Byram's secret pen pal project boosts reading

Byram - Eighth-grade students in Sarah Wills’ reading class at the Byram Intermediate School are taking an alternative route to book reports. Each student is reading a fiction piece of their choosing, and will be writing a series of letters to a student in another reading class. There is one catch - each is writing from the perspective of his or her main character. Throughout the letters, each pen pal will gradually reveal their secret identity; the last letter will finally reveal the student’s identity and give a critique of the book. As a final project, each student will make a mask covered in items representing their character’s internal characteristics. “This is a great way for the students to delve deeply into their books, learn how to write friendly letters, and find alternate ways of communicating without using words,” said Wills. “So far, many students have expressed their excitement about the project.”