Treasure Chest of Thoughts

Today, hopefully, my journalism/newspaper students will meet Soldier/Sgt. Frank Vaughn, who is stationed in Iraq, via Skype.

I set up my Skype account, made contact with him via Facebook, chatted with him on Skype while I “played” with this tool, and he graciously agreed to meet with us “tonight,”  for, of course, our days and nights do not quite coincide!

How much more real will this very real-life situation become for my students as they literally meet this soldier face-to-face? 

Part of his assignment while there has been with the journalism section (I need to clarify that terminology with him…good question to ask later today!).  He has posted links to his stories on Facebook…Frank Vaughn.  Since Facebook is blocked at our school, he volunteered to email us links to his stories.  Love those resources!

The underlying beauty to this one-on-one lesson is that, thanks to Web 2.0, the world ever becomes a smaller place.  When I began teaching 19 years ago, what these students are going to experience today, while it may have been conceivable was certainly not doable.

Thanks, Mr. Frank, for serving our country and for helping educate our youth.