Welcome to My Blog!

Being a teacher is full of ups, downs, and in betweens. I love the look on a students face when they learn how to read. I love when students can solve problems on their own. I absolutely love when students feel proud of their work, and want to share it with the class. This blog is going to be full of moments in the classroom, pictures, and sometimes videos. Take everything with a grain of salt, as it is my opinion & reflections.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Skype Day 1 & Reflections from a 5th Grader





We had an amazing day yesterday! This year, the I had the students lead the entire event- I simply facilitated. They did amazing. Day 1 was a success. We Skyped: a class in Iceland, a class in New Zealand, a past NFL Player, a Night Zoo Keeper Website Creator, a children's author, a class in Maryland, the Co-Creator of Phineas and Ferb, A Museum of Paleontology, a class in Serbia, Badlands National Park, and we had a face to face pep-talk with Noah​.  Day 2, starting at 8:00 AM!

(See Below for a run-down of the day from a student)
Today, everyone is so excited for the first day of the fourth annual skypeathon! This is the first skype of the day, exclusive to only those that come to school early. Such a horrific feat must mean the skype will be extraordinary. More to come when the skype starts.

Iceland
Now that the skype has been orchestrated, everyone is excited for the next skype. The skype was... decent. The questions weren't the smoothest, but, it was the first skype of the day and the
five o'clock shadows apparently hadn't been shaved and the breakfast hadn't been eaten. It was still, even regarding the speedbumps, an intro to the best week of the year.

Swampy Marsh (Phineas and Ferb creator)
Now the nostalgia is kicking in. Everyone is dying to know the creator of their favorite childhood show. It's started to rain, and the tension could be cut with a knife. No one can wait for the skype to start. Swampy hasn't responded either time we called, and the situation is getting awkward... to say the least...

The skype never started at the scheduled time, and everyone was disappointed when we had to leave a video message with all the questions we planned to ask. A somber moment in the skyepathon this year. Hopefully he'll message us back or send us an apology... something to... soften the blow...

Kevin Kurtz (author)
An interesting and inspirational skype. This time the skype was perfectly executed, the questions were smooth, conversation was good, and everyone was quiet and respectful (considering the room was filled with 1st graders and kindergarteners, that's pretty impressive).
Overall, it was a pretty amazing skype. (I write these during the skype, and as i wrote this, the photographer, teddy, poked me in the eye with his camera flash, and i missed something funny, apparently)

Night Zookeeper
This skype was... strange. The man who runs the "Night Zoo" seems like he believes in the magical creatures... we all knew it was to keep an illusion, but it still seemed... almost surreal...
Anyway, enough about my blabbing and griping about mythical animals, but, the skype was well executed. I'm not exactly sure IF he really works in a real zoo, but, he seemed pretty into the illusion. He was talking about an invisible giraffe and a.. time traveling elephant... He read one of the students stories, and was very kind and excited to see us so interested.

Badlands NP
This skype was very educatinal in a fun way. The ranger seemed really down to earth and seemed pretty cool. He showed us a couple of fossils, and even one that was a murder case... That had been found by a 7 year old girl. Overall the skype seemed like one of the best ones yet.

mirjana milovie (serbian english teacher)
Overall, one of the more exciting skypes. Everyone (at least a few of us) were super excited speaking to people from a different culture learning about OUR culture. Some people *caugh* *caugh* (Freddie) didn't make conversation, but, it was still a nice round skype in the end. At least it was very exciting, and their English was surprisingly amazing.

Derek Moore (NFL/Motivational Speaker)
Such an inspiring and motivational skype (what's more, he's a motivational speaker). he spoke of his  experiences as an NFL player. The question askers were so fluent, and the conversation was, well, the fluent speaking really made up for it. It was probably THE MOST exciting skype of today. I would say second but, the original first didn't quite work out *cough* *cough* (Swampy Marsh... Still a cool guy though).

Museum of Paleontology
This skype was very exact. Everything was extremely strict. I actually got to ask a question this time, and, i was extremely nervous. We learned alot though, so it made up for it. The skype was probably the third most exciting skype of the day.

Swampy Marsh (AGAIN)
YES!!! Finally, EVERYONE is super excited about finally meeting Jeff Swampy Marsh.

The most hyped skype that now takes number one best. The skype was almost PERFECT. The questions were smooth, the conversation was good, and the entire skype was just phenomenal! 

Noah (our teachers brother)
This was a surprise, as Mrs. R's little brother Noah came to speak to us. I asked a question THIS time also. He talked to us about success, and I really think he made a difference.

New Zealand

The last Skype of the day, exclusive to those performing an even greater more horrific feat than coming to school early... staying late (dun dun dun). The Skype was well executed, everyone was fluent, conversation was back and forth, and everyone was excited to answer and ask questions. Definitely a great way to wrap up the first day of skypeathon #4

No comments:

Post a Comment