Podcasting



 **Instructional Uses of Podcasting **

Solid Figures VoiceThread
media type="custom" key="3630741"

**Animal Report VoiceThread **
media type="custom" key="3833193"



April and May 2009

 __**Technology Standards Addressed **__ II. Communication //B. Use technology to communicate information in a variety of formats // 1. Select appropriate technologies for a particular communication goal. 3. Use multiple digital sources to communicate information online.
 * Summary **

III. Legal, Social and Ethical Issues Demonstrate an understanding of the legal, social and ethical issues related to technology use. 4. Use classroom procedures to manage an equitable, safe and healthy environment for students. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, sans-serif;">V. Integrating Technology into the Curriculum and Instruction Design, implement and assess learning experiences that incorporate use of technology in a curriculum-related instructional activity to support understanding, inquiry, problem solving, communication and/or collaboration. 1. Assess students’ learning/ instructional needs to identify the appropriate technology for instruction. 2. Evaluate technology materials and media to determine their most appropriate instructional use. 4. Use appropriate instructional strategies for integrating technology into instruction. 5. Select and use appropriate technology to support content-specific student learning outcomes. 7. Manage a technology-enhanced environment to maximize student learning. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, sans-serif;">VII. Professional Growth Develop professional practices that support continual learning and professional growth in technology. 3. Continually evaluate and reflect on professional practices and emerging technologies to support student learning.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, sans-serif;">**__Description__** I created the Solid Figures VoiceThread as an off-shoot of our math curriculum. Many of my students have trouble counting the faces, vertices, and sides of solid figures. This is especially difficult when they cannot physically manipulate the shapes. I thought that creating a VoiceThread that led them through an activity reviewing these skills would give them some helpful practice. The structure of the VoiceThread allowed me to give verbal and visual directions and review. It also provided the opportunity for me to hear individual students' responses to each of the prompts.

VoiceThread lends itself naturally to the presentation of class projects. The students in my class gathered information on various animals. They created Kidspiration webs of the information they found and wrote three-paragraph research reports. The VoiceThread allowed the students to visually share their idea webs and orally share the reports that they wrote. Collected together, the VoiceThread created a slideshow of the work that they did on their research reports.

__**Reflection**__ I love VoiceThread! The number of ways that it can be seamlessly integrated into already-existing projects in the curriculum is endless. It was very easy for me and my students to learn how to use it. I can envision using VoiceThread regularly in the future to provide extra practice, publish products, and share classroom activities with families.

The biggest concern that I had as I started using VoiceThread was time. At first, it was hard for me to figure out when I could have students use the program. I wasn't sure how I'd find enough quiet time in my second grade classroom to have all of my students record. I ended up inviting four students to come in during recess to work on the project. I was able to train them on the procedure pretty quickly. They then acted as peer coaches for the rest of the class. WIth that group working as supervisors, I was able to use our "silent" reading time as VoiceThread time as well. I could manage the rest of the class while my peer mentors helped the students on the computers. I feel confident that with regular use of the program, all of the students could work independently with the program. That would give me even more times that I could use it, such as during morning work time or centers time. I also learned not to sweat it so much if there was a little background noise - it still came out great!

I found that the Solid Figure VoiceThread did not work out quite the way that I had planned. The first student who used it somehow recorded her answers on the end of mine, which kind of ruined it for the kids who followed. Even when they recorded separately from my comments, the subsequent students could still hear the other's answers. I would still like to be able to use the program to give kids extra practice and assess their knowledge, but I'll have to do some thinking about how to make it work better.

I was very excited by what should have been an obvious off-shoot of the VoiceThread process. It turned out to be a very powerful tool for fluency practice. I heard many students commenting on how they sounded as they were reading their reports. Many were surprised at how they sounded,, which words they stumbled over, and how they sometimes repeated or skipped words. It turned out to be a really good tool for getting students to focus on their fluency and I plan to use that aspect of VoiceThread to my advantage next year.

My students and I really enjoyed using VoiceThread. With more practice and time, I know it will be a tool that I use regularly in my class.