New Things I Have Tried Recently...

[Shaelynn Farnsworth]

One of the newest technology tools I have tried is called Voice Thread. It's a way to talk and share images, videos, presentations, etc. I signed-up for an educator account which allows me to create unlimited voice threads. If you sign up for the free account you only get 3 voice threads, so make sure to sign up as an educator.
I created a voice thread for my AP Literature Class. We are reading and discussing The Scarlet Letter with an assigned lens (Puritan, Feminism, Freudian, and Transcendentalism). I chose an image of a cover used for an edition of The Scarlet Letter and had the students comment upon it based off of their perspective. Students can add voice or text, they can also draw on the image to point out specifics to their classmates.
I found this tool to be user-friendly and easy to navigate. I could also embed this on the AP ning that I currently use on a regular basis for the class. The students enjoyed this activity and found it useful.

[Jill Stannard]

Here is a voice thread I did with my second graders!
http://voicethread.com/share/956529/
I had students use Kid Pix to create a picture displaying a vocabulary word they learned from our Penguin PWIM (picture word induction model). Then they recorded their voices to explain their creations!