Playing with the audio tools this week was fun. My kids got a huge kick out of the Blabberize site. I think they would have played on that one with me for a while. I could definitely see using something like that in the classroom to do something fun with my class. It could either be used for a fun project where they get to choose the photo and what it will say. I could also use it for some of my units, such has having a talking monarch butterfly up on the screen instead of me. Along those same lines is the Chatterpix App. I could see my students really enjoying that on the iPads at school. They could be required to choose a picture relating to what we're studying and have it say at least one fact they've learned. They could also potentially use something like this when we do our biography projects. They could put up a picture of the person they are studying and have him/her say a few lines.
I could also see using one of the recording tools such as Vocaroo, Audiopal, or Clyp to record student presentations to then post on our Blackboard site. I have often thought that it would be nice for me to be able to listen to presentations a second time or for the parents to be able to listen to them as well. This would provide an opportunity for everyone to have access to the presentations at a later date.
The first thing I thought about when opening Voki is that I could potentially create lessons on there, or at least a little bit of the instruction, so that I wouldn't have to do it over again. I think it would be really beneficial if you teach a lesson more than once. Part of me wonders if my students would pay more attention if there's a talking version of me on the screen rather than a live one. I'm sure the novelty of it would wear off at some point. Voki also has the potential for sub plans. Sometimes I have opted not to leave a lesson with a substitute because I wasn't sure she would present it I a way I would approve. If I used something like Voki, I would still be able to give the lesson and she would need to complete the follow through.
The Booktrack Reader App looked really neat, but I think it is too old for my current second graders. It might be nice to introduce to older students reading young adult novels as the soundtrack could add a nice touch to the story.
I really like the idea of using Vocaroo, Audiopal, or Clyp to have students record presentations to post on a common website. I work in a county where students have their own laptops, so there are always computer issues during presentations. It would be great to have all the presentations in one area so I could just pull them off my computer and play all videos from one, working location. It also always seems that there is that one group member who is sick on the day of group presentations. Recording and posting a presentation ahead of time could eliminate issues with group members being absent.
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