Paul Schaumburg, photo and story submitted
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 12:38 pm

Graves County Schools’ Superintendent Pete Galloway watches Wingo Elementary teacher Allison Sevic’s third grade reading class, as they watch him. Sevic is one of several teachers in the district regularly using Skyping technology in her classroom.

“We are bringing in Skyping Mystery Readers or ‘Virtual Visitors’ because it shows the importance of reading in different lives and careers throughout the world,” Sevic explained. “Students have seen the importance of learning to become fluent readers. It also brings our weekly story or content into real world applications. We've been able to take topics from nonfictional texts to research zoos, museums, and other places to see how things operate outside our classroom. It brings the text to life in students’ eyes. Superintendent Galloway read to us the fictional story "Wolf" by our Scholastic author of the month, John Scieszka. Students also interviewed the superintendent. They are still amazed that he is a farmer and grew up on a farm. I think because they can relate. Skyping also has made the world come to us, instead of our traveling into the world. Field trips are expensive and Skyping different and varied places has made my students feel like they are going somewhere every week.”