The document introduces six media tools for technology integration in classrooms: Voki, Voicethread, Foldplay booklets, geocaching, blogging, and Yodio. Examples of classroom uses are provided for each tool, such as using Voki for book reviews, Voicethread for collaborative discussions, and geocaching for scavenger hunt-style learning activities involving outdoor exploration. The document aims to showcase different digital tools teachers can employ to engage students in the 21st century classroom.
1. Tools for the 21st Century
By: Michelle Wright
Technology integration is key in
today’s scholastic arena. Six media
tools are presented with examples of
classroom uses. Tools include: Voki,
Voicethread, Foldplay booklets,
geocaching, blogging, and Yodio.
35. References
Natureworks. Butterfly Flower. morgueFile.com. http://mrg.bz/use9cP.
Bosped. Cocoon.jpg. morgueFile.com. http://mrg.bz/NIusOv.
Earl53. all_of_me.jpg. morgueFile.com. http://mrg.bz/Fs5idz.
P, Kevin.110802 052.jpg. morgueFile.com. http://mrg.bz/gG3cyY
Sharon Taylor’s Blog on Scholastic’s Mentor Teacher Blog Webpage.
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/teaching-ideas/sharon-taylor
Paulson, Michael (2012). Glazer Children’s Museum. Flickr Creative
Commons. http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewpaulson/6894708026/.
36. References
Screen shots taken from:
www.yodio.com
www.blogspot.com
www.voicethread.com
www.geocaching.com
www.voki.com
www.foldplay.com
Examples include pages from:
www.wallwisher.com
Notas do Editor
Title and 50 word or less description.
Total time (including questions) is 39 ½ minutes.
Hello! My name is Michelle Wright. I graduated from CNU in 2008 with my Masters of Art in Teaching. This coming year will be my fifth year teaching preschool with Newport News Public Schools. I recently started taking classes at ODU towards my endorsement as a Media Specialist/Librarian. This is a picture of me and my husband of five years. (1 min)
And this is a photo of our two beautiful boys. Adam is four, and Isaac will be two in October.(30 sec)
In this presentation, I will be going over six relatively new media tools and giving examples of how they could be used to support educational curriculum. The Voki, Voicethread, and Yodio are audio tools. Foldplay is a picture book tool. We will also cover blogging and geocaching. (30 sec)
This is what the Voki website looks like. A voki is somewhat like a talking avatar. You are able to pick the character, give it a voice (through phone, type, microphone, or file) and select the background. There are many useful implications for this tool. (30 sec)
You can assign students to create book reviews using the Voki. (At this point, I would click on Book Reviews, which takes us to a Wallwisher with an embedded Voki book review). On this page (the wallwisher page) we have an example of a voki. The voki is a pig on a farm and is giving a review of the book, Charlotte’s Web. You could have students create vokis that resemble characters from their book and the vokis could give the book review. Then students could post their vokis to a wallwisher site like this one, and you have them all together for viewing. This allows the students to be creative with their book report and is easier for those who are nervous about public speaking. What is also neat about this project is that you can put in on your classroom/library website and the students/parents can view it from home as well. Using the wallwisher site, the students can comment on their peers’ vokis. Another example of using a voki in the library is on your library webpage. Here is a link to a ficticious webpage where a voki greets the audience. This makes your webpage more welcoming and interesting for the student body and might be helpful for those with disabilities… making your webpage more accessible. Teachers could also include vokis on their webpages, and if you have students creating a webpage as an assignment they could include a voki as well. There are a lot of voki lesson plans on the website, and I will show you some of them. (5 min)
On theVoki website, click on lesson plans (click mouse and circle/arrow pops up). You can pick the subject (click and circle pops up) and level (click and circle pops up). I clicked on Beginner level Spanish lessons and found some interesting ones. Ashley Ortiz made a voki that asks students vocabulary questions. Then, the students make their own vokis that use the vocabulary in sentences. What is nice is that you are able to pause or replay the voki if you need to hear it again, which you probably would in a foreign language class! As the teacher/librarian you could also replay the students’ vokis if you didn’t quite hear them correctly the first time. There are tons of possibilities! (2 min)
This is what you see on the Voicethread site, once you sign in. You do have to make an account but it is free (like all of the tools we are covering today). You simply upload pictures/video images and then comment on them. The comments surround the topic image so that you do not lose anyone’s voice (as you would if it were to scroll down like a standard comment page). If you click here (click mouse and circle pops up) it will take you to a page of premade Voicethread lesson plans. (2 min)
Look on the left side under Categories(click and the yellow circle pops up) and you can choose sample lessons. I like the lesson at the bottom where 2nd graders where playing a literacy ‘I Spy’ game (click and circle comes up). I can see students ‘spying’ rhyming objects or word family objects in a photo and then commenting using the Voicethread. When they were done, they could click on the other students’ comments to see what they spied. This is really neat oral exercise and is especially great for young children who are developing vocabulary and oral communication skills. There is also a lesson for 7th graders (click and circle pops up) where they make radio advertisements using Voicethread. Then there is an example of using Voicethread to make book reviews (click and final circle pops up). These are only some of the many lessons already availabe. (3 min)
Here is an example Voicethread that I made. After going on a field trip, you could ask the students to comment on what their favorite part of the trip was. Then you could display it or post it on your class page for parents/students to view at home. (30 sec)
Here is an example from my fictitious library webpage. I am commenting on how I could collaborate with a third grade teacher. We would have the students research on Ancient Roman architecture (a 3rd grade SOL) and discuss it using a Voicethread. The classroom teacher would highlight what content was necessary to cover and the librarian would assist the students in researching and presenting with the Voicethread. Collaborative teaching is so wonderful because it takes the burden off of the classroom teacher of trying new technology ‘alone’. It is so hard to plan for technology if you are unfamiliar with it and do not have ample time to familiarize yourself, so co-teaching with media specialists is really crucial to help integrate technology into lessons. (3 min – I would click on the hyperlink to let them hear the audio)
Here is an example of a Voicethread where the librarian/teacher poses a question and the students would then respond. Again, their responses would show up around the central image so that all responses could be viewed on a single page. (30 sec)
This is what you see on the Foldplay website. It is very easy to upload photos. Once you upload a photo, you write about it in the box below the ‘Browse’ button. When it prints you fold it and it is a little book. (30 sec)
Students could make Foldplay books about any content. Here is an example of a student booklet describing the lifecycle of a butterfly. The educator would have a premade folder of photos on the computer and the student would put the pictures in order, then describe what was happening. You print and have a product which demonstrates understanding of the concept! (2 min)
Librarians could have Foldplay booklets describing featured books of the week/month. Students could pick up the booklets and see if there was any literature that caught their eye to check out. You could also feature a genre, author, series in a mini book. Or, you could have students make book reviews using Foldplay. You can take a picture of student artwork and upload it into Foldplayto use in the book. (30 sec)
If you went on a field trip or had a special event in the school, you could upload photos to Foldplay and the students could write about their experience. This is a great storytelling tool and a great way to teach students how to tell a story. (30 sec)
Here is a bit of the image you would see on www.blogspot.com (one blogging tool). Using a blog with students is becoming increasingly more important because it is a career skill. Many companies have company blogs or expect aspiring employees to be aware of the company blog. It is a current venue for information that students should be familiar with. Blogs are great because they are free, accessible to anyone, and provide the students with valuable experience. (1 min)
You could have students keep a blog while they are reading a particular novel. You could go over blogs in class, and ask students to read and comment on other students’ blogs. You could ask students to respond to questions about the novel on their blogs and/or ask students to write journal-type reflective entries on their blogs. They really could get creative with it and embed related images/videos that support their writings. Students would connect to their blogs, personalize them, and it would really help them get into the novels and discussions. (1 min)
You could also have students blog about science experiments. Students could blog about their hypothesis, write about the experiment they used to test the hypothesis, and reflect on the results. Students could also read and comment on their peers blogs. (30 sec)
Here is an example of one of Scholastic’s mentor teachers’ logs. Sharon Taylor teaches first grade and blogs about what she is doing in her classroom. What a great way to get ideas! Scholastic’s site features several teacher blogs. (30 sec)
This is the main geocaching page. Geocaching is basically using a GPS device to find ‘cache’ or prizes left by someone else. It’s like a treasure hunt. Once you hide something, you log it’s GPS coordinates with the website or give the students the latitude and longitude of the approximate area where it is hidden. In the academic arena, a librarian/teacher would hide some educational cache and the students would use a GPS device to find it. It gets the students moving, involved, and excited to learn! (1 min)
Here are some examples of some educational geocaching activities. The educator could hide review questions about a particular topic (the cache) and the students would find the questions with the GPS. They would work in groups and talk to each other about the answers to the questions. In the library you could have students find certain books with their GPS (this would be the cache) in different sections of the library to get them familiar with the layout. You could also have some sort of “great race” for students. Students could work in teams and the ones to find and address each cache first would be the winner. The students would have a blast! It’s also a great way to teach latitude and longitude, which they will be using to find the cache. (1 min)
Here is a link to a video on YouTube about Frederick County teachers using the GPS devices in their schools. It is also on my bookmarking tool for you to view on your own if you like. (video – 3 minutes)
This is the Yodio website.Yodio allows you to narrate over digital pictures, much like PhotoStory if anyone is familiar with that program. Yodio is free however, and accessible to everyone. You upload your photos and call a phone number to record the audio. (30 sec)
Here is an example of a life cycle Yodio project (click on the blue words). Again, I am using Wallwisher to post all Yodios on the same page. Another idea for elementary students is to go take pictures of geometric shapes in nature. The students could narrate over the pictures about the shapes and patterns that they see in nature. Students could use Yodio to do book reviews/retell stories as well. (4 min)
5 minutes
This is my bookmarking tool which will be provided on a handout.