Deb House, a Technology Para at Central Elementary School in St. Charles, Missouri, regularly coordinates and schedules videoconferences for teachers and students. Next week, two of her classes will be participating in collaborations with the Parkway School District. Here, she shares why videoconferencing works at Central Elementary in the Francis Howell School District-
I love using videoconferencing technology in the classroom because it enables me to introduce such a large variety of experts and topics to our students. Recently we did a videoconference with the Lee Richardson Zoo in Kansas to conclude the 4th grade students science lesson on Animal Adaptations. Not only were the students animated and excited throughout the discussion with the Zoo, their test results afterward were the highest they have been to date on that subject!
You can get students excited about any subject or topic if you let them meet and discuss it with an expert. I would have to say my favorite videoconference was the one we did with a St. Louis author, Carolyn Lesser. The 2nd grade students and Mrs. Lesser brainstormed together about descriptive words and topic ideas – they even created a poem together during the videoconference! Mrs. Lesser made brainstorming and looking around you for ideas fun. Each of the students had a full page of descriptive words and ideas by the end of their time talking with Mrs. Lesser.
I hope to continue to help my students meet many more experts, learn about more topics and continue to “go” to more locations in addition to the Zoos, Museums, NASA, Baseball Hall of Fame and other schools we have visited so far!