Remember how I told you about how lucky we were to be able to Adopt-a-Pilot?
Well, since that first visit, he’s come back two other times, teaching us all sorts of awesome things about geography and flight, as well as life-lessons related to doing our best and working to achieve our goals.
During this second-to-last visit with Mr. Smith, we got to Skype with him while he was out-of-town! We got to guess “Where in the USA was Mr. Smith?” using clues he gave us. We used our big map to mark where we thought he might be:
Molli guessed on the FIRST CLUE that it was Birmingham! Way to go, kiddo!
Check out a clip of our Skype session:
This was only the second time I’d ever Skype’d (and the first was the end of Adopt-a-Pilot last year!), and it was so great! I know lots of teachers use it in really creative ways in their classrooms for mystery read-alouds, conversations with authors and for class-to-class chats. I can’t wait to see what else is out there that I might try next year!
How do you use Skype? I’d love to hear about it! 🙂
20somethingkids and 1kookyteacher 
Hello Grade 5,
Having Skyped with a class this year, I know how much fun it can be especially when you have to locate a mystery location. Congratulations to Molli for being able to guess the answer to the first clue.
@RossMannell
Teacher, NSW, Australia
Mr. Mannell,
How did that class find you to Skype with you? Is it a class you know someone from personally, or is a Twitter connection, or something else? I’m interested in continuing to learn more about how to use this tool in my classroom!
Thanks–Mrs. Bearden
Hello Mrs. Bearden,
My first contact with the class, Mrs. Yollis’s class from California, came through a link in a tweet. I started commenting on their class blog and, in time, they were curious to see the Aussie guy who was leaving them comments. Mrs. Yollis and I exchanged Skype addresses through a Twitter DM. We organised a suitable time considering the time difference and I logged onto her Skype at the set time.
They are prolific Skypers and often contact willing people to interview them or they play mystery locations where the children in the linked classes each have roles and must question each other in order to try to find where the classes are located. The winning team is the first to correctly identify although it’s not truly a competition. This is a great experience for the children as they have scribes recording the session, those asking questions, some on maps to try to locate the other class and some researching on line. I think this is a brilliant Skype use because of the fun and learning involved.
Here is a link to their class blog when they last Skyped in April…
http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/mystery-skype-with-iowa.html
Have fun on Skype. It is quite an experience. 🙂
@RossMannell
Thanks for all the info! I am definitely checking that out. SO excited about this. 🙂
How cool, Mrs. B! The girls and I love to Skype with Grandma in Florida. In fact, this Saturday we’re going to use my phone for the first time to Skype Jadyn’s basketball game with her!
Great post! Thank you for sharing this. I am interested in learning more about the Adopt a Pilot Program. Our kiddos also love Skype and we have used it in many ways these past 3 years. From mystery calls to Math Challenge Calls, my gifted students have connected with and collaborated around the world! Feel free to check out my blog for more tips and ideas of how to incorporate Skype in the Classroom and our class blog to see it in action!
My professional blog: languagejourneys.blogspot.com
Our class blog: reachrocketeers.blogspot.com
Maybe we can connect sometime next year. Have fun!
Those are great ideas! Thanks for reading, and thanks for commenting. I will definitely check out your blogs, and yes, I hope we can connect again in the future. 🙂