Voice Thread

I found this activity to be very enjoyable. I did feel a little silly at first talking into a microphone and not face to face with a person. I made sure that I jotted down some key points to focus on as I spoke so that I could stay on topic. I really enjoyed the two videos that we had to watch for this voice thread tool. I would like to go to one of his seminars. He makes vital points that really stuck a cord with myself and being a special education teacher.

Here are video 1 and video 2, for the assignment, if you would like to view them.

Voice Thread can help to incorporate the theme of creativity into my classroom. The first thing that came to my mind was an algebraic math problem. Have that be the picture and then have the students interpret and evaluate the problem the best they can. I would instruct them to do this prior to my lesson, prior to any background, to see how many different ways and strategies that the students choose to use. With this tool and this example I would have to be more open minded as an educator and more accepting of a variety of solutions. This tool can be tied in with a piece of art work and the teacher having the students state what they thought the meaning was of the piece. Again this would help to open the door of creativity and possibly create  student interest.

Here you can go to listen to my interpretation and voice thread of the two videos for this assignment.

This activity best correlates with ISTE Standard #1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. This tool is proven in the activity that I just conducted to facilitate creativity. This is achieved by promoting and supporting fresh and new innovative ways to think and interpret information. This activity definitely engaged my interest and pushed me to explore the real-world issue of education. This helped me to convey my possible weaknesses and areas that I need to improve upon. This tool helped me to share my views and perceptions of information that was provided to us through the internet. This tool allowed me to orally state my understanding of the material and identify what the next step is for me. Voice Thread is able to connect all students, instructors, peers, and colleagues together without having to be physically there. This tool can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. I have never head of this tool before and I am certainly glad that I did!