However, using some of these social networking site can allow me to visit one site and see suggested items to explore or unitize in my classroom compared to just searching for them individually.
I know that my district uses Twitter and Facebook to send out messages about great things that are going on our district so that press releases are positive. I taught summer school and a teacher took video on his I Phone of students putting up a tent and then writing about it. This was then shared on our Facebook page for families to see unique opportunities available through the summer school program.
I already use Voicethread in my classroom. Students will write and illustrate works. Last year we made class books on homophones and contractions. Students then recorded their voices to go with their page of the class book. We also completed shared writing where students recorded their voices to go with the sentence they contributed to our shared writing. After reading the Educational Networking Wiki, I was thinking about how I can use both this technology and others with my students. One individual shared that kindergartners wrote a class book in America and the same aged children in Turkey collaborated in this book with recording their voices in their language. My 4th grade classroom is reading buddies with a kindergarten classroom in my school. The partnerships could work on a class book and record voices to the book so that both classrooms would benefit from its use. This also would be an opportunity for my to show other teachers in the school Voicethread and how uniquely it could be used in kindergarten when children are just learning how to read.
You are so lucky to have a district that allows teachers to access I (and use)Twitter and Facebook. I LOVE the way you have embraced these technologies and are already integrating them into your instructional practices. On the opposite side of the coin, my district has just started to lighten up the filters, within the last year or two, and as a result teachers can use both blogs and wikis. However, Twitter and Facebook are blocked. Just wondering ~ Did you purchase your VoiceThreads account or is it the free one?
ReplyDeleteIt is a free one, but I am having trouble having my SIG group view it. Would you know how to fix this solution at all. Families last year were able to view it. I will keep trying to search for a solution.
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