Saturday, February 9, 2013

Bringing Geography to Life with Mystery Skype

Super Stars greeting our partner class. 
As part of our unit on North America, our Rocketeers have participated in several Mystery Skype Calls this quarter. These kinds of calls involve guessing the location of the classroom we are talking to through a series of yes/no questions. Although the directions are simple enough, the challenge lies in the work that occurs behind the scenes. As our call takes place, so do several Skype Jobs. Here is a quick list:






Question Keepers consulting with Map Keepers. 

  • Super Stars- These two students are responsible for answering the call, greeting our partner class, asking our series of questions, along with answering questions from our partner class. 
  • Question Keepers/Runners- These students are in charge of keeping track of the questions being asked by our class, responses given to our questions, and writing any new questions that our Logical Reasoners or Map Keepers may come up with. 
  • Map Keepers- This group is in charge of marking maps and using atlases based on the clues given. They also assist in creating questions throughout the call.
  • Logical Reasoners- This group is responsible for putting all the pieces together by taking the clues given and either composing new questions or deciding what question to ask next. 
  • Class Tweeter- This student is responsible for composing live tweets while our call is taking place. This student can ask questions and summarize key points of our call. 
  • Reporter- This student is in charge of capturing the call as it happens by summarizing key points, reactions, responses, etc. on a word processor. 
Logical Reasoners picking their brains. 
Our Map Keepers hard at work!

  Have a look at a call with our 3rd graders below.

If your class is interested in trying out a Mystery Skype call with our Rocketeers, please leave us a comment below!

3 comments:

  1. Dear Ms. Deyamport's Class,

    Thank you for doing Mystery Skype with us! We had fun watching the video. We liked the idea of having a class tweeter and reporter and we think we'll add those jobs to our next Skype.

    We were talking about how we heard on the news that a tornado had gone through your area. Doing Mystery Skype with you made that event seem much more real to us, even all the way here on the other side of the country. We are worried about you and hope you are all okay!

    Your friends,

    Mrs. Hamman's Class

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mrs. Hamman's Class,

      Thank you for your concern! It was a very frightening experience for us but we are safe and glad it is over! We had no damages to our school, however our buses were destroyed and our high school baseball field and gymnasium took a hard hit. Certain parts of our communities and city are devastated, too. We appreciate you thinking of us!

      Sincerely,

      Mrs. Deyamport & the REACH Rocketeers

      Delete
  2. I really like your post.It's very informative and interesting. I really appreciate that.

    thanks for sharing information with us.

    Skype Technical Help

    ReplyDelete