Some days are just an absolute joy to be at work.  Wednesday was one of those days.  Wednesday was the day the doors of our classroom got wide open and in streamed a little bit of Iceland.

I was really lucky to meet and get to know Alan Levine (aka CogDogBlog) at the Learning2.0 Conference back in September this year, in Shanghai, China.  During one of our many meet ups with fellow conference goers staying at the Forte Hotel, Alan happened to mention that he was going to be spending a month looking after the house and animals of an Architect, in Iceland.  My ears and my “cheekyness” levels immediately perked up – so I asked him if he would skype with us when he was in Iceland.

On Wednesday we did just that.  At 7.30am Thai time and 12.30pm am Icelandic time, these two vastly different places in the world  connected.  One blasted by heat, the other being buffeted by wind, rain and snow.  Today my students got another piece of the “exploration and how/where does that fit into the world I’m living in right now” puzzle.  And it was such a simple thing to arrange.  All you have to do is ask. (Nicely of course).

My students were great participants.  They watched the skype conversation via our smartboard if they weren’t up at the laptop asking questions.  We’d prepared our questions before hand and that helped the conversation flow.  Even when we’d gone through all of our original questions, more questions followed and I was impressed with the thought and maturity that they all displayed.

When talking with students at the end of the day most talked about how Mr Levine helped them believe that each and everyone of us really is an explorer,  that you don’t even have to find a place that hasn’t been discovered yet.  If you’ve never done it or been there then you ARE exploring it.  Even some places can be explored many times over and you still find things you never found the first time.  Of course meeting Skinna was a definite highlight for the girls – and everyone will not forget that a meal of reindeer meat is coming up next week for Mr Levine to try.

Thank you Alan, for letting us ask you all those questions.  Enjoy the rest of your time in Iceland and I’m looking forward to seeing what Strawberry, Arizona looks like through the lens of a skype call!