Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Making Miles and Minutes Count



Participating in the Skype-A-Thon was an awesome experience. Our class video chatted with a class studying biomes and used their knowledge of biomes to ask us questions about the landscape where we were to not only determine what biome we belonged to, but where exactly we were located. We, in turn, asked them similar questions to figure out where that class was located. After each class decided where the other was, their teacher allowed us to watch how she would conclude the lesson. She asked the class what questions from us they were or were not expecting, as well as how the questions asked helped narrow down the biome we were a part of. These questions caused the students to reflect on what they had asked and if they would want to change the questions they asked in the future.

The class we video chatted with  had said they were surprised when we spoke, we didn't have New York accents. This observations made em realize that being able to video chat with other classes not only in the United States, but around the world, could help dissipate any misconceptions or stereotypes held by the students in my class about another area or another group of people. By having students learn in an interactive way, there are bigger takeaways for the students. The experience of being able to Skype with another class will undoubtedly stay with me, and I would imagine would stay with the other class of students. Being able to use technology in a way which leaves a positive impression on students and helps expand their knowledge of the world is a powerful thing and definitely makes me want to incorporate Skype into my future classroom. Skype allows students to travel the world without ever leaving their classrooms. Additionally, Skype could be used to create a "virtual field trip" where the class could talk to experts on different subjects being studies or to explore an area they otherwise would not have been able to.


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