Looking for Learning

Video conferencing has gotten more and more sophisticated in the past few years. “It used to be so hard to do” sang some rocker in the 80’s… yes it was. I think CuSeeMe was the first video program I tried, then Netmeeting, then a short-lived thing called iVisit. My kids talked to kids in Wales – choppy, with echoes and frozen frames. Then along came Sightspeed and Skype, so now with a little broadband and a cheap webcam, we can see into classrooms in any timezone around the world with good audio and often good video – assuming that those on the other end are awake the same time that we are.

So, I get around to my point here, last week we connected with a grade 4 teacher in Connecticut who teaches a very small class of 11 kids – all native Spanish speakers. Mr. Greenberg, however, had a previous occupation – yes, he was a magician. In our video meeting last week, he amazed the kids by seemingly tearing a newspaper into shreds, the calmly opened up the unshredded, whole newspaper. Were there gasps in my classroom? Giant gasps. The remainder of the conference was based on language sharing: my kids were teaching mandarin Chinese numbers and phrases, and Mr. Greenberg’s kids were teaching us the same or similar words and phrases in Spanish.

My kids take it for granted that we can just “call” whomever we please directly from our classroom – and in return, anyone might just call us while we are having class – and that does happen. The Skype rhythmic melody sings out from time to time, and we stop what we’re doing and see who’s calling. Only takes a moment, and it of course breaks any concentration we might have on social studies or whatever else I might be teaching, but the curiosity and the fun of it is worth it.

I have Mr. Greenberg on video tearing up the newspaper, and I still can’t see how he does that trick.