Reflecting on our Mystery Skype Call with Ms. Vo's Class

On Friday, we had a Mystery Skype call with a class in Dallas, Texas. They are on Twitter and we can continue to connect with them there.

We had a sneaky-peek of where they were located before our call, so, while they tried to find out our city, we worked to figure out which one of the many, many schools in Dallas they were from. 

After our call (which was their second ever Mystery Skype), we reflected on our work during the call.

Lately, we have been using "Stars and Planets" instead of "Stars and Wishes". We think about "Planning" rather than "Wishing", because that makes us more responsible, and Plan-It, rather than just sitting and wishing.

Mystery Skype

Stars:

-we were all very respectful of their different interpretations

-our questions were really well thought of

-all doing good things on computers

-we listened really well

-people were including others to share laptops

Planets:

-more people participating

-be more quiet, no shhushing needed

-we should have more questions planned out beforehand

-nobody talking unless it’s your turn

-more quiet because ipad picks up noise

-when you’re sharing, speak loudly

-stay more on task

-next time, Shauna should hook to projector once we’re connected

-follow instructions the first time

Skype Call #1 - Miss Nochumson's Class - by Kaleigh

Mystery Skype is when two teachers from different countries plan something for the classes and they have to figure out what country and city the other class is in. There are different jobs for the kids.

Mel trying to tell somthing to somone

Vickie holding up a Messenger sign and Laryssa and Fin working on maps.

Me and Camden and Jackson working together.

They are asking something to our Skype friends.

Mel is typing  a question on the computer

Isaac before the call

We are making a Messanger sign and a problem solver sign.

The heads of Thomas and Ethan and Jack and Molly.

They are listening to a question that our Skype friends are asking.

Fiona writing something down on a whiteboard.

The Atlas Mappers sign.

Finley scratching something out on the map.

Millie looking at the globe, trying to figure something out.

Ethan and Thomas, trying to figure something out. Ethan looks stumped.

Hunter and Miguel looking up something as Google Mappers.

The Globe!

Jack and Molly answering a question.

Me holding up a Messenger sign.

Someone crossing something out.

The atlas books.

Liam holding up "Hello Skype Friends".

The Greeters holding up the sign, "Hello Skype Friends"!

They are listening to a question and then the Answerers are gonna answer it. It was so much fun.

We are saying "Goodbye" to our Skype friends!

-photos by Lauren and Shauna

Skype Call #2 - Miss Mim's Class

-photos by Madi and Shauna

Mystery Skype Reflection

Last week we had two super quick, back to back Mystery Skypes. We got to meet students from Ms. Nochumson and Ms. Nim's classes. Ms. Nochumson teaches a class of girls at a private school called Sacred Heart in New York City. Ms. Nim teaches a class in Delaware.

It was a very interesting process and we experienced a mix of emotions throughout!

Today, the students in Room 209 reflected on their experience.

Here is what they wrote:

Questions we could ask next time that would help us narrow the options down more quickly:
-are you on the eastern side of the world? (Camden)
-are you in the northern hemisphere? (Thomas)
-are you north of the equator? (Hunter)
-does your state/province border another country? (Pat)
-are you on the border of your country? (Mollie)
-does your flag have a specific colour on it? (Thomas)
-are you surrounded by ocean? (Vickie)
-are you in a coastal city? (Hunter)
-does your state/province begin with a certain letter? (Pat)
-do you have three or more syllables in the name of your country? (Jack)
-is the first letter of your country in the second half of the alphabet? (Jack)
-has your state/province/country ever fought for independence? (Pat)
-are you affected by all four seasons? (Hunter)
-is your country in the United Nations? (Hunter)
-do you have a queen? (Mel)
-do you speak in a different language at your house? (Fin)
-do you live in the capital city? (Fin)
-do you constantly get droughts? (Fin)

Things we learned (facts and/or elements of the Mystery Skype process):
-doing Skype on Isaac is very hard because the volume does not go high enough. (Thomas)
-communication is really important because everyone has to be on the same page (Pat)
-I learned that Lady Gaga went to Sacred Heart in NYC. (Thomas)
-I learned that Mystery Skype is very fun. (Thomas)
-I learned that you need to pay to get in to a private school! (Vickie)
-you always have room to improve (Pat)
-137 countries have red in their flags (Hunter)
-I am really good with Google Maps (Hunter)
-Mystery Skype is very overwhelming (Sophia)
-people in the U.S. are a lot like us! (Camden)
-you can find someone somewhere else in the world pretty fast; under half an hour (Camden)
-Americans are nice! (Camden)
-Skypes don't normally have very good vision (Jack)
-there are lots of schools in New York (Jack)
-I love taking pictures (Madi)
-I'm OK at typing and I like typing (Madi)
-I learned that our class works quite well together. Sometimes we don't, but I think this time we did! (Fiona)
-I learned that there was such a thing as Mystery Skype! (Fiona)
-I learned that Delaware was in the USA (Fiona)
-many continents start with an A (Mel)
-the Question Keeper job is SO hard! (Mel)
-I am a really fast typer (Fin)
-there are 50 states in America (Millie)

Things you think could make things even better next time:
-people in the background could be more quiet (Thomas)
-the Messengers should not put questions in the Inquirers faces (Thomas)
-we should use Pat's idea and have a Think Tank at each table (Hunter)
-give a secondary job to the Problem Solver becasue he/she doesn't get much time doing their job (Jack)
-ask better questions, because the questions that people asked could have been a lot better (Jack)
-everyone gets a turn to ask a question (Madi)
-I think it would work better if there was just one Answerer and 1 Inquirer, because I found it was too hard with two of each (Fiona)
-spread the Skypes out instead of having them right after each other (Mollie)
-maybe, Messengers only talk to Inquirers when the other class is speaking (Mollie)
-people should work hard not to yell out names (Vickie)

Things that went really well:
-everyone worked well together (Thomas)
-we got the cities relatively fast (Pat)
-people went to their jobs quickly (Sophia)
-people worked quickly and well with each other (Camden)
-half an hour was the perfect amount of time because on the first Skype, we both figured out each other's cities within half an hour (Jack)
-I think the back and forth went pretty smoothly (Fiona)
-we asked really good questions and got it pretty fast (Mollie)
-most people worked hard and started very fast (Vickie)
-I think it went really well how everyone was focused with a job! (Erika)

Planning for Mystery Skype

Tomorrow we are going to be doing not one, but TWO Mystery Skypes! We will be virtually meeting two different classes in different places via Skype! We will be playing a game with them in which we will ask only "yes" and "no" questions and try to guess where they live and go to school!

We prepared a lot for this today and we are all very excited (with a somewhat nervous teacher) for tomorrow!

We watched a video in which a class did a Mystery Skype and got lots of great ideas.


Here's what we came up with:

Mystery Skypes TOMORROW!

We watched a video of a Mystery Skype

We noticed:

-a lot of people going on the Internet to look at maps and looking at maps around the classroom. -Daniel

-that they were using white boards and searching a lot of places in the world for what people were saying about where they live. -Sophia

-they were using real maps out of paper (in atlases, some printed maps)-Lauren

-they had different strategies to find where the Mystery Skype class was. They were looking up maps on computers, they were writing down guesses on computers and whiteboards. -Vickie

-some people were a bit silly. -Mike

-it was hard to hear the questions because other people were making noises. -Lary

-they had a bunch of resources to use – a map, someone typing up questions, google. They had them all set up. -Fiona

-they were using elimination. - Madi

-they were cooperating really, really well. They were talking nicely to the people next to them and trying to figure things out. -Pan

-there were a lot of electronics – google maps, Microsoft Word. –Ethan

-all the questions were “yes” and “no” questions. -Lary

We should:

-have some people typing to write down what we learn. – Mel

-switch jobs each time we do a Mystery Skype. – Mel

-we should print up a bunch of maps, we should scribble out the places where they’re not from. – Fiona

-we should ask them what time it is right then and look at a time zone map. – Pat

-keep the background of our class quiet so we can hear the questions clearly. -Thomas

-work together on the computer, one searching, one writing. - Gabby

A plan for our game:

-Introduction (hello, sing our class song?)

-Start game

-if a team gets a “yes” answer, they keep asking

-do we need to have jobs?

-What if they ask us a question we don’t know the answer to?

Questions ewe might ask:

-Are you in the northern hemisphere? -Lary-

Are you in the southern hemisphere? Thomas

-Do you have volcanoes where you come from? Mel

-Is there still polio in your country? Sophia

-Does it snow where you come from? Madi

-Is it morning right now? Pan

-Are you a poor country? Mollie

-Are you on the east side of the world? Fiona

-Do you have all four seasons? Gabbs

-Do you border an ocean

-Are you near the Pacific Ocean? Kaleigh

-Do you border another country? Laryssa

-Do you live in Europe? Jack

-Do you live in Holland? Jack

-Do you have any jungles? Mike

-Did you see any wild animals? Mike

-Do you live in Asia? Ethan

-Do you live in Moscow? Ethan

-Is it hot there? Vickie

-Are you in a large country? Camdonian

-Do you live near Brazil? Kay-Kay

-Do you have any endangered animals? Camden

-Do you have multiple languages in your culture? Pat

-Is one of them English? Pat