This past semester was my last as a graduate student and in my Educational Technology class I was introduced VoiceThreads. As I was the only elementary teacher in my class of seven, I was hard-pressed to come up with a viable use of such cool technology. One day while lamenting that my students were not 'getting' the writing process, I thought about how to incorporate what they knew (their school environment) and what they were good at (talking) to create an audio/visual interactive writing experience.
First we toured the school to take pictures (on my cell phone). Once the pictures were transferred to my laptop, uploaded to a new VoiceThread, and then the students chose in what order to place each picture. Next, the writing. For each picture the students described the location in the school and added a small detail about that location. I typed the words (guided writing) and they told me what to add or delete. Then, once all the words were typed, I would read the caption aloud and they would practice saying it together. This was fun because they got to hear themselves: It was amazing to watch and listen to their conversations about how they needed to speak slower and not shout out! Last, I recorded the students 'telling' about their school.
When it was complete the students couldn't wait to show off their accomplishment! They were very proud that they had made something so cool, and the pride of ownership in their learning transferred to their subsequent writing activities.
For more information about VoiceThreads, check out http://www.voicethread.com/.
Check out their finished project at http://voicethread.com/share/1930066/
