Ashly

The Adventures of Crooky **Math Standard: 4.G.2-** Classify two-dimensional figures based on the presence of absence of parallel or perpendicular lines, or the presence or absence of angles of a specified size. **Writing Standard: 4.W.3-** Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, descriptive details and clear event sequences. Prompt: Your character is visited by someone who changes him or her into 3 different shapes. Tell the story of how your character changes. Discuss the physical changes (number of sides, number/types of angles, types of sides, ect.) and be sure to classify each shape. Make sure to use dialogue and sensory descriptions to develop events. Include transition words to manage the sequence of events. Make sure to end your story with a strong resolution. As always, use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation. Have fun and be creative!! media type="custom" key="24337746" align="center"

Reflecting on the Voicethread process: This is the first time I have ever used Voicethread. I was surprised at how easy the process was and at how intuitive the website was! Although I detest hearing my own voice, I really enjoyed doing this project. I'll even venture to say it was fun! I could see my students loving this program. I will most definitely be using this piece of technology in my classroom. A lot of times we assign a project and ask students to make a presentation, whether that be via Google presentation, powerpoint or SMART notebook, it is all the same type of idea. I like that this is a different way to bring technology into the classroom, it is a different way for students to make a presentation.

 There are so many different ways to apply this to the classroom. I think this would be a great way to differentiate projects and tests for students with disabilities. I could see assigning this to a child who is reluctant to present a project to their peers. They could scan the elements of their project and then narrate it through Voicethread. This way there is no pressure for them to present in front of the class. I could also see using this technology for a child who has an IEP that provides a scribe. Instead of a scribe writing this down, the child could speak their ideas into the Voicethread.

For my general education students, it would be awesome to do exactly what we did. They could narrate and illustrate any piece of original work, be that a poem, a story or an essay. I also think this would be a great tool to use when teaching process analysis. Students could illustrate how to do a task and then they could narrate the steps that go with the pictures. All in all, I think this is just another tool to add to our 'Teacher Toolbox', however if used too often it will become another piece of overused technology. 