Stop Pretending and Make School Relevant

Anyone who has been in a teacher training session in the last two decades has heard that we need to make school relevant. Usually these words of wisdom are accompanied by a statement about the need to tell kids how our content connects to the 'real world' so that children know why they are being coerced to learn the content we are putting in front of them.

Nonsense.

Telling a 4th grader that in a decade they will need to use multiplication someday when they are buying apples in the grocery store, trying to convince a middle school student that finding the main idea of a non-fiction passage will be vital in their future career, or asking a high-school sophomore to know the function of a mitochondria because someday they might be a doctor are all great ways to get children to drool on their desks out of boredom rather than actually engaging in learning.

If you have spent time around any children of school age, you know that this will not convince them that the content they are learning is relevant. The frontal lobe of our brain, which allows us to understand the consequences of our actions, is not fully developed until our mid-twenties.

In schools, we need something more effective than, "Trust me. I'm an adult."

If we want school to be relevant to what's going on outside our school walls, we actually need students to get involved in using learning to solve problems outside our school walls.

If we want school to be relevant, make it relevant. Don't pretend it's relevant and try and sell that to kids.

Students working on building aquaponics units out of recycled
materials to help those in regions with drought.

The content we teach has real applications to make the world a better place. It's our job as teachers to help children see the connections.

Problem-based learning, when combined with a focus on improving students' local and global communities, creates a dynamic environment in which students don't have to wonder why they are learning. They know they need to learn in order to make their world a better place.

Using learning to make the world a better place is exactly what education should be about. Many of our school mission statements include language about creating contributing members of society and good citizens.

Early in my career, I remember helping 5th graders understand fractions by planning and cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for a family in need. More recently my 4th and 5th grade students have designed and facilitated a global video learning exchange that helped children with limited resources learn with math manipulatives. They collaborated on a global garden project where students exchanged techniques they learned to grow food. When they met children in a rural Kenyan village that couldn't go to school because the community bridge was dangerous, my students used the learning in their science class to design a new bridge that was built with funds they raised. Last year, after hearing about the drought and famine affecting children in Malawi, my 5th grade students designed aquaponics units out of recycled materials that grew food with 90% less water than traditional farming.

Book written and published by Beth Heidemann's students

My students don't ask me why they are learning. The relevance is obvious.

If you teach younger students, know that children are never too young to change the world.

When Beth Heidemann's kindergarten students in Maine learned that the friends they met in the Kibera Slum of Nairobi faced food insecurity issues that mirrored some of the issues in their rural town, they wrote a fairy tale. It was set in Kenya and described children overcoming problems due to lack of food. They published the book and used the proceeds to send funds to both their local food pantry and their friends in Kibera.

It is vital that this relevance extends to all subject areas, including the arts. The arts allow children to learn to perceive beauty in the world. More importantly, though, the arts allow us to emotionally connect with each other. They allow us to develop empathy and find our shared humanity.

Mairi Cooper's orchestra students have used the design process to innovate new ways to use music as a tool for social good. Using "pop-up concerts," they have found ways to bring the beauty of orchestra music to people in locations that otherwise would not have access, including homeless shelters and children's hospitals.

Students in any subject area or grade level can find true relevance in their learning if we give them the autonomy, resources, and support.

Mairi Cooper's students performing at a center for the blind.
Picture credit: Twitter.com/patoy2015

We must understand that true relevance comes when the purpose of school is detached from the tests, quizzes, grades, and rankings that we have used for decades.

If we hold dear to our traditions and tell children that school is relevant, while at the same time our actions show them that what we really care about are arbitrary numbers written at the top of Friday's test, state assessment scores, or class rankings, our students will see right through us.

While mindset shifts can be scary and take time to fully develop, here are some ways to get started:

1. Understand that the learning in your classroom belongs to the learners and not to the teacher. Make small changes to move from a coercive environment to a learning environment where inspiration is used to motivate. Give your students as much autonomy and choice over classroom rules, curriculum, and application of learning as you can.
2. Start with local issues. Help students begin thinking about ways their learning can be used to make their community better. Over time, help them understand that they are also part of a global community. 
3. Use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the basis for connecting required content to initiatives to make the world a better place. TeachSDGs.org is a great tool for helping students see the context for the content they learn. 
4. You can't change the world if you don't know much about it. Use free videoconferencing tools to allow your students to learn with other students in distant locations. 
5. To learn more about how to shift toward a Project/Problem Based Learning environment, start with Ginger Lewman's book "Lessons for LifePractice Learning." 

Michael Soskil is a dynamic speaker, professional learning facilitator, author, & one of the most highly recognized teachers in the world. The book he co-authored, Teaching in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, has been called "an authoritative guide to teaching practice over the next three decades" and has been endorsed by world leaders in government, education, & business. To learn more about Michael's work or to book him as a speaker for your next teacher workshop or event, please visit his website at MichaelSoskil.com.

New Literacies for a Complex World

We live in a time of great uncertainty and change. Economic, political, cultural, technological, and societal disruption are forcing us as educators to reexamine what it means to provide a quality education for our students that prepares them for the world they will face.

And, we are realizing that this reexamination will have to become the norm. Nothing is guaranteed in the future except for continued change.

Too often the discussion of how to shape our education systems revolves around the economic needs of our societies.

“What do our students need to find jobs when they graduate?”

 “How can we prepare students for the 21^st Century workforce?”

“What skills will our students need to be productive members in a time of rapid technological advancement?

This is the wrong focus, and these questions leave out some of the most important aspects of education.

The damage we could inflict upon an entire generation of children by reducing them to cogs in an economic machine designed to maximize profit would be devastating.

Education encompass so much more than “college and career readiness,” a term that is often used in the United States.

We must strive to ensure that our children get an education that allows them to be happy, healthy, and successful in life – with “success” being defined in a broad sense that includes much more than the generation of wealth. Of course, within this greater goal, students will be prepared for their future careers and potential further learning after graduation at an institution of higher learning. But, they will also be prepared for so much more.

In order to prepare our students for such a broad goal in this time of rapid change we will need to move beyond the traditional literacies taught in school. The importance of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and history will not wane in the future, but they will have to be intertwined with new literacies in order for our students to meet the complex demands they will face after graduation.

The questions we must ask ourselves must focus on both the old literacies and the new.

“How can we show our students ways to use the learning in school, their passions, and their talents to solve problems in their local and global communities?” 

“What experiences do we need to give students in school that will prepare them for a world that is complex, globally connected, and pluralistic?” 

“How do we help our students develop the ability to have respectful, nuanced conversations with others who have diverse perspectives?” 

“Can we prepare students for the workforce, while simultaneously preparing them to be civically engaged and reflective members of their community?”

Answering these questions means focusing on additional competencies and literacies that must be developed in our students. Here are a few of those “new literacies.”

Global Literacy – In the first decade of my teaching career it was either impossible or prohibitively expensive to provide my students with any kind of video conferencing or virtual experience outside our school. Now, children are routinely chatting face to face with each other from every part of the globe, a field trip to a museum on another continent is a Skype call away, and finding time disconnected is much more difficult than finding ways to connect. In fact, I’m even writing this blog post on an airplane 35,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. Our classrooms and lessons must reflect this interconnected world. We must be giving students access to a diversity of cultures, learning experiences from the globe, and collaboration with those applying concepts being learning in school in actual ways.

Global Literacy, featuring Michael Soskil from Discovery Education on Vimeo.

Emotional Literacy – Studies have shown that emotional intelligence and empathy correlate highly with success in business. Those who are compassionate are also better able to see their worth and are more able to use new learning and resources to help their communities. We must strive to provide opportunities for our students to feel the joy of helping others while they are in school. If we can find the intersection in our schools of technological relevance and strong relationships built on respect and empathy, our future generation will have the building blocks for a peaceful and prosperous society.

Informational Literacy – As information has become ubiquitous due to technology, the ability for manipulation of the public through information has risen exponentially. Our students must learn to identify bias in the information they consume, judge the reliability of sources, and seek multiple viewpoints in their research. They must learn to break out of ideological bubbles caused by social media and recognize the danger of confirmation bias. Success in the future will be dependent on one’s ability to navigate the complexities of constant and instant information. 

 

6 Things My Students Have Taught Me

Twenty-one years later, I still remember my first day of teaching and how misguided my perceptions were about the career upon which I was about to embark. Like so many others, I thought that the primary role of the teacher was to deliver information to students. I couldn’t have been more wrong. 

Now, years later, I have come to understand that being a good teacher is as much about building relationships with students while modeling determination, curiosity, compassion, and helping others through the process of learning. I am constantly learning new things from my students. Here are six things they have taught me.

Don’t take yourself too seriously. I don’t think you can be an effective teacher if you aren’t willing to make mistakes in front of your students and laugh at yourself. When I first started teaching I wanted to make sure my students knew I was in control of the classroom. I had great classroom management, but very little classroom empowerment. Now I am much more comfortable allowing my students to see me as a fellow flawed human. There is a culture of respect in my classroom. I respect my students, they respect me, and they respect each other. Within that culture, we understand each of us makes mistakes on occasion, and that they are learning opportunities.

Passion is powerful. Years ago, when I was teaching 5th grade, I started shifting my classroom to be more focused on letting students learn through their passions. Instead of everyone reading the same non-fiction text to learn our reading standards, students were able to choose books on topics that interested them. Instead of each student having to write a persuasive essay on a prompt that I gave them, they were able to blog about an issue they cared about and publish it to a global audience. As they were able to discover and pursue their passions, they became more engaged in learning. They also helped me see how important it was to pursue my passions and to use my voice to share them with others.

Autonomy is necessary for empowerment. When we find ways to give autonomy to students in the learning process they flourish. I’ve seen this many times in my own classroom, but the example that sticks with me happened during a visit to the HIP Academy in rural western Kenya less than 2 weeks after the school opened. I brought with me some donated tablets and an internet connection. The teachers told me that few of the students had ever seen a screen before I arrived. During my visit I facilitated a Skype call between those children and 2nd grade students in Australia. I told the Kenyan children that they were in charge of teaching the Australians the names of different animals in Swahili. After a few moments of nervousness, the HIP students began to shine with confidence as they picked up stuffed animals and taught their new friends. Being given the chance to be in charge of the call allowed those students to take ownership of the lesson.

You can’t change the world if you don’t know much about it. I teach in the small, rural town where I have lived almost my entire life since I was 11 years old. Like all teachers, I want my students to believe that the learning that happens in school matters, and that they can use it to change their world for the better. I have learned to give them opportunities to see beyond our school walls and make a difference in their local and global communities by connecting with community members and using videoconferencing tools like Skype. As a result, my students have taught me how those experiences allow all of us to see ourselves as interconnected like never before. 

Everybody has the capacity to impact their community for the better. Each time we collaborate with a scientist, astronaut, park ranger, international teacher, or group of students from around the globe, it is a great learning experience for students. So many times those connections have inspired my students to develop ways to make the world a better place. They have designed and fund-raised to build a bridge in Africa so that students could go to school. They have started gardening projects to grow produce for the local food pantry. They have worked to provide clean drinking water for children in the Kibera Slum of Nairobi. They have stopped using plastic straws in the cafeteria in an attempt to save penguins from plastic pollution. Through these student-driven projects and so many others, I have learned that children of any age or background can make their world a better place if given the opportunity.

Teaching is the greatest job in the world. Again and again, my students have taught me that there is no better job on the planet than being a teacher. Teaching is an emotional roller-coaster. Because we care about our students so much, we experience the joys of success with them and the pangs of failure. We deal with the anguish when there are situations out of our control that cause our students pain, and we rejoice when we watch them overcome obstacles to reach their potential. But, we get back so much more than we put into it. Each day we are with our students, we have the opportunity to make the world just a little better for each of them. More importantly, we get to teach them how to affect positive change and feel the joy of doing good for others. Over the years, my students have taught me how lucky I am to get the opportunity to love them and to watch them grow.

Learning With Students From Other Cultures Is a Key to Progress in Our Global Society

Last week I authored a blog post for EdWeek Teacher and NNSTOY on the importance of keeping empathy and the best parts of humanity at the heart of our education system. A few paragraphs from the article are below. You can read the full article at Education Week.

We live in interesting times. As our global society struggles to navigate problems brought about by fear and misunderstanding of those who are different, we have unprecedented access to tools that make connecting and learning with others easier than ever before. This is the great challenge we face as both educators and humans: As technology continues to advance rapidly with an increasing power to both divide and unite us, which course will we choose? The path we take--division or unity--will largely depend on the choices we make in our classrooms and education systems.

The key is to keep empathy, compassion and the best parts of humanity at the heart of our education system while still ensuring the learning in our schools reflects the technological realities outside them. This premise is the basis for Teaching in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Standing at the Precipice, a book I recently authored with five other Global Teacher Prize finalists. While each of us comes from disparate experiences in a wide array of teaching environments, we agree that regardless of how fast computer processors become, machines will never replace teachers. Teachers will always be more important than the technology used in schools. Though they can be helpful tools to help us make positive connections with others, machines will never be able to love students the way we do as teachers.

3 Transformational Learning Activities

Often we hear about how technology is going to transform education. The world isn't the same as it used to be. Information is no longer expensive or difficult to obtain, so it makes sense that we should be helping learners develop ways to use and create knowledge rather than memorize it. Now that the entirety of human knowledge fits into one's pocket, it's time to prepare students for a world in which they will be expected to innovate, create, and solve complex problems.

Yet, this transformation has been slow to develop. For those who have used social media tools to curate a professional network of teacher innovators, innovative and transformational learning experiences seem to be commonplace. In reality, they are not. Despite spending over three billion dollars per year on digital content and providing countless devices for students, the majority of learning experiences that students get in schools are not much different than those they had before. According to the EdWeek article linked above, 

"...a mountain of evidence indicates that teachers have been painfully slow to transform the ways they teach, despite that massive influx of new technology into their classrooms. The student-centered, hands-on, personalized instruction envisioned by ed-tech proponents remains the exception to the rule."

I would imagine that for many teachers, it's difficult to imagine ways to bring transformational experiences to students when you haven't experienced them yourself - especially if you don't know what you don't know. Few districts are using professional development opportunities to model this type of experience for teachers.

Teachers need a place to start.  They need a few easy options to see the value of using the tools we have today to turn control over to students, and some simple ways to get their feet wet. Below are 5 of my favorite ways to help teachers begin transforming their classrooms so that students can be prepared for the world in which we will be sending them.

Take a Virtual Field Trip

We all wish that we had a Magic School Bus like Ms. Frizzle that would take our students anywhere in the world (universe) that we wanted to give them experiences that match our content. Now we do. The combination of Skype (the program) and Skype in the Classroom (the website) make it possible to take your students anywhere you want to go.

Using Skype is easy enough that my 93 year old grandmother has figured it out and uses it regularly to chat with her great-grandchildren. It shouldn't be a problem for teachers to learn how to use.

The Skype in the Classroom website, which is part of the larger Microsoft Educator Community, has hundreds of free virtual field trips available. Taking part is simple - use the filters to search for the experience you want for your students, use the scheduling tool to pick a time, confirm with the presenter via email, and then connect on Skype at the time you chose.

My students have had so many amazing virtual field trips this year that it's hard to highlight one here as an example. They've traveled to outer space with astronomer Dean Hines from the Space Telescope Science Institute, met a live penguin and learned about plastic pollution in our oceans from SANCCOB in South Africa, took a tour of a village in rural Western Kenya to learn about the engineering problems of replacing the village bridge, and interacted with live elephants at the Ringling Brothers Center for Elephant Conservation.  Most recently my students learned about how scientists classify animals based on their unique adaptations from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

Give Students Opportunities to Share Learning

We know that feedback is vital to learning. The more meaningful feedback we can give students, the more opportunities they will have to grow and learn.  Yet, at a time when connecting to others is easier than ever before in human history, the teacher remains the sole source of learner feedback in too many classrooms.

Students need a space to share their learning with others and to get feedback from multiple sources. Several free tools make this easy to do. For middle school and high school students, Blogger (which I'm using to write this blog post) is easy to use.  Others I know have lot of success using Office 365 Blogs from Microsoft and tell me that it is very straightforward to use. This is a great option for schools who are already using Office 365. As an elementary teacher, I have used KidBlog in the past with a lot of success, but it is no longer a free site.  Many former Kidblog users I know are making the transition to SeeSaw which now offers a free blogging feature.

Blogging allows students to be creative in how they share their learning.  Many creation apps and websites have embedding features that allow students to share their work on their blog. Videos can easily be included, so students can share documentation of science projects, classroom activities, or evidence of learning. The more creative the culture of a classroom is, the more options are available to kids.


Global Projects to Connect with Others

As it has become more commonplace for teachers to build professional networks on social media sites, it has also become more common for teachers to develop projects that allow classrooms to connect with each other in ways that fit required curricula.  These projects tend to be easy to join, fun for students, and simple for teachers to adapt to their content.

To find a project for your class, there are a few places that you should look.  First, check out the "Live Lessons" page on the Microsoft Educator Community Website. Here, teachers from around the world have posted project ideas in which they want you to connect your students to theirs.  It's easy to use the filters to find the subject and grade level that matches your need.  Also, have a look at the EdTech Chat 'n Chew Podcast Facebook page.  The podcast that I co-host with other Skype Master Teacher global learning experts creates easy, curriculum based projects each month or so that make it easy for you to connect your students to others.

Another great way to find these types of opportunities for students is to look on Twitter. Hashtags such as #GlobalEd, #GlobalClassroom, #Skype2Learn, and #iearn are great places to look for connections.  There are also many other teachers and organizations that excel in creating this type of opportunity for students. Check out Projects by Jen, Hello Little World Skypers, Global Classroom Project, and iEARN.

Here are examples of great projects that are happening right now and are accepting registration:

1. Virtual Valentines Project - designed to teach students geographical awareness and cultural understanding by connecting classrooms around the world for Valentines' Day. 
2. Global School Play Day - Join 100,000+ students around the world in remembering the joy of unstructured play and how important it is for children's development.
3. Same Day in March Project - Language Arts, Math, and Science are embedded in this activity in which classrooms from around the global will be reading a book, learning about weather, and sharing weather data in a group spreadsheet, and connecting to learn about different locations on the planet.

Transformational learning happens as a result of transformational teachers creating environments in which the learner is in charge of the learning. Technology is providing us with tools that make this easier than ever before. If you have had success with any of the above ideas in your classroom, or would like to give us some other ideas of easy ways to create amazing experiences for learners, please let us know in the comment section below. 

The Only Hope for Our Future

In the wake of yesterday's terroristic attack in Paris, I've been thinking a lot about our future as a global society.  There's a whole lot of hate in the world. People seem to be more and more polarized in their political, religious, and philosophical points of view. Compromise, open-mindedness, and empathy seem to be hard to find. Ignorance and bias has too often replaced enlightenment and truth.

Image Credit - Wikipedia

Yet, there is much hope.  And, it lies in education. After all, isn't education always the answer to ignorance?

But, our focus in education must change with the time in which we live.  Much of the polarization and ignorance we face is the result of a society living hyper-connected lives in a time of information overload without having prepared for it. We surround ourselves with others who agree with us and points of view that match our own. So rare is the intellectual, unemotional exchange of differing ideas. Having instant access to all the knowledge of the human race in one's pocket makes it easy to find justification for whatever makes us feel better - truth be damned.

The internet and all its positive and negative aspects came upon us suddenly. We were unprepared. We are still unprepared a generation later. I could write another dozen posts on the way fear keeps us from teaching students to navigate the bias that is so heavily embedded in the information that bombards them. Instead of preparing students for the world they will inherit, we have made schools into institutions of content delivery.

We strive to teach mathematics in school.  Yet, mathematics can be used to help engineer a manned mission to Mars, or mathematics can be used to engineer a more effective bomb.

We strive to teach writing in school.  Yet, writing can be used to persuade others to help their fellow man, or writing can be used to create propaganda designed to recruit more to a campaign of hate.

We strive to teach science.  Yet, science can be used to find a cure for the world's diseases or science can be used to turn those diseases into the next biological weapon.

It's time, in this time of information abundance, to switch our focus in education from learning content to using content to make the world a better place. Empathy, not the 3 Rs, needs to be the focus of education.  Content needs to become the means to the end, not the end itself.

Because children who learn the joy of doing good for others at a young age and are given opportunities to make a real difference in the world grow to be the positive change makers of tomorrow.  The only way to extinguish darkness is to spread light.

This is not idealogical wishful thinking.  It is because I see so many examples of cultural understanding through global collaboration and student service learning that I remain optimistic for the future. Being hyper-connected doesn't have to be negative. It is through my global network of inspiring educators that I see the amazing stories of what is possible.  We need to teach our students the power of using ubiquitous, instant information for good instead of evil. Whether we like it or not, a hyper-connected world is the one we are sending them into.

Our only hope for our future is education being used to teach understanding, appreciation of differences, and empathy.  I've always loved to travel because it has made me a better person.  Each new culture I have encountered has allowed me the opportunity to look inward and assimilate the best parts of that culture into myself.  This has made me more well rounded.  At a time when virtual travel is free and easy to do in our classrooms, we owe our students that same opportunity.

I am thankful to those who inspire me with the work they are doing to make these positive changes in our education system.  This morning in our Skype Master Teacher group I posted the following:

I appreciate being a part of a group that is working toward the only viable solution to the hatred we see in this world. I am thankful to be surrounded (virtually, and on a few spectacular occasions physically) by the two dozen or so of you who are making it your life's work to spread understanding of others and appreciation of differences to the students of the world. The only way to combat hate is love, and the work you all do to expose students to the power of global collaboration over individual competition, the power of celebrating cultural diversity instead of mistrusting those different from ourselves, the power of seeing a global society instead of maps with human created arbitrary lines is modeling the greatest hope we have as a planet.

To all of the educators that I know, and to those I haven't met yet, who are doing this important work, you have my admiration and thanks.  To those who haven't started yet, we await you with open arms.

Global Service Learning

While at ISTE last week, I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Greenberg, who interviewed me for his Brainwaves Video Anthology series. Bob seeks out "thinkers, dreamers, and innovators; some of the brightest minds in education" and seeks to record their stories to help inspire other teachers.  It was an honor to be chosen by Bob to be a part of this project.  Below is my 4 minute talk about the power that global service learning has had on our students at the Wallenpaupack South Elementary School.

Finding a #MysterySkype Connection for Your Students

Mystery Skype is an educational game, invented by teachers, played by two classrooms on Skype. The aim of the game is to build cultural awareness, critical thinking skills, and geography skills by guessing the location of the other classroom through a series of yes/no questions. Other variations can be used for different content areas.  Classes can play “Mystery Element” or “Mystery Animal” in science class, “Mystery Number” in math class, or “Mystery Historical Figure” in history class.  It is suitable for all age groups, from Kindergarten through college, and can be adapted for almost any subject area.  Some general guidelines that I’ve typed for my teachers can be found here: Mystery Skype Guidelines

Once people learn about Mystery Skype and the student learning that results from playing, they immediately want to begin setting up connections for their students.  In this post, I will share three easy ways to find a partner class for your next Mystery Skype game.

Skype in the Classroom Website

If you have never taken the time to explore the Skype in the Classroom (SITC) website, drop everything and do it now. In addition to Mystery Skype connections, this site will allow you to find authors, scientists, social innovators, and experts who are willing to talk to your students via Skype call to enhance their learning. There are also Skype Guide lessons which will teach you how to use Skype in your classroom and how to best use the website to create amazing learning experiences for your students.

Finding Mystery Skype connections is amazingly easy on the Skype in the Classroom Website.  First, create an account and log in. You can use your Skype or Microsoft ID to create your SITC account.  Be aware that, while they are connected to each other, your SITC account and your Skype account are different.

 

Next, Click on the “Mystery Skype” link on the top of the page (click on pictures to see them bigger).

On the next page, scroll down a bit and you will see a few different ways to connect with other teachers who are willing to Mystery Skype.  On the left side of the page, there are drop down menus that will allow you to narrow down the choices.  This is helpful because there are over 100,000 teachers and experts using the Skype in the Classroom website.  If you choose “United States” as the country you will have the option of narrowing your choices down by state as well. Clicking on any teacher’s name will take you to his/her profile where you can send him/her a message (see below).

My favorite way of searching for Mystery Skype connections on SITC is by using the map feature.  Above the drop down menus there is a blue button that says, “Search the Map.

The interactive map is very easy to use.  Simply move the map and zoom in/out on the location with which you are looking to connect.  Teachers and guest speakers in the area shown on the map will appear below.  Clicking on any of their names will take you to the teacher’s profile.  On this page you can see Skype in the Classroom lessons that he/she have created, lessons in which they’ve participated, and information about his/her class.  To contact the teacher to set up your Mystery Skype, click on the “Send a Message” link on the right side of the page.

In the message, make sure to introduce yourself, to list what classes and/or grades you teach, and to list a few times that you would like to connect.  I also like to include my email address and to have the teacher respond to me via email so that it is easier to keep track of our discussion.

Finding Connections on Twitter

Many educators use Twitter to learn from each other, share lesson ideas, and to set up collaborative projects for their students.  This is a great tool that can be used to find Mystery Skype connections as well.

To get the most out of Twitter, it is important to understand hashtags. Hashtags are used by people in their tweets as a way of curating posts into categories. For example, someone sending a tweet about a math lesson might put #mathchat in their post so that others who follow that hashtag can see it and respond.  Kindergarten teachers may use #kinderchat in their tweets, and principals may use #edadmin.  A rather comprehensive list ofeducational hashtags has been collected and published by Jerry Blumengarten. 

If you tweet out a request for a Mystery Skype using the correct hashtags, there is a good chance that another teacher will see it and respond to you. It’s always a good idea to put the age/grade of your students and any preferences you have in your post.  Since you only have 140 characters, feel free to use abbreviations like “Ss” for Students and “Ts” for teachers.  Make sure that you use one (or more) of the hashtags below in your 140 character post.

Some of the best hashtags to use when looking for Mystery Skype connections are:

•        #MysterySkype – Lots of teachers follow this hashtag and use it to connect.
•        #Skype2Learn – This hashtag is used for Mystery Skype as well as other types of Skype lessons.
•        #SkypeMT – Skype Master Teachers are experts at using Skype in education. Using this hashtag will let them see your request and help you find a connection.
•        #GlobalLearning – Teachers from around the world who connect their classrooms for global projects follow this hashtag.

A good tweet might look something like this:

Following the hashtags listed above is also a good idea if you are interested in using Skype in your classroom.  To follow a hashtag on Twitter, use the search feature at the top of the page. Type the hashtag you wish to follow in the search field.  Make sure to include the # at the beginning of the hashtag.

After you search for the hashtag you’d like to follow, click on “All” on the top of the page to see all tweets using that hashtag.  If you see a post to which you would like to respond, click on the arrow below the tweet.  This will allow you to tell the person that you are interested in connecting with him/her.

Building your professional network on Twitter will also make it easier for you to find connections.  When you see people who are tweeting about things that interest you, click on their name.  In their profile you will find a button which will allow you to follow them and see all of their tweets. Just as in real life, the more you interact with people, the more you will build relationships that lead to collaboration.

Use Your Other Social Media Networks to Find Connections

Many people think of Facebook as a place to share pictures with friends and family, but it can be a great tool for finding connections for your students.  It never hurts to ask for what you need from your network.  I’ve had a lot of success finding experts to connect with my students in this way.  It also can be a great way to find Mystery Skype contacts. 

Facebook groups also provide excellent opportunities for teachers to connect and learn from each other.  Some groups are public (anybody can join and contribute), and others are private (you must be invited).  If you do a search in Facebook for “Education”, you will see more than a thousand groups where educators are communicating and collaborating with each other. More specific searches such as “Mystery Skype” will give you less results, but may help you find a group that meets your needs.  Find a public group that looks interesting, and join to get involved. If you see a closed group that you would like join, you can send a request for membership. 

The Most Important Thing Is to Get Started

Trying something new is always a little scary. Setting up your first Mystery Skype is no different.  It’s natural to be nervous, especially when you know that another teacher will be seeing your class and any mistakes you make on camera.  Everyone feels that way when they start out, and for that reason, the communities of teachers on the Skype in the Classroom website, Twitter, and Facebook are usually happy to help you get started.  Don’t be afraid to tell the teacher(s) that you connect with that you are new to using Skype and may need some help. Teachers who are experienced at creating this type of learning experience become passionate about helping others do the same for their students.

Once you start using Mystery Skype as a learning tool with your students a new world of global learning will open up to you.  The possibilities really are limitless when you can bring other classes and amazing people into your classroom via Skype to help your students learn. You can see the reactions of teachers to the amazingexperiences their students have had on the SITC website.

There’s no time like right now to add your story to that list.  Go find your perfect Mystery Skype connection!