Voicethread

Voicethread Reviews

Today I searched Voicethread and their archives to find three appropriate shows dealing with American history, world history or current issue. I was fortunate to find three great examples right away and while two are professionally done, by educators or in a classroom, the third deals with a major, and recent, historical event and it's impact on one family.

The first Voicethread that I watched was called "[|13 Days that Changed American History]" and was presented by the students at North Shore Country Day School in Winnetka, Illinois. The students were tasked with finding 13 dates in American history that changed the face of who we are as a nation. I was impressed with the dates they came up with, from the obvious Signing of the Declaration of Independence, to the lesser known Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case. This was a great project for the kids working on the project but also for their audience and class mates; what a great way to challenge other students to come up with their own lists, how would they differ and do they agree with certain choices.

The second presentation I viewed was made by a teacher entitled "[|Many Faces of Darfur]". The teacher posted some newspaper cartoons depicting the differing sentiments felt across the country towards the ethnic cleansing going on currently in Darfur. His challenge to his high school students was to find the artists feelings and convictions by viewing the cartoons, are they passionate about the plight of the people of Darfur or do they think it is an issue that should be dealt with by the Sundanese government. It is a great way to engage students with a different perspective.

The final Voicethread that I viewed was simply called "[|New Orleans]" and was a short narrated story of a husband and wife who moved from Minnesota to New Orleans with their infant son about one month prior to Hurricane Katerina. The pictures show a sweet and happy little family living in a two bedroom home, the narrator pointing out all of the things she loved about the house from her bicentennial rug in the kitchen to the rocking chair on the front porch where the rocked a fussy baby. The last minutes of the thread show the aftermath of the storm, the devastation in their home, the loss of calm and quiet life in their own slice of New Orleans. While this voice thread isn't a typical historical piece, it is emotional and connects students to the scene in a personal way.

Voicethread is a great tool, students can easily navigate and respond to voicethreads. Voicethread 4 Education is a helpful bank of ideas for compiling your own voicethread or finding one that might work in your classroom. As a future social studies teacher I think this would be a great classroom asset and one that my students would love to use.