Using Skype with Students

On Thursday, I called Dave using Skype. I called in my classroom. At first I had technical difficulty. The averkey would not hook up to the lap top, then when I just try to connect to skype, my computer would not connect to the internet. Finally after working for 15 minutes, trying to keep kids quiet while I thought??!!, I was able to reach day.
Prior to this day, I had to get a new web cam on Tuesday due to not being able to use the hardware on the school. On Wednesday, Dave could not hear me so I ran to BestBuy again to get a new microphone.
When I connected with Dave on Thursday, the sound was poor on Dave's end. Luckily, my class and I heard him well while he read a book. My students loved hearing the story. I showed the pictures while Dave read. My sound was still not the best so I had to either talk for my students or have then yell their answers or questions.
After our conversation and story with Dave, I had the students think about how we communicate with people at our homes, cars or school. We compared how technology is ever changing. Many students were so excited. They kept on saying, I have seen this on tv but didn't know it could be done in the classroom.
I have a dad calling this week or next using skype. He is calling from Iraq. He is going to give us information about what it is like in Iraq. Then I will have to remove Skype from the school laptop. It requires a lot of memory. This is the problem the school has with skype. I don't think the powers that be consider it dangerous for students just dangerous for the memory and bandwidth.
I would love to use this next year. Lindsey and I talked about trying to be skype buddies and calling each other 1-2 times a month. I also have friends who teach in other parts of the country. I would like to try to contact them as well.