I was steadily working one night at home when I received a Skype message from someone whose name I did not recognize. Of course, I quickly did a mental search to try and recollect the name, but I could not. Therefore, I denied the request. A few minutes later I again received a request to Skype from the same person. I gave my contact list a complete examination and failed to find the name listed there, so again I denied the call.

It was then that I thought, “Facebook!” I signed onto my account and entered the name in the bar to “find people” just knowing that this would solve the mystery. The only person by that name turned out to have “friends” only in the northern part of the United States. I was convinced that this was some prank brought on my a random search.

A third time the request to Skype was made, and I reluctantly selected CHAT and asked, “Do I know you?”. The answer came back, “Yes”. Hmmm? Now my curiosity was aroused. The caller stated that she was not the person whose name kept appearing, but rather she was the daughter. This was turning into an interesting night afterall.

After a short exchange of delving questions and short answers, it was revealed to me that the individual attempting to make a video connection via Skype was indeed a 5th grade student from my campus. She had been on my website for quite some time and had discovered the Skype icon I had only recently embedded there. Her mother had agreed to connect her daughter with me in an effort to show her daughter how Skype worked.

GOOD FOR YOU, MOM!

I first asked the student if her mother was sitting right there beside her and upon affirmation of that question, I asked her to again Skype me. I accepted this time around, and I am quite sure that the student enjoyed the experience due to the fact that she stayed right up on the camera and kept saying, “This is so cool.”

I applaud that parent on many levels. First of all, she spent quite a bit of time that evening monitoring her daughter while she surfed through teachers’ websites seeking information and content. Secondly, this mother did not dismiss her daughter’s questions about Skype, but she went out of her way to make continuous attempts to demonstrate this Web 2.0 tool. Finally, after we finished our conversation, this student left the most complimentary comment I have ever received on any of my posts – personal blog and classroom blog included.

Thank you to this partnership for absolutely making my night, and my school year for that matter.