Using Mystery Skype to Bring the World into Your Classroom

Student centered and inquiry based, Mystery Skype energizes students to learn about other places.

This tool has been useful in teaching world geography to 7th graders as it helps bring the world closer to the classroom, enlivens the content, encourages analyzing information, and develops questioning and critical thinking skills.

Mystery Skype in action. The bottom shows students from Belgium on the

computer monitor while in the background (the top) my students collaborate

and view the Belgian student on the SMART Board.

A Mystery Skype is basically like 20 questions during which the two classes are trying to figure out the other’s location.  The teacher sets up the game with another teacher either through the Skype in Education website or social media such as Twitter.  Once a date and time is set - very difficult since no schools have the same schedules and class periods rotate through our school’s - you’re ready to go.

Well...almost.

Having never done one before, I was tentative to just let the students fumble their way through the challenge with me.  I looked online for help and found teachers that structured their classrooms during Mystery Skype.  Paul Solarz and Pernille Ripp gave great suggestions regarding roles and etiquette.

My colleague Sam Mandeville and I collaborated on roles our students would take on, and since we were both tentative of letting our respective students loose on the world, we set up a Mystery Skype between our classes.  Even though we were right down the hall (classes took on the role of city, country so they could actually play) and the students knew one another, it provided a terrific opportunity to put us at ease and work out kinks.  The students were also exposed to the flow of the game.

My students connected with places all over the world including Malaysia, Belgium, Canada, and Singapore.

As we gained more experience, we used less structure by having  a few students record questions and answers and all students generating and asking questions. Even a number of the quieter students stepped right up to the microphone.

The students were engaged, learned more about where they live relative to other places, were exposed to other cultures, and made connections to people otherwise impossible.

Next year, in addition to Mystery Skype, I hope to use the power of Skype to connect my classes with others around the world to collaborate on different topics or projects.  This will further enrich their lives and develop them as global citizens.

---

If you have had success with Mystery Skype, if you have had other positive Skype experiences in your classroom, or if this post has generated some thoughts of your own, please share in the comments. I would appreciate hearing from you.

Trying to Touch Students’ Hearts

As the new school year has started, my inclination is to be better than I was in previous years.  There are always so many different things floating through my mind to improve my instruction and the students’ experiences.  Among my myriad goals, I have prioritized two.

I want my middle school students to realize they can make their mark and influence the world - right now.  To set them off in that direction, they will gain exposure to ideas revealed by International Dot Day to help motivate them to be bold risk takers who can influence the world.  To connect it to the social studies curriculum, I want them to explore issues relating to geography that touch their hearts.  I hope they will be spurred on to try and make a difference in the world and be compassionate.  I want them to realize they have great power and influence as individuals and that they do not need to wait until their adulthood to start leaving their legacies.

Another opportunity I want to offer my students requires doing a better job of breaking down the walls of my classroom.  Currently, my students develop blogs with which they can interact with the world.  I need to do more to have others connect with my students via their blogs.  If I can take appropriate steps, students’ audiences will be broadened and they will connect with others more widely.  Students would also benefit from making connections through Skype.  I believe that meeting people from other places through video conferencing and their blogs will help draw the world nearer to them, make learning and understanding more personal, and, again, touch their hearts, spurring them on to deeper learning and greater accomplishments.

I look forward to bringing these opportunities to my students.  There is a lot of value to students understanding that they, too, can make a difference in the world.  By touching their hearts in dynamic ways, they should be more motivated to reach outside their comfort zones and make an impact on the world.

If you have found ways to touch your students' hearts or taken them beyond the walls of your classroom, or if this post has generated some thoughts of your own, please share them in the comments. I would appreciate hearing about them.