Twitter

I am a small town girl.  I married a small town kind of guy. I have always lived in small towns and probably always will. My dear husband is not much of a traveler.  I became a stepmom at the age of 20 and had kids later. I do want my children to see the world, but traveling with kids has never appealed to me much. My grandmother was a traveler, but my parents and the rest of my immediate family are really not.

I am fascinated with other people's cultures. I went to Carolina, one of the most diverse colleges I know. My favorite college class was probably Anthropology.  I love virtually visiting exotic locations via Google Earth and Google Cardboard. I love hearing stories of my father's and brother's travels while they were in the Navy. One day I will make it to Paris.

But honestly? I'll have to get my passport first.

Technology has opened up the world to me.  How can I, little ol' Tonya from sleepy Mayberry, be connecting with people - strangers really - from all over the world?  And how are they finding me?

One word: Twitter.

Yesterday I received a message from a California business coach/mentor and she wanted to chat with me about the Imagination Chapters. We had a great conversation on the phone and then she sent me interview questions for a blog post.  [Update: Read her blog article about us here: Marla Diann's Blog Article About Us.] 

Today I was messaging a lady about a DonorsChoose project and suddenly JoyLabz of MakeyMakey tweeted me about a post. She messaged me back and said she was chatting with JobLabz and would be right back. Wow!

I am more of a facebook person.  I love seeing the pictures and reading the stories.  I am probably a little too connected via fb.  It took me a long time to get the appeal of Twitter. It took a long time to build up any amount of followers.  I really just used Twitter to follow Jeff Probst and his live Survivor dialogue.

After some professional development with Lucas Gillispie, our school system's Director of Academic and Digital Learning, I was off to do more with Twitter.  At first I tried to limit the number of people I followed.  I wanted to just connect with people that I actually know and talk to regularly.  I'm now up to 350 followers and that's a big deal for me!

The best part about Twitter has been connecting with others in my Personal Learning Network (PLN).  We are sharing ideas, learning from each other, and getting expertise from people who know way more than me. These people are all over the world.

Chats are a great way to connect with others.




More Reading

What is a PLN?

Mystery Skype

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!

More Resources

Mystery Skype

Around the World with 80 Schools

Skype an Author Network

Mrs. P’s Storytime

Connections, World Space Week, Just Say Yes!

Some things just seem so much harder than what they should be.  Technology for example. Sometimes troubleshooting is a quick fix. Other times I try and try and still can't get something working.  It should take five minutes to fix and it takes an hour and it still doesn't work!

This Imagination Chapter has led to some moments that seem to come very easily. Dot Day went off without any problems. The Ozobots were easy peasy. Then today I just happened upon Steve Sherman's post about an upcoming video chat with a Pluto scientist. There was an open invitation to join them and it was during my lunch/planning time. This Pluto girl quickly said yes!

Steve runs Living Maths out of Cape Town, South Africa. He was an original Imagination Chapter leader and continues to run his chapter in Africa. His guest was Dr. Henry Throop, Senior Scientist at Planetary Science Institute. Dr. Throop was actually in Mumbai, India (if I heard that correctly!) It's World Space Week so Steve has been interviewing space scientists.

A fourth grade class happened to be in the media center to use the computers so I invited them over. Another fourth grade class from America and a student in Nepal were also involved in the video chat.  The call included information about New Horizon's mission to Pluto, the resulting high resolution photos, space, Pluto's geology, technology, and much more. We learned it took nine and a half years for New Horizon to reach Pluto! Our students were really interested in learning about that heart shape on Pluto. It's nitrogen. I felt like this experience was a worthy addition to our day.

Dr. Throop

The Awesome Steve Sherman

Fingers crossed that the technology works! Steve and Henry used a combination of Skype and Google Hangouts to get us connected! (I really need to fix my webcam's focus!)


I am just so excited that being an Imagination Chapter leader has provided yet another opportunity to connect with people from around the world. This morning when I headed to school I never would have guessed that I would end up chatting with people in Africa and India today. I think both of these guys are pretty special people, too, and I have much to learn from them.

Last year I started a new motto. I would say yes to opportunities to that came my way. I encourage you to be mindful of opportunities for personal growth and growth for your students. Today made me realize that I am very blessed to be able to do my job and have exciting moments such as these! Happy World Space Week!

International Dot Day - Update

Here's a quick video I made from our Dot Day celebration!  Dot Day Video

One of our fifth grade classes ended up Skyping with Copeland Elementary.  Rebeccca Skyped with schools all over the country. Students also did Dot Day activities in STEM centers.

It turns out there were a lot of local schools participating in Dot Day.

Overall, it was a worthy addition to our media program.  I think that next year we will use some of the ideas from Rebecca and my fellow Imagination Chapter leaders.  We'll definitely add our guest dot board and more Skyping. (The fifth graders want to Skype with people in London and in different countries.)  I also liked the idea of giving a sticker dot to someone who has made a mark on us and telling him/her why. Alicia at Flat Rock helped her students make augmented reality dots using Quiver. Those looked awesome and I bet the kids loved them.

I also love the other books by Peter H. Reynolds.


On to the next activity - Global Cardboard Challenge!

 

International Dot Day

My friend Rebecca was the one who introduced me to International Dot Day.  At first glance I was afraid it might be too young for my older students. After delving into it more, I have seen the opportunities for taking it deeper.  I also like that the author’s message is more than about everyone being an artist.  It is about going out into the world and making your mark. Everyone has something special to offer. And what a wonderful world it can be when we choose to inspire and lift up others.

Besides sharing the book and having a discussion about the book, we also made a school-wide piece of artwork. Each K-5 student added his or own dot.

Some students have made their own dots to take home and some have made digital dots.They really liked the Toy Theater website.

I found some neat ideas in the Dot Day downloadable handbook.  Here are some links to help you celebrate.  You don’t have to wait til Sept. 15!  You can celebrate anytime!

Helpful Links

• International Dot Day
• Dot Day Downloadable Posters
• Celebri-Dots
• Peter H. Reynolds
• The Dot on video
• The Dot Song

We have plans to Skype with a class at Rebecca’s school on Sept. 17.  I also asked our visitor to make a dot so I can add it to other visitors' dots in a special spot.

Dot Day is an easy way to weave multiculturalism and global literacy in your lessons.

Imagination Chapter Orientation

After a time difference snafu on my part and an unexpected meeting, I was finally able to complete the online training and orientation for the Imagination Chapter leaders.  This was hosted via Google Hangouts.

Alice Lin is just a darling.  Very joyful.  Her official title is Director of Community Engagement for the Imagination Foundation.  She is the one who moderated the session and has been sending out group emails.  

We had a large group of chapter leaders from all over the world – Singapore, Ontario, Nigeria, South Africa, and the United States. Great group of people! This was training session #9; there are chapters on six continents. I am excited to start this journey.

Since this meeting happened to be after school from 3-5pm (for me), Kendall stayed with me.  He worked on his own projects while I did my group chat. Plus Kendall got to meet a celebrity (Alice.)  He was so impressed that she knew Caine.

                                                 Photo Credit: cainesarcade.com

Kendall worked on a couple of optical illusions and a Link hat.  Talented kid!

        

Marshmallow Challenge

About half of our fifth graders will end up participating in our Imagination Chapter club. I still plan on doing lots of activities with our K-5 students.  I knew the Marshmallow Challenge would make a great team-building activity for all of our fourth and fifth graders.  

The Marshmallow Challenge involves building the tallest tower that can support a large marshmallow.  Each group was given tape (one yard), twenty spaghetti noodles, and one large marshmallow.

There were lots of smiles and lots of teamwork. It wasn’t all perfect and I could see that some of the students need more opportunities to work with others.  Most had never done this challenge before, but a few had in Boy Scouts or church. It was definitely harder than it looks.

I did add mini marshmallows after the first few classes had trouble with just the noodles and tape. That made it a little messier, but I am learning that messier is usually better.

First activity? Success.