Ms. Galland’s Advanced Placement Language and Composition class read Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, analyzing how a moneylender named Shylock demands repayment from a debtor named Antonio. Shylock asks that Antonio repay him his 3000 ducats with a “pound of flesh” as promised in the verbal contract they agreed on.

The AP students held a mock trial in class before George Galland, who is an attorney in Chicago. Mr. Galland played the role of judge over Skype. The plaintiffs used legal opinions, evidence from the Folger Shakespeare Library, and other web sites and articles documenting the climate and laws in Elizabethan England to present and defend their cases. Mr. Galland decided in favor of the defendant, but was very impressed with the preparation, presentations, textual citation and courtroom performances of all the AP students.

Acknowledgment: Hilary Galland helped author this post.

Working at Concordia International School in Shanghai, Mike like many teachers of students in China works to digitally communicate with parents as they are often away from home with their work. He uses the Web and e-mail to share information as well as video portfolios that students take home to their parents. Mike recently used Skype to manage three parent conferences that many schools routinely have at the end of the first quarter of school. I understand that one had the father at the office while the while the mother and student were at school with Mike. This is a reasonable option that pulls in the traveling parent who might otherwise miss many school activities.