Skype.
From RE 5532: Technology-Supported Literacy
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How Other Teachers Use Skype in the Classroom (101 Ideas)
I shared my desire to use skype in my classroom to talk to a friend in Sudan earlier. As I was talking to my technology coordinator we discussed the sound issue and microphone that would allow my students to talk to her and ask questions aloud and her be able to hear them easily. So my school is purchasing a large microphone that will allow me to do this when the time comes. Yay! I will let you know how it goes when it comes in and we begin this. I'm also eager to try to conduct an interview with an author, thanks Dr. K! :) Another idea I had the other day was conducting interviews with various people in different careers and professions! I've always wanted to do a career day, but with skype it would make travel and times less stressful for the kind people who would share with our students. I'm going to work on this and see how that goes! :) --Amy Hardister 22:23, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
I recently attended a system wide technology workshop. We attended five different sessions of our choice geared towards our technology "comfort zone." I chose to attend a session about Skype to see what is out there. I learned that there is a service called "Skype an Author." Teachers are able to schedule a time for their students to skype with an author from a selected list. During the workshop we skyped an author and discussed the new service with her. This service will be able to open a lot of doors, however there is a fee, and for some of the authors it is a heavy one. --Melissa Martin Whitfield 22:55, 15 September 2009 (UTC)
Skype: this is a wiki site for skype. It's from teachers academy. There is a place to the left where you can add your name and start sharing ideas and classrooms skype in schools This is from the Surry County Schools Born to Be Wired Conference: [1] --jennifer wagoner 23:05, 17 September 2009 (UTC)
I found a teacher who used Skype to promote community. This particular teacher had just found out that they were getting a new student, but this student would not be present at school because she had leukemia. The teacher decided to connect with the student through Skype. The students in this class made a video about how they communicate with their homebound classmate.--Patricia Edwards 01:53, 16 September 2009 (UTC)
I read where a teacher used Skype in their classroom to talk with an author of a book they were reading. The autor discussed why they wrote the book and how and where the ideas came from. Students asked the author questions about the story to clarify misunderstandings they have of the text. It would also be cool if the author would read to the students. Also, if there is a guest speaker that is unable to travel to the school you could use Skype to talk with them and allow the students to ask questions. --Tonna216 02:27, 16 September 2009 (UTC)
If I taught older children (I currently teach kindergarten) I would use Skype to have my class communicate with my friends who are in the military. When I taught third grade, my students learned about the significance of Memorial Day and Veterans Day. They were all very intrigued about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They wanted to become pen pals with my friend Bryan who at the time was a soldier in Afghanistan. They wrote him letters and sent him Christmas cards. Skype would provide an excellent means of communication for my students. Allowing them to see and speak to him would have been a very meaningful experience.
Another way I would have used Skype with my third graders would be to have them Skypecast with our local high school students. In the spring I taught a unit on the human body. The biology teacher at North Stokes High School scheduled a class visit to show us the muscular system of a cat from his AP Biology lab. With Skypecast my students could have watched the high school students at work as they were dissecting and discussing the anatomy of the cat.
The final way that I have considered using Skype is to include a dear friend of mine in my classroom routine. My friend and former colleague retired last year and is unable to visit our school campus until January 2010. I inherited her classroom (she taught Kindergarten for 30 years.) I know she misses the interaction with children and Skype would be a way for her to interact with my students without risking getting in trouble for visiting campus. I am very excited about this prospect! I know she would be more than willing to read to my children whenever I needed her to.--Brandy 00:28, 17 September 2009 (UTC)
I have a couple of ideas in mind right now for using Skype in my fifth grade classroom. The first is holding a discussion with a meteorologist from a local news station (or even the Weather Channel!) talk with us about the details of weather dynamics. Our textbooks are not quite on par with the EOG, and I am not a weather expert, so tapping into that expertise would be wonderful. My other idea relates to an interesting opportunity I was given this year to partner with a peace corps volunteer in the Philippines. He is the cousin of one of my students, and I would like to try to contact him in real time so he can share his experiences. I'm not sure how that is going to work during the limited time of our school day, but I still want to try. Hopefully more ideas to come soon! --Stacy Cabeen 01:20, 17 September 2009 (UTC)
I found a few more interesting Skype ideas floating about in cyberspace. One was a seventh grade health class that had a question and answer session with a medical student about the topics they were currently studying. Another idea branching off of that would be to possibly have local politicians or leaders in the community conference with students about ideas pertinent to the curriculum. I love the idea of "virtual field trips," especially since our school has a two-a-year field trip policy. Another interesting project I found online was Around the World With 80 Schools. The teacher set up conferences to connect classrooms all around the world; she even stayed on a Sunday with her Tech Club to connect with classrooms in different time zones. The last idea I thought was interesting to share (and I'm beginning to have a hard time remembering if I read something here or elsewhere) would be to have parent-teacher conferences online with Skype. We have several parents that have jobs that do not always allow them to come in during the day, and I can only meet with so many people between 7:00-8:30 a.m. and 5:00-7:00 p.m. --Stacy Cabeen 17:08, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
I found a way that teachers can bring field trips that they cannot take their class on into the classroom. One that really captured my attention was the Buffalo Zoo that offers many different programs. These programs allow students to see animals and their habitats up close and also include a discussion led by a zoologist who will tell the students about the animals and their needs, etc. This caught my eye because in Kindergarten and first grade we do a lot with the ways that animals change as they grow, what their needs and habitats are, where they live, and their life cycles. Even a trip to the zoo does not guarantee time talking with a person who really knows about the animals and their care. A question and answer time is also allowed in some cases. There are many programs offered based on the age of the children and the standard course of study that they are following. The price is a little steep for the Skype visit, but not near as high as gas for buses, etc.--Jessicajackson52 03:08, 17 September 2009 (UTC)
I found a website, "Integrating Technology Into the Classroom" that was talking about using skype sort of as a a pen pal idea. In fact I wanted to try it for my first attempt in the classroom with former coworkers who are teachers in Minnesota. However, all replied with the same answer, the district said absolutely not. This web page suggests using epals, which ironically one of my very tech savvy teachers suggested I tried since her reply said that she had tried to use it to connect her class with her son's friend who is currently in Afghanistan, but the district would not approve it. The point of the pen pals would be to encourage writing and technology while at the same time learning about another part of the United States, landforms, weather, etc. I think this would be wonderful and easy to use with my young students.--Ressler14 21:22, 18 September 2009 (UTC)
Another idea that saw was using Skype in a geography lesson. Students had been learning about the United States of America, each region and its characteristics. The teacher connected to another classroom in the US and it was the students job to figure out where the other class they were talking to was. Each class asked questions of the other to determine what region of the US they were in. It was pretty neat. This is an idea that I can use in my classroom.--Melissa Martin Whitfield 22:30, 18 September 2009 (UTC)
A good friend of mine posted these on her blog: Ideas for Skype--Sefeinman 14:43, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
This article has some great ideas for using Skype: Dummies.--Sefeinman 19:22, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
This is a great resource for Skype. Vicki Davis has a wonderful beginners video. She also talks about ways she uses Skype with her students. One thing she talks about is internet safety. She even has links to many of the things that we use in this class. Neat, neat, neat! Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Using Skype in the classroom.--Sefeinman 19:30, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
After doing some research I have learned that a lot of teachers use skype for conferencing with parents. Maybe a parent could not come to school due to their job, this would be an awesome way to conduct the meeting. I have also heard about teachers using skype so there students could learn a math lesson from another teacher. There are so many different ways we as teachers can use skype and I am very excited about using them in my classroom.--Hetilley 20:48, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
I plan to use Skype to video conference with a friend who happens to live in Darfur, Sudan and works with World Child Canada. She runs a school that helps the children orphaned as a result of the conflict there. Her experience there would be an invaluable resource to my students. I teach 7th grade social studies and we focus on Africa. I talked all last year about how I'd love for her to talk to my students and describe the culture there, what like was like, and how the war effected the people there and it never dawned on me to use skype until now. I know she has skype, and she uses it readily. The only problem would be the time zone issue. Now I have the means to get her to talk to my students and allow them to ask questions and get immediate feedback. It would be amazing for me and my students to learn from her experiences and eye witness accounts of life there. --Amy Hardister 23:11, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
I plan to do a group weather lesson with teachers from other schools (once I get permission). We will each teach a lesson on a particular concept. I would like this to be conducted like a interactive seminar with speakers at the level of our students. I think it would be interesting to "watch" students from different backgrounds respond to information and directions from me. Anyone out there want to join in? I would also like to start a road trip with NC landmarkers. If you see a marker on the side of the road Skype it to someone to help us all become more familiar with our state's history. --Grandmacunningham 16:01, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
Every year, I have my students write letters to soldiers in Iraq. I have several friends in Iraq and I know that many would be willing to talk with my class. I think it would be really neat if my fourth graders could communicate through Skype with one of the soldiers that they wrote to. It would make their letters and the reality of Iraq feel more realistic. We could prepare a list of questions that we wanted to ask before our whole class discussion started and chat with that soldier for a few minutes. --JenLawson070 21:20, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
Tonna and I talked with our county’s technology coordinator (I guess that would be his title He gave us the idea to have something similar to pen pals in other parts of North Carolina. The class would actually skype with another student at another school rather than writing an actual letter. Every child would be assigned another student at the other school and would take turns going up to the computer to have a discussion with their “skype pal.” Students could think up questions before they had their discussion and go from there. --JenLawson070 18:51, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
Someone mentioned using Skype to share a message with a homebound student. We have a student who will be out until at least March this year as he fights cancer. I talked with his homebound teacher on Friday & we're planning to actually "do class" with him on Skype. He'll be able to watch us having his regularly scheduled class (at least in Language Arts & Science) and can also call us to do tutoring afer school. His homebound teacher had never heard of the program, so we're trying to get her in the loop.
I had also thought about using Skype to facilitate reading buddies between our middle schoolers and elementary school kids. We would love to travel to our feeder elementary school, but schedules don't allow it this year. Our students could read a book on Skype and dialogue with the elementary students on skype.
We're also starting a mentoring program for young men this year. It's been tough finding strong male figures to come into our school. Perhaps Skype could be used as an alternate method of communication between the students and their mentors. If your mentor can't come eat lunch with you, you all could do a lunch meeting at the computer. I think the guys would enjoy this and feel it was a special priviledge to be able to do so.
Looking forward to digging up more ideas, but for now that's it. :-) Hope you all have a great week!--Rjohnson 23:21, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
I just found this website 50 awesome ways to use skype in the classroom and I think it has some really neat ideas. I had never thought about skyping with parents who aren't available to come into class or setting up afterschool tutoring time for students. Especially as students get older, parents can't help them with their homework. Having a set time to be available to help with homework is a good idea. --jennifer wagoner 23:44, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
Although this will be my first year using Skype I have picked up on several excellent ideas for this application in my first grade classroom. I would like to conduct author interviews and use it as a way to learn about schools in different communities.
I have been out sick for 2 days. It's been very hectic in the classroom (my aid tells me). Some students have even been sticking their fingers in the guinea pig's cage! I know Skype is officially set up on my computer at school. But, I still need to show my aid hw to use it. If I had already done this, I would have been able to get on Skype and tell my kids, "DON'T STICK YOUR FINGER IN THE CAGE!!!!" Of course, I could have done educational things with them...--Sefeinman 13:45, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
This website explains how a teacher used Skype to create and share Photo Stories among several middle school classrooms throughout a district. Students were able to actually present and share their work to other students in their area. I thought this was a great idea. We have already done some sharing through websites and wikis; however, the idea of children being able to actually present their information in person is excellent. Check it out here!
Also, I found another website that talks about an author being able to speak directly to children in a classroom via Skype. I know that this would be incredible for my 4th graders. It speaks of how teachers can contact authors who can then call and talk with students about the books they have written. It's from Skype an Author network. --Brittanyjguy 02:39, 24 September 2009 (UTC)
One way that I was thinking you could use Skype is for working on a grade level project. If all of the second grade students are working on a special project or unit they could share how their project is going and what things they have done. They could collaborate on what they could do and what is working for their class. --Ashleycaldwell82 22:32, 25 September 2009 (UTC)
We have had a teacher out with the flu and she found out that she will have to be out another week. Her daughter dropped by school today and set up her classroom so that she could Skype into her first grade classroom next week. I think it will make both my teacher friend and her students feel much better. --Candy Mooney 23:51, 26 September 2009 (UTC) I am not currently able to use Skype in my school. Fortunately, it is under consideration by the powers that be, so maybe I will get the greenlight soon. My classmates have fantastic ideas on Skyping. Talking to authors is one of my favorite ideas. When I am able to use Skype, I would like for my social studies students to visit other countries. My goal is to find a student in each region of Europe that we will be learning about and get that student to teach my students a simple phrase. I would like for them to learn, "Hello, how are you?" in different languages. I think that is something they would remember forever. When I read that other teachers were using Sype to communicate with homebound students, it gave me another idea. I could have a set time that I Skype in the afternoons and that would be like a studyhall. My students could ask questions, compare answers and offer help to each other. They could also use me for support if they were unsure of their assignments. I also learned that some teachers use Skype for parent conferences. So, I am thinking of how I can get the children to connect with their parents on a positive note. They could share test grades they were worried about(if they are good grades!) immediately. I would also like for the students to do a poetry reading but it is difficult to find a time after school to get everyone together. We could do it during the day! I think Sykpe will allow me to teach the children communication skills they sorely lack. I will use Skype to improve their eye contact when talking and I will also focus on their voice inflection and diction. Using Skype will also help them become more confident when speaking in front of others.--Carol Sherrill 12:55, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
After using Skype this week to talk to students in another first grade class, I got the idea from one of my students to start a newscast. He thought it would be a good idea to write down what he wants to say to his new "SkypePal" the next time we talk to each other. I thought about taking it one step further and having parents dial into Skype at a given time and have a student read our class news. As a class we would create a list of our news items. We could have News Anchor of the Week to read the news. This would keep parents informed as to what's happening in our classroom. Then parents could ask questions and be able to get their answers instantly.--Melissa graham 17:21, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
Skype as Student TV Program Interview Method I thought this was kind of cool, primarily because it's a middle school program that pulls in real life technology in a student produced daily TV program. The students use Skype to conduct remote interviews with all kinds of interesting folks. If you click on the link for the June 13,2007 link, the students actually teach you how to use Skype. They answer all of the big W questions quickly. This might even be a good intro to use in a staff meeting. It shows that middle school kids can easily use Skype, which means teachers should be able to, as well.
I also checked out the site Skype Journal which gives you all kinds of info about using Skype at school, at home, and even how it's influencing mass media. One interesting article explains how middle school students wrote original fairy tales then read/shared them with elementary aged kids via skype.
Another great idea is to use Skype to facilitate inter-classroom debates. Different student groups are assigned different vantage points of a situation. They must research, prepare an argument, and then debate via Skype. This is a great way to differentiate instruction and pull in thoughts representative of diverse populations that may/may not be represented at your school. One example was a debate about the Civil War in which a middle school SS class in NC debated with a middle school SS in NJ. Fun! --Rjohnson 20:02, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
I’ve got a few ideas on how I will use Skype in the future. I can definitely see us doing some more live lessons as I call in a few favors from very talented friends and family. I think that speaking with people who are experts in their own field would be a great way to not only engage students but also enhance their understanding of subjects. I have also thought having my students partner up with a friends second grade class in Myrtle Beach and buddy reading. I think this would be especially effective if we got webcams and they could show pictures. They could take turns reading to each other. This could be especially encouraging for our struggling readers if they were paired right. I would love to be able to do this with other across the nation as well. I also think it would be really cool if we could find a class in another country and communicate with them. We could use Skype as a means of research to find out about other cultures! I also stumbled across the same website Amanda Ressler found, epals.comand I think that it could serve as a great venue to connect with other classes around the world. I love the idea someone posted previously about using Skype to communicate with students at home. I had a student with leukemia several years ago, and she had to miss a lot of class. I think Skype would have been a wonderful tool to allow her to participate in class when she was able to. The idea of possibly being able to connect with a favorite author appealed to me too. Also mentioned in one of the articles was having book discussions over Skype. Maybe I could coordinate with another teacher in the county to read the same books as my class, and then later have a discussion with the other class via Skype. I think there are tons of great ways to use Skype in the classroom, and now that I’ve had the opportunity to use Skype in the classroom and see how engaged my students are, I definitely plan to continue using it! --Adover 20:12, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
I have thought of many of the same ideas mentioned:pen pals, military, interviewing kids from other countries...I teach many different levels of seventh grade students within the classroom. I thought Skype would be perfect for reaching all levels. While we may try to talk to other classrooms throughout the world and try some of the other ideas mentioned, I thought we could Skype with role models for my students to help encourage them in school. Many of my boys believe they do not need an education because they will be pro-athletes with mega bucks. If I could have high school athletes, college athletes and coaches Skype with these students it may be the motivation they need for school. I thought we could also use it to read to aloud to younger students. I am talking to my son's first grade teacher and as soon as we both have Skype we plan on having my students read to the class. This would great practice for my students. --Cajones51 11:52, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
I think all the major items have been covered. One use I am intereseted in doing is skyping with other teachers in the county during lesson planning. Some schools in the county only have one teacher per grade level, and that could be beneficial for them to get some fresh new ideas.--Oscales 23:28, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
How We've Used Skype
I researched Skype and found some great uses for it in the classroom. Most of what I found had already been mentioned, so I started thinking about ways I might actually use it in my classroom. I was out with my sick daughter Friday and felt really guilty about leaving my kids with a sub who didn't know how to administer our spelling test or reading quiz. Then it hit me that I could actually have given directions to my kids from home using Skype! I plan to leave directions in my sub folder for logging onto Skype so I can talk to my class when I am not there. I'm assuming I'll need two accounts? Not sure how that will work but I'll figure it out!--Smithmk1 01:52, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
I downloaded skype at school this week. I collaborated with Stacy Cabeen, a 5th grade teacher who is also in this class. Her students wanted to share what they have been learning in Social Studies with us. My class was going to be the audience. My kids were very excited. Unfortunately, our sound worked, but her microphone wasn't working. Her other computers are not yet networked. My kids still enjoyed the experience. In fact they waved good-bye to her kids even though we didn't have web cams set up! One child also asked if Ms. Cabeen was on the other side of the wall. When I explained that she was on the other end of the building in her classroom, they were shocked and amazed! I can see skype as a tool to use to keep them motivated! Now, I hope to set up a pen pal somewhere to keep this up!--Ressler14 21:31, 18 September 2009 (UTC)
This has been a very frustrating week for me and Skype. I was finally able to force my computer to like Skype (at home). It took me a couple hours to learn how to make it go through certain "ports". Never again! At school (I work in WSFCS), Skype is blocked from teachers. However, if teachers have attended the districts training, then it is unblocked. Technology facilitators do not have to attend the training, yet it is unblocked for them. I spoke with my school's technology facilitator to see what could be done. He told me I would have to attend a training. That would be easy enough, however there are no Skype trainings being offered. So I spoke with a good friend from another school who happens to be a technology facilitator. I asked her what could be done. She told me that my technology facilitator had the power to unblock it for me. So....I approached my technology facilitator again. He told me that there is a training offered online through the district (but denies having the power to unblock). I asked him if he could please point me to the right direction (as I cannot find anything on the districts website). He said he would let me know by Monday. I even explained to him my plans for using it for educational purposes. That didn't seem to motivate him any further. Last year I had the same issues with Skype. Correction, I had the same issues with my district blocking me from using Skype. I have been corresponding with a teacher at Paseley Middle School. Our students are going to start becoming pen pals. I wanted to start using Skype to have book talks with her class. --Sefeinman 14:11, 19 September 2009 (UTC) I have an update! This email was just sent to me! Sarah, We currently do not have a policy on Skype. We do allow its use for instructional purposes. The website is blocked as it allows the downloading of the application. Technology facilitators have an installer to use for any teacher who wants to install and use the program. Training on Skype is dependent on the schools. We do have several schools using it including Bolton Elementary and Southeast Middle who used it to communicate with people outside the state/country. We hope to continue to use it more this year in more schools. Thanks! Marlo Gaddis, M. Ed. So hopefully I will be able to use Skype soon in the classroom! Yay! --Sefeinman 14:31, 21 September 2009 (UTC) And yet another update! This was sent to my tech facilitator: Hey DeMon, Good question. You can go ahead and get Sarah installed. She is blocked from the skype website (as all teachers are) to make sure they aren't doing this without the tech facilitators knowledge and/or training. But skype is okay for teacher use and you should have not problem installing it. Sarah strikes me as someone who could start using skype without a lot of additional training. Of course we'd suggest she still get the training but don't want her to feel blocked until then. Thanks, Emory Maiden. --Sefeinman 18:53, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
The Plan I am able to use Skype in my classroom because I attended a workshop on it through my school. This week I tried to load it on my computer but access was denied. I found out that I have to have the Technology Facilitator load it for me. I was able to get her to do that for me, but she told me the school does not have any video cameras, so I decided to purchase one. My second grade class will be Skyping with a fifth grade class. The fifth grade teacher may only have a microphone, so we may only be able to hear the fifth graders. Since second and fifth grade study weather, the fifth grade teacher and I thought it would be a good idea to buddy class together.We will also be integrating Social Studies into our lesson. Second grade studies Kenya and Japan so we will find out about the weather in those two countries from the fifth graders. It will be an introductory lesson for the second graders on weather and it will be a review for the fifth graders. The fifth graders will read a story to the second graders about clouds and the second graders will ask the fifth graders questions about weather in Kenya and Japan.I have already introduced Skype to my second graders. I walked around and showed them what the camara looked like. The students were waving at it and thought it was hooked up. I had to explain that it wasn't connected yet. Most of them were not familiar with it, but they were all very excited about communicating over Skype with the fifth graders.--Patricia Edwards 17:09, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
I am looking for a way to use Skype in my class linked to at least two other teachers, in our class. I need to learn how to do more than two way first. I am waiting for "special" permission from downtown because we are not trained (same problem as others in Forsyth). A teacher at our school did a podcast for her class, how is this different? Just talked to my 87 year old dad and he is sending me info for my nephew in Iraq. I am hoping to have him share with my students and the fifth graders, the personal touch of the real world, real time. --Grandmacunningham 16:36, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
I chat with a friend and former student in New Zealand. We don't have to figure out time differences, just see if one or the other of us is online. She recently sent a hyperlink in our chat that allowed me to link to a website showing photos of her new house. I have chatted with some of you who have questions about class tasks and shown some of you how to do some tasks by sharing my computer desktop with you over Skype. Finally, my friend in Minnesota and I attached files this morning in Skype. I sent her a PDF document summarizing a meta-analysis of research on online learning and she sent me a 6.7 mb movie. That movie would have been too big to attach to email (2 MB limit in most systems), and a pain to upload to a free file sharing service, but it took seconds on Skype.--Koppenhaverd 16:48, 14 September 2009 (UTC)
I talk to my family in Ohio using Skype. My entire family and my husband's family are in Ohio. My brother and brother in-law have been bugging me to get on Skype for awhile. This class finally forced me to join. I should have done it a long time ago. It isn't as complicated as I thought it would be. My brother came to visit a few weeks ago and his wife was in Japan at the time. We were able to talk to her using Skype. She tried to show what it looked like outside her hotel window but it was dark and we were not able to see anything. I like how it makes me feel more connected to my family.--Patricia Edwards 16:43, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
I have used Skype to talk to some of my friends overseas in Iraq. This was a great way for me and their families to communicate with each other. I was able to see different things on the base and meet some of his friends. This has been the only thing I have used skype for though.--Hetilley 20:43, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
I am using Skype to get to know others in our class. Whenever I am on the computer I am on Skype and I chat for a short time. It perks me up which enables me to continue to follow this trek into the world of technology. --Grandmacunningham 15:44, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
I've used Skype as a way to keep in contact with others in the class. I have been able to send messages and receive responses quickly about both class work and school work related questions. Tonna and I are both fourth grade teachers at our school. Our classrooms are fairly far away from one another and this can make communication during the day difficult. We have found ourselves having to send students as messengers but now we have Skype. We both keep our Skype account open all day and are able to send messages back and forth much easier. For example, we have to share a Fountas and Pinnell reading kit (along with many other things). We have to share the leveled folders. If I need a certain folder, I send a message to Tonna and she will then have a child send it down to me. --JenLawson070 21:12, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
I've never used Skype before this semester. I have friends (and coworkers) who use it to talk with relatives who are far away. I've heard that video on the mac is far superior to PC, but can't afford to upgrade to a newer version of either at the moment :-) I have talked with several of my ASU classmates on Skype so far this semester. It's much more reliable than the chat option on Facebook. I like that you can set your status to idle or invisible, so I have less of an urge to talk when I should be working. --Rjohnson 23:23, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
I am using Skype as a way of communicating with parents outside of class. I think having as many methods of communication as possible is beneficial to parent-teacher relationships. Also, I will be using Skype to talk to a "pen pal" classroom. We (4th Grade Science students in VA) will be working with 6th grade Science students in NC to teach each other. For example, we will prepare a presentation about a mutual standard and perform it live for the 6th grade class. Then, they will reciprocate with a different topic from similar standards. --Brittanyjguy 02:27, 24 September 2009 (UTC)
Yesterday I was able to download Skype at school and I got permission to use it for educational purposes. Since I am at a technology school the staff is looking at me now to introduce this technology tool to our learning environment and everyone is excited. However I will not be able to really use Skype the way I would like because I have no students for the next three weeks. We are out on our fall break. I did get to introduce it to them though today a little bit and it got them very interested and excited about coming back to school. Just to show them a little of how it worked I did make a call from Skype to another classroom so they could hear each other. I am now asking for my school to provide a camera for us so are listeners might be able to see us, especially for what I have planned coming up!!!!--Hetilley 01:44, 16 September 2009 (UTC)
I downloaded Skype at school today! I was unable to do any kind of video conferening due to the lack of a webcam. I did however send messages to the other fourth grade class in my school and we responeded back and forth with each other. I would like to be able to see the other class and possibly read books together. --Tonna216 02:36, 16 September 2009 (UTC)
Today, I was very excited to talk with a fellow seventh grade teacher who has used Skype in his social studies classroom. He had wonderful ideas of how to link classrooms representative of different cultures, time zones, etc. However, he also explained that our county is encouraging teachers to use the technology, but has the site blocked when we attempt to get there online. Go figure! :-) I've just e-mailed my administrators to see who I can contact to see about getting us up and running. --Rjohnson 20:15, 17 September 2009 (UTC)
I like to use Skype in the classroom to ask a quick question of another teacher. We also use Skype to collaborate lessons or PLC. --jennifer wagoner 22:58, 17 September 2009 (UTC)
Last year one of my students in the seminar, RE 5710, asked if I'd be willing to read a book to her 3rd graders in Charlotte, NC on Skype. I sent them a hyperlink to an informational video about Philip Petit on Youtube, which they watched, and then the teacher called me. I turned on the video as I sat in my office in Boone so we could videoconference. The students could see me on an LCD projection as I read The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordecai Gersten and then could look at the book's illustrations as I turned it toward the computer camera.--Koppenhaverd 14:28, 15 September 2009 (UTC)
I used Skype in my classroom this week. I teach a 1st/2nd combo. The first way I used it was with my whole class. We Skyped with Odessa's second grade class. Some of the students were in the same class last year and some of them are my former students. We just let the children come up and say hey to each other. They absolutely loved it. We only have one web cam so we Skyped twice so that both classes would get to use it. I also Skyped with Melissa Graham's first grade class. She teaches at Denton Elementary. I chose three of my at-risk students and one of my students who has behavior issues. I used this to help encourage good behavior and to help build their self-esteem. I told the students that I had chosen them to help with a special project for my class. They were very excited. Each child introduced themselves and told something they liked to do at school. It was cool how my two little boys who are always talking were very shy when it came to doing this with people they did not know. I had to provide support with the questions. It was a good experience and the children really enjoyed it. THey enjoyed it so much that we have decided to be Skype Pals with Mrs. Graham's class. --Ashleycaldwell82 22:17, 25 September 2009 (UTC)
Today I used Skype in class to call my mother and discuss her recent visit to Cherokee. In social studies we are currently studying Native Americans, so she discussed some of the pictures she had taken (I accessed them from the internet) and what she had learned while there. She also was able to get her webcam working so the kids could see her do her lesson. I plan to bring my webcam in and try to communicate with her later, hopefully with the webcam working. The kids absolutely loved this lesson. They thought being able to call her from a computer was so cool! Throughout the lesson they stayed engaged and eager to learn. They even begged me to do it again after we were done! Afterward we talked about Skype and touched on ways it could be useful in our everyday lives. I actually had one student who used it at home to communicate with her grandparents in New York. My technology coordinator was also impressed and asked to sit in on the next lesson. I think this is a resource I will definitely take advantage of in the future! --Adover 22:34, 25 September 2009 (UTC)
Our social studies teacher was bit by a copperhead a week ago and has been out of school. She skyped into my class one day this week to see the students. The students were very curious about her snake bite, so she discussed what happened with them. She also showed them her swollen foot an told the students her treatment. She will be out of work for at least another week. I'm hoping to have her skype into class again next week just to keep in touch with the kids. I was also able to arrange for her substitute to discuss the plans she left for the students. This was great because the sub knew exactly what to do everyday for each class. Being out for so long at the beginning of school is tough. It is great to have skype to keep in touch. --jennifer wagoner 00:36, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
I used Skype this week with 4 of my students. 3 of these students are considered at-risk and one has behavioral issues. I connected my students with similar students in Ashley Caldwell's class. Her class is at Sandy Ridge Elementary in Stokes County. We're at Denton Elementary in Davidson County. We had the students meet on Skype to introduce themselves. We are calling them SkypePals. My students thought a)it was really cool that they were chosen to do something special. b)it was amazing that they could see the other students and in the little picture below see themselves. I am hoping that SkypePals will work on improving these student's self esteem.I want them to find an activity they are successful at doing. One of my boys thought it would be important to be better prepared next time.He said he didn't like not having enough to say. So next time he plans to write down what he's going to say. Yea! An authentic reason to write. I love this project.--Melissa graham 17:39, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
I wanted to make sure that when I used Skype in my classroom it would enhance the areas of my classroom that were already pushed for time. I chose to introduce Skype to my students as a portion of my Read Aloud Time. After talking with Marcia Smith, a fellow first grade teacher, we decided to select the same read aloud literature each day. We will focus on different literature elements that coincide with what we are teaching for the week. We will begin by doing a character study to get the children talking about the characters and the attributes that make us like them or dislike them. We will also extract phrases and allow the children to share with one another what they think the phrases means. We are hoping to connect with many first grade classrooms that would be willing to have a Book Club atmosphere with us. If you are interested please get in touch with either Marcia Smith or myself. --Candy Mooney 23:52, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
Attempting to Skype in 705The past two weeks have been quite interesting on the technological front at my school. I was very excited to try Skype, but found out that the website is blocked by our school firewall. After e-mailing all kinds of people (principal, tech facilitator, computer/tech teacher, media coordinator) I found out that WS/FCS prohibits the download of the Skype program, which is why the website is blocked. In a nutshell, the county level tech folks don't want teachers gumming up the computers or the network with extraneous programs. So, almost every site that will let you download anything is blocked. The thinking makes sense.
However, there is no official policy blocking the use of Skype in the classroom. So, my principal offered the use of his laptop and contacted our computer/tech teacher to have him help me out. Last Friday afternoon we uploaded the Skype software from his thumb drive and got my school Skype address/account set up. Yay! Almost... :-) The webcams that were purchased with title 1 money and included in my bag of not-yet-functional-tech goodies don't work with my computer! Doug tried to plug it in (the plug & play tech didn't work), tried to download the driver (nada) and did lots of other clicking, modifying, resetting, restarting. In the end, he brought me a webcam that he purchased with grant monies last year. So, now we're in business!
Since it took us until Wednesday of this past week to jump through all the hoops, I haven't really used Skype in the classroom. I have added all the other teachers/classrooms who have Skype at our school. I also talked with my homebound student about adding me as a contact. He already has Skype & a webcam at home. My fourth period class has been asking daily if we can call him & "do class with him" yet. It was wonderful to hear the excitment in his voice when he found out his classmates missed him & wanted to see him and include him in class. I sent directions with his homebound teacher yesterday, so now we wait for him to add us and get started.
It took much longer than anticipated to get Skype going, but I'm glad I had to go through the process. Now all of my administrators know the county information and how we can skirt the system. My principal is very supportive of using the program & is asking for my input about authentic ways to utilize the technology at our school. The tech teacher has a couple of webcams available, so he's trying to get them installed in classrooms that will actually use them, as well. What began as utter frustration and silent yelling at county-level decision making turned out to be a lovely push for my entire school to get started with Skype. --Rjohnson 19:47, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
What about iChat instead?I also hit many walls (including a firewall) in my quest to use Skype in the classroom. I have had many discussions with my Media Specialist on internet policies in Davidson County. I've learned that different internet filters have varying levels of security when it comes to what they allow through the server. In Davidson County, we appear to be very conservative. Much like Forsyth County, technology head honchos are very against downloading programs that can slow the system and invite viruses. I did learn about a program that is similar to Skype, iChat. My Media Specialist uses iChat quite often with others in Tech Support in the county and iChat seems to lend itself to the conservative manner of the county in which I work. Skype, which allows teachers to roam around the world with very little set backs, cannot be found with iChat. With iChat, I am limited to talking with others who have an Apple computer and right now, only a few teachers, Tech Support, and Media Specialists in my county. I thought it would be slightly silly to have our Media Specialist conduct a class on iChat when she's only down the hall, but I decided to use my Instructional Technology Specialist. Located at the county office, my school's Instructional Technology Specialist (ITS) is spread pretty thin what with budget and job cuts. She very rarely makes it to our school twice a month. So we decided to iChat. The student's in my class were going to be using Comic Life for the first time this year. There assignment was to make a Biographical Comic Strip on the hero of their choice using Comic Life. With the mobile lab, students were able to listen and see the ITS guide them through setting up their comic strip and using all the cool features involved. I used my lap top and overhead projector to display her for all the students to see. As she described the many capabilities of the Comic Life program, I was able to make my way around the classroom and help students. I felt it was a very successful lesson, one in which we had more than one teacher teaching. I thought my iChat experience was very rewarding, but I feel somewhat held back by not having the freedom that Skype can give. I am still working with my Media Specialist to possibly use Skype in my classroom and hopefully have some Skype lessons later on in the year.--Burchamal 20:27, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
I have used Skype to communicate with Amanda R's class--the level of success was not high in my opinion, but my students were very excited. We could hear the 1st/2nd graders, and my kids were floored. They thought this was the neatest thing ever, and we are going to try to do it again. I think we are going to attempt a "word sort" challenge with the 2nd grade spelling words. I have also used Skype to post questions to the community of Skypers that I have. I have even received some advice that way! --Stacy Cabeen 01:26, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
My experience using Skype was much like that of many of my classmates. I began working on this assignment right after it was assigned, but did not have full capabilities for using Skype in the room until this past Friday...talk about cutting it close! When I first attempted to install Skype on my computer I ran into St. Bernard, our lovely web security system. I emailed my Davidson County's tech help who "unblocked" Skype for me to install, but I was still unable to access the site. Even though they had lessened the filter on their end, St. Bernard still didn't want to let me in. After several contacts the tech assistant at my school was given authorization to install Skype on my computer for me to use. Davidson County does not have a policy against using Skype, but they do not want high school students to be able to access the program, so they make it really hard to get ahold of it without their authorization and help. I have been told that when this project is over I will have to delete Skype from my computer. If I want to use it again I will have to have it reinstalled. That part seems silly to me...especially since it took so long to get it installed in the first place. I'm currently trying to fly under the radar on that one!In my K-1 combination class we have been learning about our families and ourselves. As a connection to this unit, I wanted to have my mother read my students a story via Skype. She teaches in a year round school and is on intercession so it was perfect timing for her. But, by the time I had all of the programming things worked out through the county my mother had gone out of town and didn't have access to Skype where she went. Instead I had my husband read my students a story. He did it from work. The students were thrilled! They each got to introduce themselves to him and then he read them the story. At the end he asked them a question about the story which led to a power write that they did after we hung up. My students thought that it was so cool that they could ask him questions and he could answer! My experience with Skype was great! At one point when my husband was reading out school network dropped the connection. I was a little stressed about it, but we just called back and picked up where we left off...no big deal! I hope to use Skype later in the year when we study community helpers. I think it would be really cool to have a dentist show us around his office via Skype. In January I have the opportunity to go to Africa on a missions trip. I am still deciding if I will go, but if I do I will totally try to Skype my class while I am there. I really enjoyed my experience with Skype and plan to use it again soon!--Jessicajackson52 01:49, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
I work in WSFC schools and went to my technology coordinator and asked about Skype. She was extremely excited to have someone use it and says the county is strongly encouraging teachers to use skype. She tried twice to download it for me and each time it came up access denied. The county had it blocked. She says as soon as the county unblocks it she will downlaod it for me. Friday night she emailed me that the county had unblocked it for her and would download it on Monday. So hopefully I will Skype in the classroom soon. Personally I have skyped with a couple of classmates. Being new to Appalachian I don't know many of them yet so it is a fun way to put a face to a name. --Cajones51 11:24, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
I attempted to use Skype with my co-teacher and her class. I teach kindergarten and on Friday both K classes finished up a unit on Bus Safety. My plan was for our classes to have a video conference with one another about the things we learned during this unit. We had planned for this to be our ending activity for the unit. None of my classroom computers have webcams so we were unable to video conference. However, we could hear each other through our sound system. The activity didn't work well for Kindergarten because they were too busy worrying about "how it was working?" to think about what they had learned during the unit. In the future, I would like to try this type of activity again. I do feel it will work much better with video conferencing capabilities. --Brandy 15:25, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
I used Skype twice this past week and I was so excited. Ashley Caldwell and I practiced using Skype at our school on Wednesday, to see how it would work. She used the webcam in the morning and we switched in the afternoon. The students loved it and they enjoyed seeing their friends. On Friday I was able to Skype with my sister's 3rd grade class in Zebulon, NC. We allowed each student to come up and introduce themselves. My students were nervous, but they loved every minute of it. My principal also stopped by to check things out and he was very impressed and even had ideas for me to use with it as well. We have decided to be pen pals and have a monthly Skype meeting. My students were all talking about which student they wanted to be their pen pal after our Skype session had ended. My sister is also thinking about letting a student read to our class each time we meet, so that her students can work on their reading fluency. My sister and I both had webcams and I was able to project her class on to the Smartboard. Unfortunately, there were numerous times when the webcam froze. I am going to try to figure out a way to avoid this problem before our next meeting. So, I will take any suggestions. Other than that it went quite well.--Oscales 23:04, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
Skype Spam Calls Resolved! I was getting spam calls on Skype at home, and a link that Dr. Koppenhaver sent had a way to fix it. According to [2], you can block people from calling you by editing your privacy settings. Go to the main Skype pull-down menu, select "privacy," then only allow people on your contact list to call you. You can do the same thing with IMs.--Stacy Cabeen 19:45, 28 September 2009 (UTC)
Link to my Adventures with Skype --Heatherscoe 22:56, 4 October 2009 (UTC)
