Our third graders are learning about different communities.They have spoken via Skype with classes from a suburb of Los Angeles, CA , an rural community in Missouri and a city, Weatherford, TX. The latest connection was with Anna Faridaku, a teacher and children’s book author from Indonesia. Students took turns speaking with Anna, who was just amazing in connecting (via the screen) to the kids, answering and asking questions. She engaged them and pushed them to deeper thinking about similarities and differences about our communities.
Will Richardson talks about Three starting points to think differently about “Learning. In addition to “Thinning the Classroom Wall” and “Being Transparent”, he lists “Talking to Strangers” as one of the starting point!
Being able to connect and learn with strangers is an important skill for all of us, and especially for a generation that will be learning online for the rest of their lives.
The above image visualizes how we are taking learning about a country from only looking at a map and reading about it in a book to talking to a “stranger “who lives in that country. We still used the map and books for background knowledge and preparation, but information is amplified:
- Information comes from a primary source
- Information is fluid, not rigid, it will adjust to the questions the students have (a book will only hold the information that editors have decided on including and will not magically switch in front of your eyes :))
- Information can take on directions, tailored to your students’ interests
- Information can
“Talking to Strangers” is a critical skill to possess. It contributes to information fluency. It so dramatically contrasts the drill we heard over and over again from our parents. We used to be taught “DON’T talk to strangers” and now need the skills to do precisely that.
Disclaimer: I am not talking about talking to a stranger in a dark alley at night! 🙂
The Magic of Learning http://t.co/hV2SIOzH via @langwitches
Thinking About Learning Differently- Talking to Strangers http://t.co/Ljb8QXhq
Thinking About Learning Differently- Talking to Strangers http://t.co/RJ9tvXQx via @langwitches
There are very few absolutes in life and never talking to strangers isn’t one of them either. I never told my own kids this as I always found traveling and meeting new people to be highly educational. People love absolutes and black and white rules, it makes life simpler.
Words like “never” and “always” make me perk up as I finding few ideas work with those as prefaces. Instead, as you’ve shared, there are many situations, circumstances and environments when talking to strangers is a wonderful thing. I’d suggest there are fewer situations where it is not. They exist but our tendency to focus on fear has cost us many opportunities to learn. Essentially, we’re awful at risk management.
I think that using Skype in a classroom setting would be such a positive addition. This would make having a classroom “visitor” or speaker much easier, as no one would have to worry about traveling. It would also allow students to interact with people from all around the world, which would help them grow as global learners.
It would be so neat for the students to talk with people from other countries where the books they are reading take place.
That sounds like a great idea Tammy! I think you should try it! I can definitely see it making the stories more meaningful to the students.
I also think it would be interesting for students to talk with people from other areas. Rather than areas where the books my students are reading take place, I am picturing this as a nice addition to the current events program my students use. I implement the News-2-You program in my classroom and my students often ask to visit and see the places and events that we talk about. Talking with people from these areas/events using Skype would offer more insight to the real world events for my students.
@Katelyn That News2-You program sounds interesting. A great way to bring the world to your students.
I feel that Skyping with students from other areas is important for our children to learn.
This is a great project idea. I teach high school, but will adapt it to my students. Interaction with real people gives students so many opportunities to learn about other cultures and lifestyles around the world- as well as your content area!
There are many curricular benefits to communicating with people from around the world that could be discussed. I’d like to add the one more thing to the conversation. I’ve heard from multiple sources that children have poor communication skills because of technology (idk, lol, brb, etc.) And in some ways I agree. It’s difficult to see a group of teens sitting in a room together, all on devises, not talking to each other at all. But in our global society, teaching students to communicate with people using the technology is a different story. The ability to have a productive conversation with someone you don’t know in a professional manner is a skill that will help any individual throughout his or her adult, professional life. Skype is a wonderful too to help children practice. Technology is not the enemy of communication. It’s a tool that opens so many doors.
AS a kindergarten teacher, I am often reminding students to NOT talk to strangers, however since reading this article I am now looking at that directive a little differently. By Skyping with ‘strangers’ we could open the door to a conversation about a safe stranger and a not-so-safe stranger, not to mention the learning opportunities that could occur around the globe.
Melissa, as a kindergarten teacher also, I can see what you mean about avoiding “strangers.” It could be a great way to introduce internet safety practices and our school rules and guidelines for computer use. I do think it would be exciting for our students to be able to communicate with “strangers” from other countries. It would help develop critical thinking and questioning skills as well.
The global opportunities with using this kind of technology are endless. Students can build relationships, learn about other cultures and expand their world. Preparing students to develop global relationships will create adults who are able to participate in our world in new and innovative ways.
I agree that the global opportunities are endless for our students. Sharing online will limit the stranger problems students face.
Our Technology coach did a great lesson on stranger danger. She started with a story about stranger danger and then related it to using the internet. It was a great lesson for Kindergartners. They think EVERYTHING they see on the computer, television, and movies, etc, is real!
I have never thought about using this with my students. This would be amazing to do with my social studies classes to talk to people from Europe, which is predominantly the area we study. I also think teaching them the importance of interacting with strangers at an appropriate level is the first thing I would have to address.
I have used a different online communication tool with my former students. It was very interesting to listen to their discussions and reactions to many questions they asked back and forth. Many of the students were able to learn about the other countries school system and their specific requirements. At first, I had to properly teach students about talking to strangers and how this specific activity was monitored and okay.
I have used a different online communication tool with my former students. It was very interesting to listen to their discussions and reactions to many questions they asked back and forth. Many of the students were able to learn about the other countries school system and their specific requirements. At first, I had to properly teach students about talking to strangers and how this specific activity was monitored and okay.
Read more at: http://langwitches.org/blog/2012/10/31/thinking-about-learning-differently-talking-to-strangers/
Enabling a conversation between a scientist in the field and my science students would be an amazing application of this technological tool.