didn’t know before
September, a lot of them said: ‘It’s really taught me to
slow down and really observe things more closely. I look
at things in a new way now. I think about other people’s
worlds and cultures differently than I might have before.’”
SPRING 2017• TORCH 21