Today I created a VoiceThread. This is an online tool that allows you to create a virtual slideshow of pictures and record your voice to talk about the different slides.
Before creating my own VoiceThread, I read a few articles about what this program is and how it can be used within the classroom. The first article I read was titled Voicethread Extends the Classroom with Interactive Multimedia Albums. This article talks about how a middle school teacher wanted to engage his students. He knew that the students were always using the Web and instant messaging so he thought he would combine these and allow for the students to be learning at the same time by creating an online collaborative multimedia slideshow. These slideshows can be made about any topic. This middle school teacher says that he has had high success with using VoiceThread because his students actively participate in online discussions more than discussions inside the actual classroom. There can also be multiple different conversations going on at once instead of just one conversation that everyone is participating in like in the normal classroom discussion. This keeps the students engaged because they can choose what they want to discuss about, instead of sitting and listening to a conversation that does not interest them.
The second blog that I used when learning about VoiceThread was the VoiceThread for Education Wiki. This blog first explains what a VoiceThread is and then explains good qualities of using this within a classroom. Then the blog gives samples of VoiceThread projects that teachers have submitted that students have created. There are links to other resources that give examples of even more projects using this technology that students have created. My favorite resources from this blog were the tips and ideas of how to implement VoiceThread into the classroom curriculum which includes the subject areas and ideas that teachers can use for each subject.
Within the VoiceThread for Education Wiki, there was an actual VoiceThread that gives 26 Interesting Ways to use VoiceThread in the Classroom and Tips. This gives 26 ideas of ways that this technology source could be used within the classroom. A few of my favorite ideas were: describing a process, digital portfolios, and collaborative play scripts. All of the ideas given are great and could be easily used within the classroom. If wanting to look for ideas of how to incorporate more technology into the classroom, I would definitely check out this site!
I will definitely use VoiceThread within my own classroom because it is a great tool that can be used so many ways. The teacher could create VoiceThreads to teach the students about different topics so it is not the same boring lecture every day. This tool could also be used to assign either team or student projects where they are given a subject and they have to find infromation and images to be able to teach about their chosen topic. For example, with younger students I would have each student choose an animal and then create a VoiceThread about that given animal. The students will then be able to look at all of the VoiceThreads for these different animals and comment on them. It is a unique way to learn hands on.
Today I created my very own VoiceThread and since it is Thanksgiving time, I decided to make one about the history and origins of Thanksgiving. This could be used for a history lesson to students. Here is the VoiceThread that I made!
Then I searched for VoiceThreads created by other people about Thanksgiving. I would be able to use these threads along with mine to teach about Thanksgiving. They give additional information about the history of Thanksgiving that are not included within my VoiceThread. Here are two additional Thanksgiving VoiceThreads.
