Thursday, December 18, 2008

It's Contagious

It's Contagious

Seeing students create with technology is exciting! When other colleagues see its power and begin to explore using it in different ways then we know our initiative is working. Mrs. Patten, who is not a member of the initial Teach21 team, has gotten on board and tried something new using a product called voicethread. Mrs. Patten is a small group resource teacher who wanted a new way to get students excited about reading so she chose some plays, assigned students their roles, and used a digital camera and voicethread to put a new twist on readers theater. Her fifth grade students posed for pictures to illustrate the play with everything down to props and costumes, and then narrated the play by posting audio comments.
It was something new, and something she wasn't totally comfortable with, but Mrs. Patten took "the leap." The product is pretty impressive, and you can view the play about Franklin Roosevelt by clicking on the play button above this post.