3rd Grade from Alice Mercer

Description

This VoiceThread was used for concept development of a language-arts thematic unit. I think it shows how VoiceThread can be used as a KWL scrapbook to evaluate students’ knowledge, to add ideas, and show what a class is learning.

Benefits to elementary-school students

• Students record their thoughts and ideas in a format that can be viewed again and shared with friends and parents.
• Students practice expressing ideas orally in a more intimate setting than during class time, either in a small-group or one-on-one with the teacher, which may increase participation and engagement in class topics.
• Students take ownership of the project by choosing or drawing images to illustrated their thoughts and ideas.
• Students gain a deeper understanding of concepts when they express them out loud and hear them played back in their own voice.

Assignment

The goal for this project was for students to practice critical thinking by moving from basic concepts of friendship to asking and answering questions at a higher level. During computer lab times, while students worked independently on computers, students were taken aside in small groups of two and three to take pictures or answer questions. Students brainstormed questions during whole-class instruction, and the teacher later typed them into PowerPoint. Images were then added to the PowerPoint, and then the entire presentation was easily uploaded to the VoiceThread project.

Challenges

Background noise from class either gives it an authentic feel, or is annoying?

Tips

• PowerPoint effects are not supported when uploaded to a voicethread project.
• DON’T think of it as PowerPoint, think of it as a scrapbook, or a KWL chart.