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

Going Global

It was five or so years ago when our principal asked me to give a presentation about technology and 21^st Century Skills at our staff’s first meeting of the school year. 

At the time, one of my sons was exploring Youtube videos at the tender age of four. My other son was building Minecraft worlds with new friends from across America and even Europe.

As a staff we talked about how our society had gone from an Agricultural Age to an Industrial Age to the Information Age. The current time period could now be called the Connected Age or the Global Age. I still see it as part of the Information Age, but we truly are becoming a global community.

“Technology provides today’s students with unprecedented access to information about people, places, cultures and events around the world. Young people have grown to expect that their everyday tools will allow them to go to the Internet for information, make phone calls to and from almost anywhere in the world, and communicate with people in other countries with ease via e-mail and instant messaging.”

North Carolina in the World: A Plan to Increase StudentKnowledge and Skills About the World

 

Where will you see global mentioned in education?

• 21^st Century Content includes global awareness.
• Our Standard Course of Study includes it multiple times across all grade levels.
• It’s mentioned several times in North Carolina’s educator evaluations.
• Global is included in our school system’s mission statement and goals. Surry County Schools’ motto is “Lighting Pathways to Global Success”!

Becoming global is not just geography and culture. It’s also about language. (Our school system’s students begin learning a second language in the third grade.) It’s about being able to work with people who are different than us. It’s about our children growing up and helping to solve global problems. How can we work together to build a better future?

Last year our principal took the staff to Renfro Corporation one afternoon. It is a leading global manufacturer, designer, distributor and marketer of legwear products. With 5500 employees around the world and sales offices in six countries, it is truly a global corporation. And it is headquartered in our little town.

Being an Imagination Chapter leader has already brought changes to my teaching and my students’ learning.  We are going global this year.  It’s not just a little, it’s a lot! The Global Cardboard Challenge has been so much fun.  We’ve learned geography, compared similarities and differences, and connected with others via Skype and Google Hangouts. It is a natural fit.

 

My son and I just watched TomorrowLand last night. In it the main character asks, “What are we doing to fix it (the world)?” Our school’s first step is going global.

Further Reading

North Carolina in the World: A Plan to Increase Student Knowledge and Skills About the World

From the University of North Carolina’s Center for International Understanding

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!

 

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!