11.22.19
Skype in the Classroom & Creative Ways to Demonstrate Learning
"Can my students take a field trip or speak with an expert without leaving the classroom?"
Yes! One way to have student interact with an expert or take a virtual field trip is through Skype in the Classroom. With Skype in the Classroom, you can invite guest speakers, take a field trip, or participate in collaborative projects. Check out the details below.
"Skype in the Classroom is a free community that offers live transformative educational experiences for students including Virtual Field Trips, talks from Guest Speakers, classroom to classroom connections, and live collaboration projects." - Microsoft
I especially love the virtual field trips and participating in Mystery Skype! One of my favorite activities was the 'Amazing Animal Adaptations'. We enjoyed learning about the animals of Yellowstone - their habitats and the ecosystems. Incredible Insects and the Dinosaurs field trips were also big hits. We also enjoyed being able to meet with authors of our favorite books. Go on and take a look...
How do I get started?
📝 Getting Started
- Go to https://education.microsoft.com/skype-in-the-classroom/getting-started
- Create an account using your Office 365 credentials. (E.g. use your WCPSS email)
- Build your profile.
- Search for: Virtual Field Trips, Skype Lessons, Skype Collaborations, Mystery Skype, Guest Speaker.
📖 Read the Educator Guide
What can I do?
What are some more creative ways students can demonstrate what they know?
Freestyle (a Song)
Use Garageband to let students freestyle their own rap song about any topic.
Here's a handy user guide. Apple's Everyone Can Create Music is a great place to start learning to use this app.
Also, check out Flocabulary's tips for learning how to freestyle rap.
Games
Use Kahoot to allow students to create their own games to introduce or review topics of study. Make a copy of this Google Form for students to use as they create their own Kahoots.
Here's a handy user guide. or watch this how-to video on how to create Kahoots for your class.
Google Earth Tour
Use Google Earth to take a tour of settings in a book, measure distance, or visit historical sites.
The Google Earth Education website is a great place to learn new ideas.
I love the Carmen Sandiego activity --- now there's a 2nd one too! Here are 10 more tips to explore.
Graphs & More
Use these virtual manipulatives to create graphs and other representations of data using numbers, money, base ten blocks, counters, and much more.
Bonus: This works on iPads and Chromebooks - and your Promethean boards. It's one tool for most thing mathematical.
How do I record what happens on the screen of an iPad?
Just like on the Chromebooks and laptops, you can record the screen on an iPad and create a video, a screencast.
Follow these steps or watch the video.
- Go to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls, then tap next to Screen Recording.
- Swipe up from the bottom edge of any screen or on iPad with iOS 12 or later (our student iPads) swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen.
- Press deeply on and tap circle/ record icon and turn on the Microphone, if needed.
- Tap Start Recording, then wait for the three-second countdown.
- Open Control Center and tap red record icon. Or tap the red status bar at the top of your screen and tap Stop.
- Go to the Photos app and select your screen recording.