Thing 15: Things like Skype

     I have so many friends who use Skype and always talk about how much they love it. I have never had the need for it, therefore I never took the time to explore the website to learn more about Skype. After reading the information on the Skype website and all of the links on Dr. Wilson's 16 Things, I realized that Skype is such a great and effective resource.
After reading the links with the different alternatives to Skype on Dr. Wilson's 16 Things, I was amazed about how little I know about communication resources with the exception of e-mails, chatting online, and calling people with cell phones! Although there were some great items mentioned, I really like Skype the best.
     I did not know any of my classmates Skype info, so I surprised my fiance and Skyped with him. It was so neat to experience and really easy to use. I think I might try and get my grandpa set up on Skype because he lives four hours away and I miss seeing him. This would be a great way to talk to him, as well as see him! It is also great that if you do Skype to Skype it is free!
     When I think of using Skype in the classroom, I think of a topic I explored when I was in Applications of Technology. Students can use Skype to talk to students in other countries. This would be great if students were researching the same topic and sharing their ideas or if students were learning about other cultures by talking to students all over the world! 50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom talked about a site called ePALS that could accomplish the task of connecting students around the world.
     50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom is an excellent website with rich resources to apply into teacher instruction. I like that it discussed bring busy parents into the classroom using Skype. I know my mom would have appreciated Skype when I was little because she was a single working mom. Therefore, it was hard for her to meet with teachers for conferences. Skype would have made this much more accessible.
     I love introducing the students I work with to new authors and books. 50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom talked about having students meet authors and illustrators through using Skype. SO NEAT! I would love to have the opportunity to share this with my future students. Allowing students to have a first hand experience with an author or illustrator makes writing and illustration come to life. Librarians could also use this idea if they were featuring a certain author or illustrator that month in the library. After sharing stories by this author/and or illustrator with students, the librarian could contact the author/illustrator via Skype for students to learn from and interview.
     During student teaching, I did a letter writing unit where my 1st grade students wrote letters to a close friend who is a Marine. It would have been neat if I could have figured out if he had Skype and the students could have talked to him while he was on deployment.
I am going to learn a lot more about Skype so I can apply it to the classroom and teach other fellow teachers about it!