Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    VoiceThread for Digital Education
    VoiceThread for Digital Education
    VoiceThread for Digital Education
    Ebook193 pages2 hours

    VoiceThread for Digital Education

    By Kelli Stair

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    If technology is a tool, then VoiceThread is the Swiss army knife of educational technology. Versatile, easy-to-navigate, and interactive, VoiceThread equips teachers to deploy numerous best instructional practices that engage 21st century students in rigorous literacy activities.

    VoiceThread for Digital Education details how to use the free VoiceThread cloud application to enhance twelve research-proven teaching strategies. Each chapter focuses on a specific teaching strategy—such as activating background knowledge, peer revision, or journaling—and explains how to improve that strategy with the interactive and multimedia capabilities of VoiceThread. Specific content area examples spark ideas for all teachers to incorporate VoiceThread in their classrooms, and a how to guide and hyperlinks to demonstration screencasts provide step by step directions to help every teacher—regardless of technology background—to utilize this invaluable tool. In addition to satisfying technology standards, VoiceThread differentiates instruction, increases student engagement, and helps generate highly interactive, rigorous lessons.

    Upgrade your current teaching strategies with VoiceThread for Digital Education and create an environment where every student learns, every day.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKelli Stair
    Release dateSep 10, 2013
    ISBN9781301483709
    VoiceThread for Digital Education
    Author

    Kelli Stair

    After almost a decade teaching English in urban secondary schools, I have applied my experience in curriculum development, technology integration, and teacher professional development to writing educational books. I graduated from Indiana University (Bloomington) in 2000 with a B.S. in English Secondary Education and from Walden University in 2006 with an M.S. in Education--focus on integrating technology in the curriculum. I have led high school professional development for four years and have presented at both online and in person conferences, including the National NCTE conference in November 2012.

    Related to VoiceThread for Digital Education

    Related ebooks

    Teaching Methods & Materials For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Adobe Education Exchange

      Jun 24, 2018

      Collegiality and collaboration in education are vital to teacher success and wider school improvement: they’re big factors in professional growth, job satisfaction and job success. But … that’s not always possible in teaching. There are a number of f

      10 min read

    • Article

      Teacher At Heart

      Nov 25, 2020

      Humble beginnings pave the way for big aspirations. Divya Gokulnath, co-founder and teacher, BYJU’S, is a living example of that maxim. The daughter of a doctor, her love for learning started early on and inspired her to pursue science and maths. Her

      6 min read

    • Article

      Feeling Fine Online

      Sep 25, 2023

      How many of you have dreamt about a meaningful career, where you can combine your love of children with your love of yoga and mindfulness? Are you stuck in a rut and feel your dream vocation slipping away because of circumstances beyond your control?

      2 min read

    • Article

      Take The Work Out Of Homework

      Oct 13, 2023

      Take The Work Out Of Homework
      3 min read

    • Article

      Lockdown Learning

      Apr 17, 2020

      Lockdown Learning
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Digital Experience

      May 21, 2021

      The Digital Experience
      2 min read

    • Article

      Imparting Holistic, Value Based Education

      May 27, 2023

      Dr. Alam A. Sisodia is a highly regarded legal consultant and the General Secretary of Vidya Bharati School. His significant contributions to education have brought about positive changes, enhancing the lives of students. He has revolutionized the ed

      3 min read

    • Article

      N.l. Dalmia And The Art Of Quarantine Proof Education

      May 9, 2020

      Q The Pandemic has forced the transformation of conventional classrooms to digital. Are the teachers and students ready for the sudden shift? Human beings have been designed to adapt themselves to the changing environment quickly. It is not just the

      4 min read

    • Article

      Teaching Mindfulness Online

      Sep 25, 2023

      When we think of being present and connecting with nature, we tend to think of smells (perhaps damp earth or freshly cut grass); sights (big, expansive skies or a beautiful sunset); sounds (hearing the wind in the trees or a bird chirping) and what w

      3 min read

    • Article

      Virtual Toolkit

      Apr 1, 2018

      Virtual Toolkit
      8 min read

    • Article

      DIGITAL ETIQUETTE in College

      Dec 14, 2020

      DIGITAL ETIQUETTE in College
      2 min read

    • Article

      IPad Teaching Resources

      Mar 25, 2021

      Millions of parents have had to get used to homeschooling over the past year and for many it has been difficult. Besides the technical challenges of ensuring that their children have access to online classes with their normal teachers, they also have

      3 min read

    • Article

      9 Essential Practices to Make College Pay Off

      Nov 4, 2019

      Many parents and students wading through college applications this fall are experiencing sticker shock. Couple that with 44 million Americans owing $1.5 trillion in student loan debt and anyone can see why there are growing concerns about the cost an

      4 min read

    • Article

      Honest Feedback

      Sep 23, 2019

      Honest Feedback
      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for VoiceThread for Digital Education

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      VoiceThread for Digital Education - Kelli Stair

      VoiceThread for Digital Education

      By Kelli Stair

      ©Angry Bunny Publishing 2013

      VoiceThread for Digital Education by Kelli Stair

      Published by Angry Bunny Publishing at Smashwords

      Discover other titles by Kelli Stair at Smashwords.com

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.

      Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders and students for permission to reproduce borrowed material. We regret any oversights that may have occurred and will be pleased to rectify them in subsequent reprints of the work.

      All Web pages cited in the text were current at the time of publication. Due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet, the locations of some may have since changed.

      Dedication…

      Special thanks to my husband Alex who always believes in me.

      Thank you to my family and friends for their support, encouragement, and best wishes.

      A very special thank you to Laura Bowman who edited, proofed, and taught me so much in the process. This would not be the book it is without her, and I am forever grateful.

      My heartfelt appreciation to the teachers and family who supported my Kickstarter—before there was a product, you bought in to the dream. Thank you to: Rene Aslekar, Kerri Charlwood, Nicole Garcia, Angela Hetler, Lisa Jarrett, Enrique Lozano, Denise Martin, Sandy Weyer, and Bill and Alex Welsch.

      Finally, a Washington Panther shout out to my 2013 AP American literature class who brought it. You are the best class I could ever hope to have. You shared your American dreams with me, I shared mine with you, and we all came out better for it. Love you guys.

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      For other digital publications and online workshops by this author, visit www.angrybunnypublishing.com

      https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/kellistair

      http://teacherlifehack.blogspot.com/

      Table of Contents

      Foreword

      Letter to Reader

      Introduction to VoiceThread

      Activating Background Knowledge

      Peer Editing for Writing Revision or Project Revision

      Journal or Open Response Alternative

      Group Projects Involving Multimedia

      Connecting Anchor Texts to Supplementary Texts

      Guided Instruction: Minilessons

      Student-Created Projects or Student Expert Research

      Thematic Discussions

      Literary Analysis, Informative, Persuasive, Descriptive, or Narrative Essay Options

      Summative Assessments

      Evidence of Student Inquiry

      Writing and Learning Portfolios

      Bonus Strategies

      How to Get Started: Step-by-Step Screenshot Demo

      Foreword

      From the first words to the reader introducing VoiceThread as a tool for teachers and students to the final screenshots displaying publishing options, Kelli Stair invites teachers to explore, to experiment, and to encourage exceptional learning from the digital generation. The digital generation is transforming our lives in fundamental ways, and some of the most dramatic changes are occurring in classrooms. We have moved from a few computers with limited functions to personal tablets, smart phones, applications, and digital tools that have the potential to encourage exceptional teaching and exceptional learning. Moving into the digital age has not been without challenges, however. Many teachers find themselves either reluctant to use available technology or quick to use technology without intention and purpose. Stair weaves intention throughout the chapters, and reminds teachers that they are in the best position to make choices about how to use technology in their classrooms.

      Drawing from her years of experience in an urban English Language Arts classroom and infusing her passion and energy for teaching, Kelli describes how VoiceThread can enhance specific instructional strategies such as activating prior knowledge, peer editing, and group projects. Each chapter offers nuggets of excellent teaching that are enhanced by the use of the tool, including multimedia and collaborative exchange among students. The structure of each chapter provides a framework for teachers to begin with what they know about instructional strategies, and extend their teaching craft into the less familiar, the use of digital tools. Examples of using the tool in content areas, guiding questions, assessing the strategy, and assessing the student are also provided.

      As a teacher educator who has been a part of the teaching profession for many decades, I have experienced first -hand the excitement that is generated when teachers come together in hallways before class and in classrooms after school to talk about student learning and teacher practice. I can imagine some of those animated conversations being about VoiceThread, and I would expect that some of Kelli Stair’s experiences just might be the topic of those conversations.

      Kathryn Kinnucan-Welsch, Ed.D

      Associate Dean, School of Education and Health Sciences

      University of Dayton

      Dear Reader:

      Contemporary society is changing quickly, modern students have different educational and social needs, and digital technology is both the present and the future of education. As a result, many companies promote education fix-its and programs that may or may not benefit students.

      As a critical teacher, you have opted to judge for yourself how to best use technology and digital tools for educational purposes. You have a strong foundation in best practices for education, and you know what student learning looks like. You are proud of your education and experience, you value your critical skills, and you can be confident when determining, based on your knowledge and classroom experience, what will best help your students learn and be successful.

      This book, VoiceThread for Digital Education, provides an opportunity for you as a teacher to take what you know as best instructional practices and modernize those best practices with a technology upgrade. To that effect, the organization of this book helps teachers like you take the next step in incorporating digital learning in your classroom.

      First, the introduction to VoiceThread takes you through key features of the tool. Next, twelve strategy-based chapters focus on instructional best practices; each chapter identifies the instructional strategy and its educational value before demonstrating how VoiceThread improves upon the strategy. Several specific examples in multiple content areas are provided.

      Embedded in these chapters are quick tips, which offer advice for how to make the most of VoiceThread; guiding questions, which offer thought-provoking questions following the examples to help you think about ways to use VoiceThread in your own instruction; assessment ideas for how to assess both students and VoiceThread as a tool; and, finally, challenge activities to motivate you to try the strategy in your own classroom. Screencast examples highlight VoiceThread features for different strategies. Finally, a how-to guide at the end ensures that even technophobes can use this tool adeptly.

      Woven throughout the book are professional knowledge and experiences from my eight years of teaching high school English, my four years as professional development coordinator and conference presenter, and my Masters degree in integrating technology in the curriculum.

      Thank you for all you do to encourage exceptional learning from the digital generation.

      Live, love, teach—

      Kelli Stair

      Introduction to VoiceThread

      If you want a collaborative educational experience designed specifically for multimedia use, VoiceThread (www.VoiceThread.com) is the free online tool for you. VoiceThread allows you to upload or link media such as videos, PowerPoint presentations, pictures, audio, and documents into a discussion thread. Each slide allows the teacher and students to offer text, audio, or video commentary. Teachers can create a VoiceThread that presents information and, through guiding questions, elicits student responses. VoiceThread even has a doodle tool that lets you draw on a picture or video to highlight important information. Doodles disappear as soon as the person’s comments are finished. You can stop video, draw on it to highlight information, and then continue with the video as part of your comment.

      VoiceThread is a valuable technology tool available at no cost online. As its tag line, conversations in the cloud, implies, VoiceThread offers ways to create, present, comment on, and collaborate using multimedia pieces such as images, documents, video, PowerPoint presentations, and more. Take a look at this screenshot of what a single slide of a VoiceThread looks like.

      Note: This particular picture was used to emphasize the visual juxtaposition of child and soldier.

      < http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1541778/Deprived-of-love-play-and-hope-the-250000-children-still-fighting.html>

      This example is from a preview of child soldiers in Sierra Leone, which I use to activate and level background knowledge for students who are about to read Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone. In addition to the image and the drawing that I’ve done to highlight the teddy bear backpack, flip-flops, and AK-47 that this child is pointing at the camera, my audio commentary box appears open in the top-left corner of the screenshot. My commentary tells students what to look for as they scrutinize the image, and it gives directions for making a comment themselves.

      The other pictures in the screenshot represent the students in my class and the comments they have made in response to the picture and my directions. A common theme to the commentary for this image is how similar the boy looks to the younger siblings of my students, which creates a real connection to their lives. Suddenly, this image is no longer about some stranger in another country, but about a kid just like their siblings or themselves when they were younger.

      By commenting through audio, text, or webcam, students make and solidify the connection to the main character in the autobiography they are about to read. Just seeing the image isn’t enough; students need the opportunity to share their opinions. The outrage my students feel at seeing a child with this weapon is staggering. Comments range from condemning the rebels and the Sierra Leone military, to wondering where the boy’s parents were, to anger that we—in the United States—were doing nothing to help. Seeing and reflecting upon an emotionally charged image helps activate my students’ background knowledge and emotionally invest them in the future reading.

      Both instructor comments and student comments can be done via text box, audio, or webcam commentary. This feature of VoiceThread opens up the work for students without strong writing skills to still participate with audio or video commentaries. Interestingly, one of the added bonuses that I discovered was that students drafted, practiced, and revised their video commentaries to be perfect—without any prompting from me to do so. The authentic audience of their peers—and being on video—creates an environment in which students are self-directed in the revision process. They often ask each other to watch their videos and make suggestions, and the quality of their responses go far beyond what they would be

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1