Thing #19 Voicethreads

Everytime I think I've discovered the next great thing, another "thing" is discovered.  Voicethread is a fantastic tool to use for just about anything you can imagine.  As an Instructional Specialist I will use this tool to work with  my teachers on the book study we are learning from.  I'll model for them how they can use it in class by posing questions to them on a Voicethread.  The next book study session will be on Voicethread and their assignment will be to make a comment on the video about the section we will be working on. I can also use this site to video a snipit of a great lesson they are teaching or video a snipit of a teacher who displays great classroom management.  When they are able to view the snipit and comment or ask questions this will encourage them to try this type of learning with their students.

I found a great math Voicethread where the teacher asked the students questions through the videotaping of another teacher who was shooting hoops.  She used this idea to have them tell her how they could find the number of baskets he could shoot in 3 hours if he shot 1 basket in 10 seconds.  What a cool idea.  My Math teachers will take off on this and come up with all kinds of ideas to utilize the website.

I shared this site with my son who is in the Business school at UT.  He is going to use it to make one of his class presentations.  He is quite impressed with the technology I've been learning.

I'd love to find penpals from around the world who would work with my Social Studies teachers to share Voicethread.  They could see how each other lives day to day and learn about each other's histories and cultures.  I thought it might be nice if some of our students were to visit historical places and videotape them and explain some things about the sites to share with students in other states and countries.

My Science teachers can use this site to have students videotape their labs  and post them so that other students could view and comment on them.  This would help those students that were absent and didn't get to participate in the labs.

Teachers could use this site to videotape themselves and share their teaching with other teachers on our campus and across the district or with other states.  Their evaluator could view these and give them constructive criticism to help them improve their craft.

The possibilities are endless!!!