After trying out voice thread a few times, I saw a lot of potential of using voicethread for shared reading experiences in English, especially poetry.  We have an English Department meeting on Wednesday during which we are working to review our reading curriculum.  As part of this, the teachers also share ideas and brainstorm about how to fine tune their reading instruction.  Using a poem and guiding questions from each grade’s English teacher I put together short shared reading experiences for their classes.   I am very excited to share this tool with them and to see how they begin to use it in their classrooms.  In addition to giving students additional shared reading experiences, it also allows students to find their literary voice in a way that might not be possible in a classroom where not everyone gets a turn.  While this means they will not be writing a response, they will be speaking their thoughts.  My guess is that this will bring out different strengths and different kinds of expressed thoughts for some children.  I also think it will feel safer for some children than speaking aloud in front of peers in class.  I can’t wait to see how the English teachers run with this and what kind of extensions they come up with to use this tool!  If anyone else has used it, please respond how so I can share it with them.

Below is one of the links, they were quick and easy to create, my guess is that there is even more that can be done with it, feel free to respond to this blog with input or ideas.

8^th Grade English

https://voicethread.com/share/2898419/