One of Mrs. Fiedler's areas of expertise (and she has many!) is in bringing the world to MPMS students through videoconferencing. Skype in the Classroom and Google Hangouts allow teachers to break down the walls of the classroom, opening up a world of opportunity as students connect with experts and collaborate with classes across the globe.
To arrange a videoconference, we use technology (mostly the Internet, email, or social media like Twitter) to reach out to an expert in a field our students are currently studying. It's a cool way to take a virtual field trip to a place students would not be able to travel to: oceans, the arctic, museums. Students are more engaged by interacting with other people than they would be by simply reading about a topic or looking at pictures. Once we find someone willing to talk with students, we use tech tools that offer video and audio of the speaker as we project the image on a big screen. The speaker can see our students as they listen, and students learn appropriate audience behavior from these sessions. They listen politely, ask thoughtful questions, and learn to effectively communicate.
To arrange a videoconference, we use technology (mostly the Internet, email, or social media like Twitter) to reach out to an expert in a field our students are currently studying. It's a cool way to take a virtual field trip to a place students would not be able to travel to: oceans, the arctic, museums. Students are more engaged by interacting with other people than they would be by simply reading about a topic or looking at pictures. Once we find someone willing to talk with students, we use tech tools that offer video and audio of the speaker as we project the image on a big screen. The speaker can see our students as they listen, and students learn appropriate audience behavior from these sessions. They listen politely, ask thoughtful questions, and learn to effectively communicate.