Leveraging Technology to Connect With Others

Technology offers us the power to connect with other people all over the world! This is one of the greatest ways to show our kiddos how what they are learning in the classroom can transfer to life outside the walls of of our rooms. Recently several of our talented teachers have taken advantage of this power.

Ms. Moricz and Ms. Althaus at Manzanita and Ms. Hawkins and Sra Villareal at Ventana Vista used Skype on World Read Aloud Day. These teachers talked with real, live authors who spoke with students about the writing process, what it's like to publish a book, and they read a book out loud to the students. Students were engaged, excited, and were able to clearly see how the skills they were learning in about writing and reading in class are relevant all over the world.

Ms. Meder at Ventana Vista also took advantage of Skype's video chat capability this week! Her Spanish students are studying what daily life and culture is like in Colombia.

She used Skype to talk to a Colombian family who lives in Medellin, Colombia. Students researched and then developed their own questions, which they asked the family to get a first-hand account of what the culture and daily life of Colombia really is.

Leveraging technology to provide students with these types of opportunities also provides them with deeper learning of our District's DLP's in Citizenship and Communication.

Communication of this type helps students to engage in conversations and discussions, use digital communication tools and communicate in diverse environments. Deep learning in Citizenship associated with this proficiency include cultural literacy and civic literacy and engagement.

What ideas do you have for helping your students connect with others outside of the walls of our schools? What are you already doing that you could share with others in our learning community?