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My orchestra performed a piece based on a traditional Puerto Rican carol this winter. I was able to connect with some friends in Puerto Rico to talk about the music and about how the hurricane affected them. After our talk, my class organized a fundraiser for hurricane relief and was able to raise funds at our concert.
Connecting was difficult because of the timing of my classes and the limited internet connection in Puerto Rico, so this made it a bit tough. It would be a better connection if we were able to talk directly next time.

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Our Instructional Coach, Laura Willis, has been connecting different classrooms at our school with other schools using Mystery Skype. A couple of weeks ago, my class was connected with one from Colchester, Vermont. It was very fun to see my students using map skills, knowledge of time zones and questions to pinpoint the city. It was a great way yo show students the importance of using clues to figure out what they are looking for and it was great to see students step up in roles I wouldn't normally see being the math teacher.

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Mystery Skype: Ms. Blumenshein's Academic Success

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Mystery Skype: Ms. Blumenshein's Academic Success

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Laura connected me with another 6th grade teacher in Cuba! (Cuba, Illinois) through Mystery Skype. Our class decided together what kinds of questions would be best to ask the other class; they could only be answered by yes or no. Our goal was to pinpoint where the mystery class was by asking questions about their location. Our class learned how to work as a team to accomplish a goal, how to communicate through a Google Doc, and how to use our map skills to help us succeed! We were also able to learn about the school our mystery students attended- their school is solar powered!

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(See Laura Willis's post for details about our Mystery Skype with a class in Alabama.) Students were incredibly excited and engaged the entire time. As we finished, I reflected on the number of skills students used from collaboration, problem solving, map skills, using print & digital resources, questioning, and more. Students have asked when they get to do it again... relevant learning!

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During a movie day at the end of the quarter, Kelly Stroeing and I asked students if they would like to participate in a Mystery Skype instead of a movie. We quickly got about 40 students, most of whom had never done a Mystery Skype before. I used Paul Solarz's resources to set up the library and provide jobs for students to keep them engaged and motivated throughout the process.
http://psolarz.weebly.com/how-to-set-up-and-run-a-mystery-skype-session.html
Kelly and I sent out the following link to resources and a video showing a Mystery Skype so students would have a little bit more knowledge before the Skype. https://docs.google.com/a/isd535.org/document/d/1NrLTzMcuEok5woWmTYZGQHOp6k4vbpBXsZTq8oHvW7s/edit?usp=sharing
We met the students in the library about 30 min. before the skype to review maps, our shared Google Doc of questions, and how to ask a general question vs. a specific question. During the Skype, 2 students were chosen to communicate directly with the other class. We had signs to put up in front of the screen for Yes, No, and Thinking. We were able to narrow down that they were in Alabama within the first 5 min., but it took another 25 or so to ask specific questions relating to highways, physical features of Alabama to guess they were in Centreville. I've never seen a group of students so excited about a lesson! It was fantastic! I highly recommend trying a Mystery Skype!

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RALC
We did a Mystery Skype with 2 classes in Iowa. Students practiced mapping skills beforehand and learning about local geography. During the Mystery Skype student applied these skills as they competed to see who could guess the location first.

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Reflect using the questions above.