Mystery Skype as part of Student Life @FVSofColorado

Technology is part of our daily lives, but the use of technology also means learning to use the tools responsibly. That’s why Fountain Valley School takes the time to discuss digital citizenship with all students.

Responsible use conversations start as soon as students enter FVS, and these discussions are spearheaded by Director of Digital Communications Laura Fawcett, Director of Technology Bryan Bolding, and Library and Technology Educator Toni Olivieri-Barton. Freshmen tackle technology questions during the Chapter One program, while sophomores discuss netiquette in student life meetings.

Juniors work with the Hawley Library staff, including Olivieri-Barton, to explore technology issues further. They discuss plagiarism and copyright issues that they will face in high school, college and life. This semester, the staff wanted students to focus on another aspect of digital citizenship—actually practicing these skills.

That’s where the popular Mystery Skype game comes in … a game introduced to FVS by Olivieri-Barton. It’s a video-conferencing game where a mystery guest connects online, but the students do not know where he/she lives. The students develop yes/no questions to determine the guest’s location. As with researching, students start with a large idea and ask questions to make the idea smaller.

During the call, students can use Google Map and Wikipedia to search out answers. They use their communication and problem-solving skills to find the correct location.

“Mystery Skype is a great way for our students to practice their 21^st-century skills of communication, creativity, critical thinking and collaboration,” Olivieri-Barton said.

It’s also great fun to solve the mystery.

“The Skype call was a fun experience,” said Hannah Mancuso-Buxton ’18. “Using investigative skills and geography to have an activity was something quite new. It was an event that was out of the ordinary in a good way.”  

Mystery Skype @DenverMuseumNS #skypeintheclassroom #mysteryskype @mattRTmcguire

Gianna Sullivan and Robert Payo organized a Distance Learning training at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on Tuesday, January 21st.  I was asked to demonstrate Mystery Skype. I condensed the Mystery Skype Presentation and asked my friend Matt McGuire (@mattRTMcguire) to be our Mystery Guest. The scientist definitely took a different spin on the Mystery Skype and asked other questions like “Are you in a Prairie Province?”.  They were excited about the possibilities.  If you haven’t checked out Mystery Skype or Skype in the Classroom, checkout the ideas at https://education.skype.com/.

Mystery Skype #mysteryskype

This month at Woodmen-Roberts we will be participated in a Mystery Skype call with ?????. Our 2nd grade class will be the first ones to try it on Tuesday. The way this works is we call and try to guess where they are in the world. They will ask us Yes/No Questions to determine where we were located (just the state). We then will ask them Yes/No Questions to determine where they were from. We divided the students in groups and each had a different task. Some were Google Mappers, Atlas, Fact Recorders, Photographers (to document our lesson), Greeters/Speakers, and Runners to keep everyone informed of the developments. I have sample questions for the States and the World. Typically, at the beginning of the year, I reserve 40 minutes to an hour for a call. Once students are used to the routine, it is more like 20-30 minutes. This is an amazing 21st Century Lesson. The children are always engaged and excited and they loved learning geography.

How can you get involved? Go to one of these sites where you can sign up:

https://education.skype.com/mysteryskype

http://mysterystate.wikispaces.com/

http://theglobalconnection.wikispaces.com/Mystery+Skype+-+What+is+it%3F

http://hlwskypers.pbworks.com/w/page/36437388/HLWSkypers%20wiki

Happy Skyping!

If you haven’t had a chance to set up a Mystery Skype, I have other classes interested and there are lots of great ideas for this on the web.

Mystery Skype

After doing my fourth session in the last 6 months on Mystery Skype, I thought I should add my documents I use to my blog.

Mystery Skype is a great way to introduce students to the

mystery skype job responsibilities

Possible Mystery Skype Questions US

Possible Mystery Skype Questions International

Mystery Skype Conference Session

Tonight I presented at School Leadership Summit. The recording is at “Mystery Skype in the Library”. Here is my Google Presentation. If you have not done Mystery Skype yet, you should. Thanks to everyone who contributed. It was a fun session.

Mystery Skype 2

We have gotten very interested in Mystery Skype. The 5th grade teachers finds it very useful for the students with taking a big idea and making it smaller, and smaller. We have done another Skype with Theresa Allen in Joliet, Illinois. Her students and my students had so much fun guessing each other’s place that we planned a social Skype to learn more about each others’ schools. We have no scheduled a few more to try to perfect our model of how to divide up your time in a good way. We have added more runners so that the groups will stay seated and the runner brings and receives information. It is hard because we want to have the questions come in quickly, but the students don’t know their geography well, so it takes a while. Overall it has been a great experience for our 5th graders. As soon as we have the process set, I will be trying it with younger students.

How can you get involved?  You can contact me at toniobarton on SKYPE or go to one of these sites where you can sign up:

http://mysteryskypes1213.weebly.com/sign-up.html

http://mysterystate.wikispaces.com/

http://theglobalconnection.wikispaces.com/Mystery+Skype+-+What+is+it%3F

http://hlwskypers.pbworks.com/w/page/36437388/HLWSkypers%20wiki

Happy Skyping!

Mystery Skype

This month at Woodmen-Roberts we also participated in a Mystery Skype call with Matt McGuire from New Brunswick, Canada. His 2nd grade class called and tried to guess where we were in the world. They had a copied world map in front of them and asked us Yes/No Questions to determine where we were located (just the state). We then proceeded to ask them Yes/No Questions from our Fourth Graders to determine where they were from. We divided the students in groups and each had a different task. Some were Google Mappers, Atlas, Fact Recorders, Photographers (to document our lesson), Greeters/Speakers, and Runners to keep everyone informed of the developments. It was a hectic 45 minutes, but the children were excited and loved learning geography. If you haven’t had a chance to set up a Mystery Skype, I have other classes interested and there are lots of great ideas for this on the web.

Different ideas for #mysteryskype

Most people think of Mystery Skype as Mystery Location.  This is where you guess locations. But many educators are trying Mystery Numbers where you have to guess a number.  Or Mystery Guest where you try to guess the occupation of the guest.  Or Mystery Literary Guest where the class pretends to be a literary Figure.  Classes can also guess the Chemical Element or the biome.  The ideas are unlimited.  All you need to do is pick a partner and found a common subject.  Good Luck.

 

#MysterySkype @skypeclassroom @FVSofColorado

As the new Library Technology Educator, I wanted to bring the game of Mystery Location to Fountain Valley School. Mystery Location is a video-conferencing game where two schools connect but the students do not know where the other school is from.  With younger students, typically teachers assign jobs such as Google Mapper, Logical Reasoner, Photographer, Clue Keeper, Inquirer, Answer, and runner.  With older students, we decided to create teams where one team would do all the jobs and decide on the next question.  The students develop Yes/No Questions to ask to determine where the students are. As with researching, students should start with a large idea and ask questions to make the idea smaller.  Both teachers attempt to guide the students to narrow their search and not just guess where they are.  
During the call, students can use Google Map and Wikipedia to find out what country or state the other school is located.  The two classrooms take turns asking and answering questions.  Students use their communication and problem-solving skills to find the school.  Many of our International students did not know all the geography facts about the US, but as a team, they all were very successful. Mystery Skype is a great way for our students to practice their 21st Century Skills of  communication, creativity, critical thinking and collaboration.

Jen Lebo stated: “I loved watching my students come together to solve problems.  I saw some students working with Google Maps, while others were discussing possible solutions, or their next questions.  Kids were laughing together, working together and having fun!  But what I most loved was that they connected with another class in another part of our country, a group of kids significantly younger than they were.  And they enjoyed it.  They all went over to the computer afterwards and started sharing facts together.  It was a great ending.  And my students kept asking if we could do it again.  Success!”

Coverage in the Media on Global Projects

The beginning of the school year has been extremely busy and I have gotten some publicity from the local Colorado Springs Gazette and MeriTalk.

Meritalk Article “Colorado Students Discover World through Mystery Skype“, September 2016
Gazette Article “At Fountain Valley School, students learn, interact with global ‘classroom’“, September 2016