VoiceThread is a tool that I am a big fan of. We have used it to retell two stories so far this year, but I have a little list of ideas for how we will use it in the second half of the year. Children's stories, documentation, video...
Here is the first VoiceThread that I created with the children - a retelling of "The Enormous Turnip" by Alexei Tolstoy. My classroom is a combination of native English speakers and English beginners, so it is interesting for me to listen to my reading of the story, and then the imitation of my tone and pitch when all of the children are retelling it. I used the children's self-portraits as their images rather than their pictures (it is a public site).
Is this a tool you could use in your classroom? How do you feel about using technology like this in the classroom?
I'm very interested in this. Generally speaking I don't use much computer-based technology in class, but I find this fascinating. Thanks for turning me onto it.
ReplyDeleteAllie, thank you so much for posting this! Few would describe me as being technologically savvy, and my first thought on this was, oh, that looks pretty complicated. But I went to the VoiceThread site and played around for a while, and to my surprise I successfully uploaded an image and recorded a comment. Now I can't wait to record a book.
ReplyDeleteIn my Foundations of Literacy class at George Mason University, we were just discussing the use of books online, and the pros and cons of the various online book sites. I just posted a link to your information on our class blackboard. Very exciting stuff! Thanks!
I started a blog for my classroom (preschool) and have visited yours many, many times for inspiration! I get a little jittery with technology and right now it is consuming more time than I am used too, but I really want to try to add a Voice Thread to my blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
I'm glad this is interesting to you. I think that too much screen time is not good for young children - and this is one of those programs that isn't about a child sitting in front of a computer playing a game. I hope to share more of these in the future!
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog today and really love it - I am a relatively new pre-k blogger. On my blog I also posted a voicethread one of my students created. She read an original storybook, which she wrote during her time at the writing center one day. Thanks again for all of your inspiring photos and ideas!
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