Okay, if someone mentions Skyping with your class, you must ask, “Is this a Mystery Skype?” Twice now I have just assumed it was a Skype session and twice I have been wrong.
If I had
realized beforehand it was a Mystery Skype session, I would have done my
homework!!
The fabulous Paul Solarz has everything you need to know right here: How to Set Up and Run a Mystery Skype Session.
I thought I
was doing a five-ten minute “Hey, how are you?” session. This turned into a forty minute activity and
it was great! The children went back to class telling the other students what we
had done.
Steve Auslander’s fifth graders taught
us how to question the other school. I loved
how the students were in charge of everything – introductions, questions,
answers, and so much more. We loved their signs - Your Turn, Our Turn, We’re
Thinking, Thank You! You can tell
that he really empowers his students. They are also an Imagination Chapter and I hope we get to collaborate again.
Their
biggest suggestion was to start with, “Are you west of the Mississippi River?”
so that you narrow it down. “Are you in
the (Southeast, Northeast, Northwest, Southwest?” could come next.
Pernille
Ripp has listed some great questions for Mystery Skype here: Great Mystery Skype Questions to Get You Started.
My friend Rebecca has done a lot of
Mystery Skypes and we Skyped together on International Dot Day. She recommends
Mystery Skypes for third grade and up.
I feel like
I am late to the game with Mystery Skype, but I’ve probably done thirty or
forty videoconferences with a Tandberg system and ALL were super valuable.
Skype can
also be used for more than the Mystery Skype sessions. You can do author visits, virtual field trips,
ask an expert, and much more.
Seven years
ago my friend and fellow media coordinator Stephanie Bode first introduced our
PLC to Skype. At the time we had a young lady in Pre-K who was homebound. She was able to Skype daily with her Pre-K
class. It was one of the most amazing
things I’ve ever seen.
A few years
ago we sent out our morning news to all of our classrooms via Skype. (It was
pre-recorded and sent as a movie file.) It was a great way for our staff to
stay in touch. Questions, reminders, and requests all came through the group
chat feature.
Franklin
second graders in Sheila McHone’s class regularly Skype with a class at Cedar Ridge. Last year they
had an end of year field trip together.
How fun!
Skype and Google Hangouts are free and work with
an Internet connected device and webcam. I did one Google
Hangout on an iPad mini. There are
occasional technical snafus, but it usually takes just a couple of minutes to
get going. Google Hangouts is great for when you have three or more sites.
When
toddlers can figure out how to FaceTime, it’s something that we educators can
do, too!
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