Video Conference Project Sparks Meaningful Learning

Last year, third-graders from Washington Street School shared state facts through video conferences with classes from all 50 U.S. states. This year, five teachers involved in the Chatting Across the USA project are taking learning to the next level.

"We’re bringing learning to life," said Cherrie MacInnes, who started the project at Washington Street School in Brewer, Maine. "It’s meaningful, and these kids are making a difference in their own learning."

Through Chatting Across the USA, third-graders from Public School No. 12 in Paterson, N.J. educate the rest of their community about valuable things in their city. The Great Falls of the Passaic helped Paterson become the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution by providing the hydro-electric current that powered the factories and mills during the revolution.

"My students are getting to learn that they are partners with us in their own learning process,” teacher Carlene Anderson said. "They are students, but they’re also teachers.”

As a result, they're more excited about learning, their public speaking ability has improved and they're becoming experts about their city and state.

The Chatting Across the USA project brings other benefits as well. Students share their culture and learn how democracy works during video conferences. And at the same time, their teachers overcome challenges and network with each other.

Students learn about their culturally diverse world

Video conferences expose students to different cultures and environments that they may not experience otherwise. For example, the part-Hawaiian students wanted to trade places with the white South Dakota students from Buffalo Elementary after seeing pictures of the snow there.

In New Jersey and Arizona, a mix of Hispanic and black students make up the classes in their urban, Title I schools.

When the 14 students in the South Dakota class read a story about Harriet Tubman, the students skyped with the New Jersey class. Paterson has an underground railroad depot, and the New Jersey students explained how the underground railroad worked and how escaping slaves knew which house was safe.

Because kids their age taught the South Dakota students about the railroad, it sticks in their minds. And these connections have exposed students to the world around them.

"The scope of their world isn’t very big," teacher Sue Ann Clanton said, "and they’re seeing things that they didn’t even know about before."

A boy from Kamehameha Schools Hawaii campus plays the ukulele during a Skype call with another class. | Photo by Carmen Stack

Students at Kamehameha Schools Hawaii campus have a hard time picturing the rest of the world because Hawaii is so isolated, said Carmen Stack, a technology teacher at the campus. Before Chatting Across the USA, they thought of other states as countries.  

"I think after doing this kind of project," Stack said, "in their minds they have a better sense of how the world fits together and where Hawaii is compared to other places.”

During Black History Month, a class of fourth-graders at the Hawaii campus skyped with the New Jersey students to celebrate. They shared their heritage with each other and their pride in where they come from.

"The kids love it," Stack said. "They’re constantly asking, 'When are we going to skype again?'”

These third-graders don't just communicate with kids in other states, either. The Maine students write to pen pals in Belarus and will skype with them at the end of the school year. They've also connected with classes in Germany and England.

"We’re broadening our horizons and really learning about the cultural diversity of our world, not just our country,” MacInnes said.

Students learn they have a voice in government

This year, students are learning more about democracy. The Maine students skyped with their governor, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and former First Lady Barbara Bush. The New Jersey students met U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell and the mayor of Paterson in person when they came to their classroom. 

Now five of the classes are writing letters and collaborating on a video that asks First Lady Michelle Obama to skype with them.

When they spoke to these leaders, some of the other classes involved in the project were able to skype with them at the same time.

By sharing their project, the students let the leaders know about a good thing that's happening in education and receive the added benefit of learning about government leaders' jobs, MacInnes said. And these conversations teach students about government and its purpose, Anderson said.  

They also learn that they don't have to wait until they're 18 to use their voice. Gang and gun violence has taken the lives of people that Anderson's students know. So they created a digital storytelling piece and reached out to the mayor, sheriff, superintendent and other community leaders.

As a result, the Paterson Public Safety Coalition formed, and her students shared how they've been impacted by the violence.

"For me, Chatting Across the USA is an opportunity to share the state facts," Anderson said, "but it can also help to be a force for social action.”
 

Teachers overcome challenges to connect classes

To make these videoconferences happen, the teachers have had to face challenges including making time to prepare for them, finding other schools to connect with, managing the time difference between schools and the dealing with technical issues.

"The biggest challenge is keeping the technology working,” Clanton said.

Skype takes up a lot of bandwidth, so each time she plans a session, she e-mails school staff and asks them not to get on their computers during that time.

This year, several new websites have made finding other schools to connect with easier, including ePals.com, Skype for Educators and ClassChats.com, a site MacInnes' school set up.

While it's tough to find a time that everyone can meet on Skype to prepare for collaborative lessons, the teachers make it work. And they see the difference that it makes to their students.

"We’re meant to make these connections and create these experiences that are going to engage our students and inspire them and really help them realize that there’s this whole world out there that they can connect to," Stack said.
 

Teachers network, plan lessons together

Through this project, Stack has made four good friends in Maine, New Jersey, South Dakota and Arizona. These five teachers are sharing lesson plans, resources and special speakers. 

"We’re really starting to form this community that’s striving to create new experiences for our students,” Stack said.

From across the country, MacInnes and teacher Ellen Trzaskowski from Crocket Elementary in Phoenix co-taught a reading lesson on the book "Lon Po Po," the Chinese version of "Little Red Riding Hood." The students read to each other, and the teachers talked about vocabulary and other aspects of the book.

"That was the test that everybody did the best on,” Trzaskowski said, "so I want to try it with a different story and see if everybody gets really good grades again.”

More than 96 percent of the students at Crockett Elementary in Phoenix qualify for a free and reduced lunch. Most of of them don't have access to a computer at home, and if they do, they don't have Internet access.

But their skype experiences have exposed them to technology and allowed them to collaborate with students across the country, teacher Ellen Trzaskowski said.

Teacher Carlene Anderson from New Jersey visits Cherrie MacInnes' third-grade class at Washington Street Elementary School in Brewer, Maine. | Photo courtesy of the two teachers

Paterson School No. 12 in New Jersey lost its music, art and PE teachers this year. By working with William Paterson University, teacher Carlene Anderson brought musicians and artists into the classroom and shared those resources through Skype with other classes that participate in the project.

These virtual connections have connected teachers face-to-face as well. MacInnes and Anderson have both visited each other's classes. And in April, they'll pay a visit to South Dakota.

To help with their expenses, the elementary, middle and high school students in South Dakota raised $215 by paying a dollar each to wear a hat on one day. For the teachers' visit, they're planning a rodeo to show them what it's like.

"To see how much it means to them to have Cherrie and me come out there," Anderson said, "it just blows my mind.”

These opportunities to visit classrooms have allowed the teachers to see what others are doing with their classes. 

"Sometimes educators are so isolated in their own buildings that we don’t get the opportunity to go out and see what other people are learning,” MacInnes said.

She has stepped outside of her safety zone and grown professionally as she shares the project with educators at conferences. By working together as a team, these teachers are growing as learners along with their students.

"This is my 21st year of teaching, and I feel reinvigorated," MacInnes said. "I just feel so excited about the learning that I’m doing as well as the learning that’s taking place in the classroom.”