Success is so sweet! Absolutely awesome!
My attempt to Skype was a success…thanks to student tech person Casey. Wow, he is so gifted. Just want to state it here that I knew him when…! Casey is one of those students that I cannot say that I teach much in the area of technology…just maybe I am helping keep the doors to opportunity open for him,though. Just maybe.
Thanks to Casey, Murphy’s Law finally took a hike out the door! My journalism students skyped with Sgt. Frank Vaughn “live!” from Iraq. Today was definitely a memorable one. Talk about a natural high. Embedded within the many emotions…awe, wonder, excitement…though, was a sense of humility, humbleness…as they chatted with someone really in Iraq, someone serving our country. Someone giving of his time with his family (throughout the conversation were continual stories about his wife and very young son).
Today was a success. Today was a lasting memory. Hopefully, the beginning. The beginning of my students striving to be more, to be better. Maybe just knowing it is okay to be humbled.
What did I learn today about using Skype?
- Have every student’s Skype account created ahead of time! Considering that Mr. Frank and I set this visit up early this morning (and I do mean early…@4 AM!) and that I had not seen this students in two days, we did okay!
- Know what your computer can do! I assumed my teacher PC would have a microphone; it probably does but come crunch time, neither Casey nor I could find it, so we had video but no sound. Plan B…switch computers while the students continued to connect to the chat option with Mr. Frank.
- Thanks to Casey, he was able to switch the hook-ups (from my teacher PC to my mini computer) so that we could view the live feed through the LCD. Crazy! But Casey was calm as the proverbial cucumber! This allowed everyone to talk with Mr. Frank on the big screen versus the mini computer’s screen.
Student reporters talking with a real reporter…a real reporter in Iraq. Quality conversation that resulted in Mr. Frank’s agreeing to visit the class upon his return…with the possible delivery of Sonic food (Mr. Frank’s most-missed food).
The positive promotion of reading (the good with the “bad”…to know what not to write) and the added encouragement to continue practicing their writing skills, these were just two more of the positive outcomes of this online visit.
Where do we go from here? I want these student reporters to conduct interviews via Skype for assigned stories for the next student paper. I want to record these interviews with our Flip Camcorders to have interview excerpts to post on our online student newspaper.
Of course, I am also brainstorming ways to use Skype within my English classes on upcoming projects…yes, this definitely has me thinking!
2 responses so far ↓
In another post (somewhere) you explained how students are going to Skype to conduct an interview. What if you used Google Maps to map all their interviews? You could create a collaborative map, and students could add placemarkers to pinpoint the location of the person interviewed. The map is animated, so students could give the person’s name and a hook to the interview in the pop-up box. They could even include an image of the person and link to their blog or school newspaper to an article of the full interview (they could also include a video snippet). The map can be embedded on a blog. So, basically, you could create an interactive portal (the map) to all their interviews. How cool would that be! Check out this post giving more info on using Google Maps. I’d be glad to help if you’re interested.
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Yes, I read your post…of course, my brain went into another interlocking circle!
I like this idea..we will definitely work on it…would very much appreciate your help!
I have heard and read about Google Earth/Map. I really liked your feature on UMapper also…very cool!
I would so love year-around school…so I would have some scheduled time off here and there to work on these great lesson plans…but I will find the time!
Thanks!
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