chapter 2: connecting with skype

This chapter show us that if you are committed enough to implement technology in your classes you can easily do it through Skype. I found very useful the step by step the author gives in the chapter in order to facilitate us the understanding of this tool.   However, I keep asking myself how a school with low resources can keep up with this trend.

Most of the articles proposing to use technology in the curriculum are teachers that work in first world countries or in schools that have enough resources to have many devices for all of their students. The real challenge is to propose a strategy so schools with low resources can implement technology in their classes.

This Colombian teacher is engaging his students using skype and by showing them the world he is making a huge impact in their life. They believe that they can be great and they can accomplish their dreams if they work hard because they have seen classmates with their same conditions travel the world, study neuroscience etc, now they know that nothing is impossible if you have the perseverance to get it.

chapter 1: why connect

I thought this chapter was trying to make a point on the importance of connecting with other cultures especially for our students. If we are trying to give them a meaningful experience in order for them to learn some concepts what is best than giving them the chance to engage with the topic and share with other classes around the world their questions and learnings. If students feel engage, they will investigate and bring new topics or questions to solve in class with their classmates, children or expert in the other side of the computer.

In the following link I found a testimony of a teacher that use poetry to connect his students with other cultures.

https://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-daily/2017/11/17/where-i-m-from-using-technology-to-connect-students-across-cultures