I recently had a great experience skyping into a grade three class at @gcouros’s school in Canada to answer a few questions about Islam. You can read about the logistics on George’s blog. I wanted to share my thoughts on the event here.

After speaking with the class around eleven PM last night, this morning I woke up to the following email from the classroom teacher, and rather than send my response to her in private, in the spirit of openness and sharing I have decided to post it here. My response comes after her email, which you can read below:

Hi Jabiz,

I just wanted to thank you again personally for Skyping with our class this morning.  It was a very powerful experience and they learned a lot about the Muslim culture, country of Indonesia, and an important celebration of Ramadan and Eid-El-Fitr.  I realize there is a big time difference between us and I really appreciate you connecting with us late on a Friday night.  It was a very authentic and powerful experience for our students, as well as for me as a teacher.  We have now used a thumbtack on our world map to indicate where you are and remember the connection we have with you, both through your commenting on our blog post, as well as Skype conversation!

George is sharing his passion with us and is teaching us how technology is a great medium in connecting with others.  As I have just returned to school after a leave, I was quite apprehensive about the technology of our Smart Boards, new classroom blogs, etc.  This truly has proven what can be done and the connections that can be made around the world.  It is amazing and I am so proud and excited to be a part of it.  Again, thank you.

Let me start by saying it really is my pleasure and I enjoy doing it. I was home, sadly to say wasn’t doing much else, and really had a great time doing it. It’s funny, once you open yourself up to these opportunities the more you will find will come your way. I have Skyped into classes all over the world from grade three to university courses, and each time it is different, but just as exciting. I am not sure why students get so excited by having someone else come into their classrooms, but we should take advantage of this enthusiasm and open our classrooms up to as many people as we can, people who can bring fresh insights and different perspectives. I am by no means an expert on anything really, but I  feel that I have a voice and that my ideas are valuable. I see my world view as unique and feel that sharing it with others can bring value not only to them, but for me as well. This sense of appreciation for one’s own voice is at the heart of blogging and online life. This is what I hope to foster in my students. It is something to discuss with your kids as well. What are they experts in? How could they share their knowledge with others? I hope they can see that someday, I will need them to help and teach me and my kids. They are teachers and we are learners too.

I  understand how one can be apprehensive and doubt the value of all this openness and sharing. But as I am sure you have sensed from George, this is just what we do. There is a new class of teacher, and we have knocked down the walls of classrooms down and are looking for any opportunity to teach and learn from as many people as we can.  We are interconnected. We share knowledge, information, and resources fluidly and easily. We meet in person, we skype into classrooms. A class across the world has some questions about (insert topic) and we feel we have something to say we make the connections. This technology and these connections need not always be more complicated than that, as you have just seen from our Skype call. I hope this experience has shown you how easy it can be to join us. Just value your voice and build the connections. You are lucky to have such a passionate and connected administrator. Often times it is teachers who are pulling a school forward, but you have an administration who is there to help you. Take advantage. Your kids will thank you for it.

The next step of course is to connect students with students, but this often takes more time and planning, but once you are open to the idea of a  classroom that shares their ideas with the world through blogs and Skype, the opportunities become easier and easier to find. Remind the kids that if they ever have any questions about Indonesia, they now have a person they know here that can help them out. We have some great podcasts for them to listen to and we would love comments as well. Good luck and stay in touch.