TIE Blog 2

Finally did I accomplished using voicethread with my children! Throughout the whole semester this was something I was dreading to do only to realize I might have made it harder on myself than it was :p I also didn't realize how much the kids would enjoy this activity! I think maybe because with everything going around with me, I was in a bit of a hurry to do this that I couldn't enjoy it myself. They laughed when they heard their voice because they would be so shy and timid while recording yet wanted to brag about it to the other students later on. It was quite a sight to see for me and overall reminds me that children are so easily engaged and how this was all worth it in the end.


"What worked well?'
- I think incorporating everything Voicethread has to offer was good. I had the kids work with different methods by using the microphone, keyboard, and photo uploading of their creations. This way, they learned through different perspectives of the concept of the lesson and also worked on their media skills as well.


"What would I do differently"
- Definitely working on my time. Having everything set up was easy, but because the children were taking turns, the others were waiting anxiously for their turn which caused them to rush with their other independent practice work and also guiding them was hard seeing that I wanted to make sure the children at the computer were doing everything correctly.


Questions for the students:
1) What are some characteristics of a land plant?
2) What are some differences you see when comparing the aquatic plant to the land plant?
3) Which picture shows examples of a land plant and/or aquatic plant?
4) Can you illustrate your own creations of a land or aquatic plant?


Questions to think about:

1) Did you experience any technical difficulties?

2) How did your students enjoy implementing their own ideas/opinions on the VoiceThread?

3) After successfully experimenting with VoiceThread, would you take consideration into incorporating it into your future lesson plans?


Here's our finished product! (:


I made comments on Yanis Luna, Marisela Contreras, and Genelle Fernandez's amazing VoiceThread blogs as well!

TIE Blog 1-Story Board

I am now planning to use VoiceThread in one of my future lesson plans. In this lesson, it will be the students job to differentiate the similarities and differences between an aquatic plant and a land plant. I was planning on working with this with my classmate Yanis because we both have the same grade level, but because of time constraints and different schedules we decided to help one another with ideas and modifications to imply in our lesson. As for my lesson plan, I am still playing with ideas of how to make it flow and gain the understanding of the students. I am hoping to integrate the VoiceThread so each of my students will be able to comment and participate in this lesson. I am planning to teach this lesson next week if possible giving me enough time to play with the controls and technology a bit before introducing it to my class. As a preview, I am attaching my Bloom's Questions and the Pedagogical Implications that will flow through my voicethread lesson. My lesson plan is also ready to be evaluated though I may modify some of my ideas.

This is an example of how I want my VoiceThread to follow as. I do plan to include more activities for them to participate in. An idea of embedding a video to my VoiceThread was even given to me also so I'm working on trying to implement that. As I said before I am still playing around with ideas because of all the possible choices voicethread gives you! I hope my students will appreciate this and enjoy it as well! (:

Experimenting With VoiceThread!

As I said before, playing around with voicethread serves such a good purpose in order to get more great ideas for your future lessons. Do I really think teachers would use this to its full advantage? Honestly, no. I really believe it would have to become a mandatory task in order for teachers to experiment this technological advancement in their classrooms. Some may think, "Who has enough time for this?" but I believe if teachers really cared about teaching their students in an engaging way, they would give VoiceThread a chance without judgement first.

In class today we created our own voicethread with our classmates. Ours was based on life coping skills in how to relax and prevent ourselves from getting stressed. One thing I love about voicethread is that we are able to share this with everyone in other classes and districts too. Teachers always share ideas amongst one another so this is another perfect way to stay connected!

Technology Integration Experience Thoughts

Today we learned about a new technological product that we can use in our future classrooms. VoiceThread allows us to view the interaction of the students in the classroom working with their higher order thinking skills. Although the information and website can seem to be overwhelming, just playing around a little bit with the controls allows you to experience how implementing this into your lesson can benefit your students. We had a chance to experience a few examples of previous voicethreads made that helped us see the big picture of this technological advancement. For example, my students just finished celebrating the 100 days of school. In this voicethread it shows how a teacher prepared an activity for the students to be engaged in in honor of the celebration. I think as a future teacher my students would love this! It also gives them some independence and responsibility. I am in a kindergarten class right now and there's no doubt my students could participate in this without worry. Though overwhelming, voicethread can make a difference in the classrooms and engagement of students. Of course with the permission of my certified teacher, I can't wait to integrate VoiceThread to my lesson plan.

-Ms. Hernandez