Monday 13 May 2013

An Amazing Learning Opportunity: Skyping With Skype

     After an amazing Skype call with the Emily and Laura from  Wonderopolis our class began to think about one of their Wonders and started to create a Wonder of the Day of their very own. Students were given time to research their question, evaluate their time management and build their capacity as non-fiction writers. As part of the assignment, students were to examine the format of Wonderopolis and recreate a Wonder Page on their blog.  There are many interesting, "wonder filled" questions such as Can an oracle really tell the future? How does a heart work? What makes someone good?bad?  Kabir's Wonder of the Day is, How Does Skype Work? so today, Kabir, along with the rest of the class, was given a gift by the folks at Skype Classroom.  We were able to learn about Skype from a Skype expert, Peter Parks. Peter lives in London, England and works for Skype. Prior to the call Kabir made a list of his questions:


                          What was the reason that you wanted to create Skype?

                         Who came up with the idea of creating Skype?

                         How many employees are there at Skype?

                        Are there different types of Skype?

                        Do you have offices around the world?

                        What do you like about Skype?

                        Why is it called Skype?
         
                        What was needed(technology) to make Skype a reality?

                        Did you have to invent anything?

                        What was the most challenging Skype call to arrange?

                         Can you Skype to the ISS station or do the Space Agencies have to do that?

          Peter patiently answered all of the questions as the students quickly took notes to assist Kabir   with his data collection. After all the questions had been answered Peter wondered where he should go if he ever came to BC., we recommended Stanley Park, any beach, the Gulf Islands, Vancouver Island, Whistler and of course he must go golfing and see a Canucks game!


         I want to personally thank Kabir for his courage: asking stranger questions in front of all your  friends is tough, Gurtej for having Kabir's back with question support, for Mr. Hilder for always supporting our     learning by learning with us during our Skype calls but the biggest thank you goes to Peter at SkypeClassroom for giving us the gift of his time, for clearly answering all the questions and for honouring all of our wonders!

        Skype has changed the way that I am able to teach and the way my students are able to learn! I  couldn't imagine NOT using Skype everyday!! Thanks for your gift!!
      
Peter from SkypeClassroom

Kabir and Gurtej

Data Collectors

Mr. Hilder-the Chief Learner

Listening intently!

More Data Collectors

Group Photo

Kabir and Peter


2 comments:

  1. How wonderful and such an authentic learning opportunity for your class! I'm certain it will be a call that won't be forgotten any time soon. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so impressed that Ms. Thiessen is able to arrange all of these calls and grateful that all of these people are so willing to participate and help our kids learn. I love that the kids always have so much knowledge to share because learning this way is helping them to retain it. This type of learning keeps them interested and engaged. :)

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.