Using Skype in the Classroom---THE Two Page Paper to Get This Blog Started!

Technology advances in the classroom can open a world of opportunities that were not as easily accessible in the past.  One of these advances is using Skype in the classroom.  First, let me explain what Skype is in case you have been hiding under a rock for the past year or so.  Skype is a program in which you can install for free on your computer that allows you to make free internet calls.  If you and the person you are calling have webcams or built in cameras (the latest models of laptops and netbooks often come with this accessory), you can see each other as you chat.    There are other numerous ways to access and use Skype, but for the purposes of this assignment, I will just refer to the free features available. 

One of the favorite ways to use Skype in the classroom is to interview authors or other persons of interest.  If a group of students have been participating in a book club, a fun culminating activity might be to Skype with the author to ask those “burning questions” that students sometimes have when they have finished reading a thought-provoking book.  One art class that this author knows contacted an illustrator that drew pictures in a style in which they had been studying.  The illustrator talked about his craft, how he gets employed in various ways, and how it came to be that he chose his career.  Another classroom contacted an astronaut to interview him about his trips into space on the Apollo missions when the students were studying the moon.  The interest level rocketed (pardon the pun!) after that Skype session. 

Other options for using Skype could be collaborating with classrooms in a different part of the country than you reside.  As a primary teacher in southeast Texas, most of my students don’t truly know what winter is like.  Skype offers a directory of teachers that would like to connect with other teachers in order to bring new ideas and concepts into the classroom.  Through this service, I found a teacher in North Dakota.  We thought it would be fun for the first session if our students swapped clues back and forth about our particular locations.  Clues related to our state flags, famous landmarks within our states, state mottos as well as capital cities helped our students discover where our “friends” were from.  One particular day we were scheduled to Skype, and he experienced a “Snow Day”, but was able to use his personal laptop to take us on a tour of his surroundings.  We saw how deep the snow had gotten, watched his dog leap through the snow in his efforts to keep up with his master, and watched as his neighbor tried to dig his car out so he could get to work (he was a doctor and was on-call at the hospital in a few hours).  In the spring, our classes compared the kinds of birds we were seeing as migratory birds were returning to the north, and towards the end of the year students were participating in book clubs together.  I had many parents that year install Skype on their home computers at their child’s insistence!

While researching some other ways to use Skype, I came across a blog titled “Be the Change you want to see in the world" and this teacher has used Skype to help include her students that were at home sick.  The student was able to participate in different classroom activities from her room, which enabled her to keep up with the lessons and group work that was being done. 

Has your field trip budget been hit hard by recent cutbacks in education due to the sluggish economy?  Never fear---Skype is here!  Call museums of interest and see if they would be willing to lead you on a virtual tour.  Perhaps a docent can introduce you to areas of interest in a museum to which you can no longer afford to travel.  I have always wanted to take my students to Brenham, Texas to tour the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory during our economics unit, but it is too far away for a trip within the school hours.  Perhaps I could find a willing citizen of Brenham to help me by providing a tour on Skype.  Do be cautious however, there are some factories (as well as other places) that don’t allow photography and such, so call ahead and check!

As you can imagine, Skype can take your students to places they have never been before, but now, thanks to new technologies, they can experience.  What a valuable tool for students that live in rural areas or low economic situations!  Not only can they read about the big, wide world out there, but now through Skype, they might actually get to see it as well!

TeachingDegrees.org. (2011). 50 awesome ways to use skype in the classroom. Retrieved from http://www.teachingdegree.org/2009/06/30/50-awesome-ways-to-use-skype-in-the-classroom/

Kenuam, A. (2011). 10 ways to use skype in the classroom. Retrieved from http://blog.learningtoday.com/blog/bid/41726/10-Ways-to-Use-Skype-in-the-Classroom

Phthisic, C. (2011). A window on the world: using skype in the classroom. Retrieved from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/6573

Here is a bit of video of a class that has been reading Dear Mr. Henshaw.  The main character's father is a truck driver, and in this Skype session, they are speaking to a truck driver and asking questions about his occupation.