Today in my Yr 7 class we were involved in a Skype call with the inspirational Laura Stockman from Buffalo, New York. That’s Laura above with the special care packs she has put together for Cheerful Givers, one of the charities she has been supporting. (I hope you don’t mind me using your picture Laura – if you do please let me know and I’ll take it off) It wasn’t all smooth going – our connection was a little scratchy and it dropped out a couple of times but we ended up with a pretty good link towards the end. We were using a webcam but I don’t think Laura could see us. We couldn’t see her either, but no mind. My students asked questions about her blogging experiences and a lot of general ones as well. It’s fascinating to see them react when they realise that they have the same tastes in music and leisure activities in spite of the distance between us. This global platform is a chance for us all to understand that we probably share more in common than we would otherwise realise.
A standout moment was when my students sang our National Anthem, Advance Australia Fair, to Laura and her mum Angela who was helping her with the call. They both got a kick out of it but declined to sing theirs for us! We did have a large chorus and there was only the two of them – perfectly understandable!
Hopefully we’ll be able to maintain the connection and work with Laura towards raising money for a global cause. This to me is a fabulous learning opportunity for my students. We have the ability to learn from an inspirational 11 yr old who is a role model for us all, we can make meaningful connections with a global partner and we can do good along the way. All positives as far as I can see!
Lucacept - intercepting the Web 
Thank you so much for a great experience! We loved listening to all of you sing! Laura could see all of you, actually, and the reason why you couldn’t see her was because we forgot to press the “start video now” button (which we are feeling rather foolish about–sorry!) Laura is actually going to post a video on her blog tonight or tomorrow with all of your questions and her answers…we wrote them down as you asked. So, if nothing else, you’ll be able to watch that.
It’s wonderful to see Laura’s efforts being expanded worldwide! And we think the photo of Laura with her Cheerful Givers birthday bags is great too. Thanks for all you are doing!
This sounds like a wonderful experience for all that was involved. Laura is an inspiration for us all and so are you and your class for being interested. It is amazing how Skype can open the world to us.