Skype-a-thon!

There's no place like home!

Today in class we participated in international skype week with an 8th grade class from Kansa!  We participated in a game called "mystery skype" in which each of our classes would ask questions in order to determine where we were in the world. The students in the 8th grade class used maps to cross out places after they asked us questions to determine where we were. I thought this was a great idea! This was our first time participating in the skype-a-thon, but this class has had many adventures using skype. One of the girls in the class shared with us that in 6th grade her class worked with a class from Greece and a class from Africa to create water filters because those places do not have clean water. These classes used skype to connect and talk about their creations. Hearing this story was very inspiring and sounded like such a fun adventure and memory for students to have!

The teacher from the class in Kansas shared many wise words with our class. She told us that when we are creating lessons we should create something that will leave a legacy. She explained that by creating a lesson with using skype students will never forget that. Just like the story that the student told us, she will never forget that she helped two other classes from around the world and was able to skype while doing it! She also explained how her principle used to ask her why she participated in international skype week when it has nothing to do with science or history or any other subject. Her response was that it actually does! Just in the activity that we did today where the students had to figure out where we were in the world, her students used cooperative thinking, problem solving, and discussion. There are so many different ways to learn! The teacher also told us that you can skype with many different people including authors, for free!!! Later in the day, the class was going to be skyping with a turtle specialist and she was going to tell them all about turtles and their habitats. 

After each class figured out where each other were from, the teacher let us see how she would close her lesson. The teacher asked her students what they learned, what they observed, what they liked, and what they could improve on. This reminded me of how we close out our lessons! It was so fun to interact with another class from a different state and see how that teacher runs her classroom! I look forward to incorporating skype into my lesson plans one day!