Classroom visits, both virtually and in person!

Wow! I found myself back in the classroom in one way or another in the last few days. Last night I stayed up really late in order to chat for a half hour with Mrs. Reynold's 5th grade class in Washington D.C. We started our webconference at 1:00AM Friday morning Sydney time, which was 9: 00AM Thursday morning in Washington D.C., and spoke for a little more than the half hour. The students were incredibly receptive and curious as to what I was doing in Australia, and even more interested in Aboriginal culture. As I said last night to them, I'm also quite interested in learning more about Aboriginal culture and will answer all of their questions as soon as I learn the answers myself! I am very excited to webconference with them again, perhaps later in my journey. My chat with Mrs. Reynold's class was virtual. The other day, however, I was able to visit a year 8 Science class at The King's School here in Sydney with Peter Walters, from Marcom Digital. As you might guess from the photo, this is an all-boys school and they wear uniforms. We had a wonderful time learning about each other's cultures. Such a good time, in fact, that we took up more time than we were alloted and the students had to go to their English class late! I hope they didn't get into too much trouble with their teacher! After my introduction we spend the 45 minutes discussing the practice of Digital Storytelling with the myriad of multimedia tools at hand, and how someone might develop an idea to convey to an audience. The students had great ideas that they are keen on developing into reality. My visit to The King's School was broken up between my meeting with the year 8 boys, The King's School library staff, a teleconference with DEN leaders in Washington D.C., a brief tour of the school's vast grounds, and a tasty lunch. I was blown away at everyone's kindness and how welcome they made us feel. Because The King's School is a private school, they simply have more resources within reach than public schools might. In my opinion, this is a model for how a school should be. Shouldn't all students have access to the tools necessary for achievement? I'm looking forward to putting into action the ideas we shared between the library staff at The King's School the DEN leaders in Washington D.C.