TIE Blog 2

My voicethread lesson was on The Dust Bowl in the 1930's. I had showed them a video over the dust bowl and we went over facts and how it affected people and farms. After discussing everything, I had my kids into four groups and assigned each group a topic of what they will be discussing. Each group had 2 questions that they had to answer. They had to come up with as many facts as they could with their topic to help them answer. When one group was done, they would come to me and they would record their answers to the appropriate slide. While I was working with one group, the other groups would be finishing their facts or working on their independent practice worksheets. This kept the kids busy until it was their turn to record their answers. The overall product was ok. Most of the comments were very low and there was a lot of background noise. I didn't have the headphones available at the school at the time of my lesson. The kids still enjoyed doing the voicethread. Another problem that occurred was forgetting to assign the ID's to each group. Somehow a different ID showed up but not sure how. At the end of everyone's comments, I played the whole thing for the class and they were surprised to hear how their voices sounded. I think this lesson went pretty smooth and it was a fun lesson. I just wished I had the headphones available, so the kids comments could be more loud and clear. This wass an interesting lesson to learn about myself, because of not knowing anything about voicethread. At first I was going crazy trying to learn it and how to implement it but now I am more comfortable with it than I was in the begiining and would consider using it again with future lessons.


Questions:

1. What can be done to further enhance this lesson?

2. How can voicethread be used to create another activity for this type of lesson?


Peer Blog Reviews:

I liked Roszella's questions on her blog because it makes you really think about voicethread and if you would want to use it again in future lessons.

I liked Margo's propmt for her voicethread. It was "What do you think would happen if plants did not have roots?" I think this was a great question to ask her students. It's a great way for them to really think about how it would affect the plants.

I liked Maegan's lesson on grams and kilograms. Her question on how her lesson could be more suitable for older students is a great way for other teachers to look at her voicethread and incorporate it with their classroom.

TIE Blog 1

Here are my Blooms and Affrordances and lesson plan worksheets.

My voice thread blog. This is what I have so far. I'm having trouble linking my learning pages so I'm going to try and do that at a later time. :) TEKS: Social Studies: (5) History. The student understands important issues, events, and individuals of the 20th century in Texas. The student is expected to: (A) identify the impact of various issues and events on life in Texas such as urbanization, increased use of oil and gas, the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and World War II; Art: (2) Creative expression/performance. The student expresses ideas through original artworks, using a variety of media with appropriate skill. The student is expected to: (A)    integrate a variety of ideas about self, life events, family, and community in original artworks; Technology: (7) Solving problems. The student uses appropriate computer-based productivity tools to create and modify solutions to problems. The student is expected to: (A) use software programs with audio, video, and graphics to enhance learning experiences; (C) use a variety of data types including text, graphics, digital audio, and video. For my voice thread, I am doing Social Studies with a focus on The Dust Bowl. I'm having my kids into 5 groups and assigning each group two questions for them to answer about the dust bowl on the voice thread.

VoiceThread creation

Today in class, we learned how to do voice threads and how to create comments on them. It was a little difficult for me to keep up with the rest of the class considering that Voicethread isn't compatible with my iPad but my team members were more than helpful showing me everything. When I got home, I was able to go to our voicethread we created and add a few more comments. I haven't messed with the video or voice messages since I have neither a webcam or microphone. I still feel a little confused with the whole integrating the voice thread into our lesson but I am hoping for the best and staying positive. The lesson isn't until late March, so I have a little while to play with this concept.

Integrated Technology Experience (TIE) Thoughts

The two voice threads I saw today were Fall Stories and We are thankful for.... Fall Stories, I liked because it showcased the students artwork and they described what there pictures were about and what their favorite things to do were. The kids seemed familiar with the equipment and doing voice thread because they go straight into talking without being directed by the teacher. I also like the We are thankful thread. It too showcased the children's artwork. The only thing that I didn't like was with every student you could hear the teacher in the background telling them when to go. It sounds like it was a younger class but if the teacher would familiarize the students with the work and give careful instructions, the thread might have been a little more smoother. In my class, I like the idea of showing the kid's artwork by taking pictures of it and then having them describe it using a voice thread. I feel that it makes the process all about them and that is what it needs to be focused on. Plus it's a great way to show their parents what they have been doing in class and how much progress they are making.