Our First Few Experiences With Skype

Recently, I introduced Skype in our classroom.  Though I was a bit hesitant at first, the overall experience has been absolutely amazing!  We have connected with Howard Binkow, author of the Howard B. Wigglebottom books, and my sister Laura’s class, our official Skype Buddies.  

Using Skype in our classroom has added another layer to our thinking and learning.   First and foremost it has been great to see our students get excited and make a connection with other children in the city.  Our experiences with Skype require students to actively listen, reflect and speak to each other in order to successfully communicate.  An example of this was when we read the book Sky Color, by Peter H. Reynolds with our Skype Buddies.  We challenged each other to paint the sky without using blue paint.  This task required the children to first listen to the story, then critically think about how to solve this problem, and finally present their images of the sky to their Skype Buddies. 

Using Skype has been a real learning experience for us.  We have learned that when speaking to others over Skype, a loud and clear voice is a must.  During our Skype chat with Howard Binkow, we had some technical difficulties accessing the animated books.  This ended up being a positive experience as it gave students the opportunity to see their teacher and Mr. Binkow calmly communicate to work through a problem and find a solution.

So far, we have used Skype to connect with children in our own city.  We look forward to using Skype to connect with other children around the world.