Digital Book Clubs--Connecting Classrooms Across Oceans

Over the course of the last year, I worked closely with a wonderful woman on creating a digital book club project for our students. Using platforms such as Edmodo, Skype, Google Hangout, Google Apps, and more, we crafted an interactive way for our students to learn about another culture as well as learn how to discuss literature. The following site is a step-by-step layout on how to put together your own digital book club with a school in another state or even in another country. Enjoy!

Skype in the Classroom--connecting experts and teachers

Two weeks ago, my classroom at Korea International school had two groups of very exciting visitors come. Over the course of this year, my 5th grade students have participated in collaborative book clubs with Springer school in Los Altos California in the LASD school district as a way to broden our students grasp of the world in relation to how different groups of students learn and connect by using technology. Our focus was to allow our students to connect with people they have never met through a common medium. 

The thought came to my colleague, Julie Presant,  and I, @ebziach, when we wanted a way to keep in touch while I was working at an international school in Korea.

Rather than simply have kids do pen pals or something of the sort, we wanted to craft an enriching learning experience that promoted skills our students needed to learn. Thus, the Trans Pacific Book Club was born.

Students in both classes read and exchanged thoughts on books, in a way that makes meeting someone new relevant and purposeful. We don’t only discuss our favorite foods, but we also exchange thoughts on a book, something that is usually saved for learning periods within the four walls of a classroom.

This spring, we decided to delve into the world of non-fiction articles. Students were broken up into small groups and paired with students in Los Altos California. Using Edmodo, students would discuss the article online and then come together using Skype to talk about the article in person.

So, Skype in the Classroom caught wind of our little experiment and asked if we’d like to be part of a segment for their online site called Skype in the Classroom. Of course we said yes!

Thus, two weeks ago, in person, we welcomed Pudding Pop Media into our room to do the filming segment of this endeavor in South Korea. In Los Altos, they welcomed Flownonfiction as their film crew. 

Beginning bright and early, the crew transformed our classroom into a working film studio—wow, I have a new appreciate for film for sure. As the kids came in, I saw their eyes grow wide with awe wondering how on earth they had become up and coming “movie stars”. Jumping right in, we Skype called the Los Altos School. I walked between tables as my kids discussed non-fiction articles they had read earlier that week. 

To me, as I listened and observed them, the benefits of this type of interaction far exceeded my expectations for the activity when we started the assignment back in August. Kids connecting via discussing important issues helps them realize big ideas such as the fact that we are all the same and yet entirely different. I heard discussions that ranged from surface level ideas to debates over big issues that adults are not able to find the answers to. 

By waiting to post on this event, I’ve had time to think over why I have become passionate about helping educators to connect with teachers in other countries. We are all incredibly busy, as is understood by my month long hiatus from posting here. Focusing on daily lesson planing and marking seems to take most of our time. Therefore, we have little time to actually discover ways to connect with educators around the globe.

Sites like ePals, help teachers connect on projects with other teachers. And Skype in the classroom helps teachers connect with experts. 

But what I’d like to re-imagine is the classroom itself and how that could change if we truly connected classrooms. What if kids could take class from a teacher in Spain as well as one in California while living in South Korea? I mean why not? CBL would provide an amazing framework for this idea. 

There is so much talent out there, we just need to leverage technology in order to connect us all. 

Skype session with California school

Today, my students in Korea had the wonderful opportunity to Skype with Springer School in Los Altos, California for our Trans-Pacific Book Club. It was such a thrill to see the faces of my students light up as they spoke face-to-face with their book club members. Technology like Skype, FaceTime, and Google Hangout, make it possible to share experiences with people across oceans. 

I think the biggest hurdle with video chat using any provider is the technical difficulties. Having tested Google Hangout yesterday, I knew that I needed one student in each group to install the video/chat plug-in or else it would not work. However, even though we tested each student with my own Google Hangout, we did not test with Los Altos. The other teacher and I came to the conclusion that the Google Apps for Education in Los Altos might be blocking that feature. Name of the game, make sure you test prior to and always have a back up plan. 

We went to our back up plan with only about 15 min left to chat. Rather than having each novel study group video chat with each other, we went with a whole class chat using Skype. It worked great and the kids were none the less excited to meet each other virtually for the first time. 

We’ve scheduled two other video chat sessions where the students will be discussing their novels in more depth. Julie and I will be testing prior to that using Google Hangout. 

Having minimally used video chat in the classroom, I’ve been looking into how to use it for other educational purposes. See below for some ideas I’ve pondered on using video chat in classrooms: 

• Simple article on how to set up a video chat (link)


• Interview experts in a field for science or social studies


• Author visits for novels


• Pen pals


• Office hours with students who need extra help