Creating Life

So many of the writing assignments that are assigned and completed at most schools are a one-way, or maximum two-way communication between the student and the teacher. The communication ends there, and it often ends in a crumpled ball tucked in between the sides of a locker and a math textbook. I've felt driven lately to give those assignments new life. I caught about 10 minutes of a lecture given by Tim Fish at the AIMS Conference on students in the Web 2.0 world. Most of it wasn't new information, but he showed this really neat personal narrative that had been brought to life through image, song and spoken word. "Wait just a second!" I thought. "Our fifth graders write personal narratives, too." Needless to say, the idea has germinated in my classroom. Fifth graders are just now drawing, downloading and capturing photographic images that somehow tell their story. We're using Voicethread to create these stories, and they'll narrate them last. I have to say, they are ALL ABOUT this activity. The public nature of voicethread appeals to their massive adolescent, post Myspace Reality TV egos. There are more ways to extend and expand written communication, whose day as a standalone activity are nearing extinction.

Raising Children in a Digital Village

We had our first Parent Forum of the year this Tuesday night at my school, and I spoke to about 25 parents (all aged children) about how Raising Children in a Global Village differs from the "Gutenberg Era" in which they all were raised. I'm experimenting with Voicethread , so I uploaded my PowerPoint, and then tried to comment, but I think our own Firewall settings at school are preventing me from doing so. I did embed the powerpoint onto a school Web page and uploaded the sound recording I made using a digital voice recorder--Olympus brand VN-480PC. I have to admit, the sound isn't great. I also provided links to most of the handouts I provided. Feel free to copy and use anything you'd like.

Yack Pack Begone! Voicethread, hello!

My inbox hosted a dastardly email this morning: Kim Cofino told me that Yack Pack has decided to go all capitalist on us and start charging for their service. Everyone has to eat, I guess. I was pretty bummed out, since a big part of one of my global collaborations projects was based upon the tool. But in the same day, I also learned from Kevin Jarrett that there's a new tool that could easily take its' place called VoiceThread. The demo is pretty exciting, but what's more exciting is that it's a lot like teaching class using a slide presentation. It integrates the sound and allows folks to comment on each page.
Imagine this: You post a slide presentation for the parents in your community about an Internet safety issue, like Facebook. You record your presentation material and parents can access it whenever they'd like. They may also post a comment or question for each slide and you can respond next time you log in. It's basically distance education. I like it. I like what it can do. I don't so much like that the world we live in requires/allows us to distance ourselves from one another. But I'll stop whining. This is GOOD NEWS.