Blog 3 - VoiceThread Project

I chose to complete my VoiceThread as a way to provide practice problems where students would be finding the area of polygons. I created two word problems which would require students to use a variety of skills. In my first problem, students will have to recall the area formula for rectangles in order to calculate the area of the bedroom floor. This problem could easily be extended by having students calculate the cost of carpet.
The second problem is a slightly higher skill level than the first. Rather than simply calculating the area of the triangle, the student has to call on their reading skills to ensure that they find the area of the five triangles that the spirit squad is going to make.

When beginning this project, I was nervous to try out a program that I'd never seen before. Based on the clip shown in class, the program looked as though it would be complex to use and require a lot of computer skill in order to comment on the VoiceThread. I thought to myself, this would be too complex for students to use and would require a lot of training for the student. However, once I opened the program to view and comment on a classmate's VoiceThread, I found that it was super simple to use. I was able to easily create my problems in Word and paste them into VoiceThread.

In addition to utilizing the VoiceThread technology for the first time, I also used my laptop's camera and microphone for the first time. Who knew how simple it was to utilize the cam and mic! (My husband has been having fun with them - and all of the camera tools - since discovering their simplicity!)

As I was creating my own VoiceThread and viewing the VoiceThreads of my peers, my own mind was racing with ways that I could utilize this in my own classroom. I teach two content areas - math and language arts/reading - and I was imagining ways to use VoiceThread in both of these areas. In my math class, I would love to use this as a way to reiterate the lesson given in class or as a way to post examples worked in class and as another option for paper and pencil homework assignments. By posting a problem for students to work and post their responses to, they would still have to practice the skills but in a cool and new way.

In my language arts/reading class, I could see using this tool as a way to work on student writing and adding details by having students call/type/record their thoughts on a VoiceThread. I could also see my students creating their own VoiceThreads as an alternative to traditional book reports. How cool would it be to have students create a VoiceThread as a response to reading The Outsiders or The Giver? They could take their own photos, record their own thoughts, summarize the story elements, and pull elements from the internet as a way to approach a book report from a whole new perspective.

I consider myself to be fairly technologically savvy; however, my specific area of "savviness" is not in automatically knowing how to do things, but in my ability to navigate and my willingness to try new programs. In creating my VoiceThread, I found that these skills came into play.