Skype in the Classroom

Normally if my phone goes off at 1:30 AM it is because someone has died or needs a ride home.  Fortunately for me this was not the case.  I opened my eyes just long enough to peer at my iPhone and see that I had gotten a reply from a project owner on Skype in the Classroom that I had signed up for earlier that day.

The other teacher a world away responded very positively to me and was excited to do a cultural exchange between my class and his located on the other side of the planet in Japan.

This is not the first time I'll be using skype in the classroom but it is by far the farthest away my class has traveled.  When I told my period four class today that we would be doing this (actually I let them read the email) they were very excited and curious about how we would do this and what we would say.

I explained to them that we would be making a video about their experience as a student in our high school and asking students in Japan about their experiences.  I asked for student volunteers to help organize this project and several leaped at the opportunity.  Also, I spoke with a few students after class about helping out with the tech side of things.

Needless to say I'm very excited about this opportunity to learn about another culture and put some of our new classroom toys into action (iPads, iMovie, etc).  What makes it most exciting is how eager the students were do this even though they knew if was not for points.

By the end of the period we had even more ideas for what we could do with the other class.  Check back to see how it all turns out!