Social Software Tool - Voice Thread

I love the idea of incorporating a media tool like Voice Thread into my classroom and that's why I chose it for this assignment.

A Voice Thread is a collaborative slide show that contains images, documents and videos. It allows people to navigate through the pages and leave comments. There are five different way to leave comments on homebody's Voice Thread - through voice, text, video, or an audio file. You can also doodle on the pictures while viewing them!

One way I would love to use this tool in my fifth grade classroom would be to post a variety of interesting topics on a Voice Thread and allow my students to comment on the subject. I would not require my students to comment, only to do so if they were inspired by the topic. I would hope to get a lot of participation this way and feel that without being pressured my students would be able to interact on their own. From that point forward I might consider presenting a Voice Thread everyday and opening up the topic up for thought and converstation to the whole class. At that point I would already have comments from students and I would hope I could evolve the topic and comments into a thoughtful discussion among all my students.

Mrs. Bett's 5th Grade Netiquette Guidelines

The guidelines listed below are examples of good internet "netiquette" or etiquette. These are simple rules I expect my students to go by when communicating online.


Avoid hurting someones feelings:

• It's hard to grasp emotion through email, chat, or other forms of online communication. Always be courteous, and be careful about what you say, as it can easily be taken as negative. It's hard to tell if someone is joking through email, so make sure they are aware of your mood.
• Be careful when using all CAPITAL letters, it can be considered "SHOUTING".

Be Aware and Responsible Online:

• Do not send inappropriate material or emails to people.
• Never post passwords or any personal information on forums, or through email.
  
• Be very careful when downloading files. Get my permission before you download files, music or video, there is a lot of junk online and some can be harmful and contain viruses.
• Never send a message that you wouldn't want to be shared with others.
• Appropriate classroom behavior is still mandatory when online. Respect for fellow classmates and the teacher is as important as ever.
  

Communicate Effectively

• Always be kind enough to respond promptly to emails. It is rude to ignore somebody who is trying to communicate with you.
• Avoid using language that may come off as harsh or rude.
• Keep your emails short and precise and give them a meaningful subject line.

GAMES!

Play Games at AddictingGames

Spreadsheets

I chose to watch the "Do Pumpkins Have Larger Seeds?" project. This project was designed to show the relationship between pumpkin seeds in small pumpkins vs. pumpkin seeds in larger pumpkins, based on the number of seeds. Mr. Oliver, the 2nd grade teacher used spreadsheets to predict, collect data, anaylze and conclude the information gathered from the project.

If I were to adapt this lesson into my grade level (5th grade), I would follow the same principle as Mr. Oliver, however incorporate the project into different subjects as well. One thing I would do for sure is teach the students about scientific research and have them write a short scientific paper based on the information gathered. I could also use the numbers from the speadsheets and work them into a math lesson. I really enjoyed this lesson, and think students would LOVE a hands on activity like this to incorporate into different subjects.