The Digital Writing Workshop

Voice Tread Tutorials from YouTube

So many tutorials for Voice Thread... but having choices is great!

I chose these two part series tutorials because I think they are just right to introduce voice thread to elementary students. In part one the narrator starts with an example of how she uses voice thread in her class. She also explains how to open an account and how to download pictures. In part two she explains how to add comments and embed the voice thread in the class blog. Simple and useful!

I Am

I am energetic and adventurous
I wonder what Spring will bring for me
I hear the childrens’ laugh
I see flowers blooming all around
I want to explore new sites and see my friends
I am energetic and adventurous


I pretend to be a bird
I feel the wind and the fresh air
I touch the clouds and the sky
I worry about our nature falling apart
I cry that animal habitats have been forever destroyed
I am energetic and adventurous


I understand that everyone has a purpose to fulfill
I say Don’t give up, try one more time
I dream of being able to keep my thoughts always positive
I try to find joy inside myself and in little things around me
I hope to be prepared for the challenges of our time
I am energetic and adventurous

What are the words you can describe yourself with?

“Energetic” and “imaginative” best describe the 4 year-old kids. My daughter Sofia fits perfectly into this description. Every Saturday and Sunday as soon as she opens her eyes, she asks “Mom, what are we doing today? Where are we going?”, therefore I need to be prepared with a plan A, B or even C to channel all that energy and imagination.

Last Saturday, it was effortless though, because the Chinese New Year Celebration took place at the Art Museum in Myrtle Beach. So, there we went…; it included an array of different activities she really enjoyed such as story telling, crafts, face painting, eating with chopsticks, etc. This year it is the year of the Tiger, so everything revolved around this fierce feline.

Besides the fun and the insight we got from the Chinese culture, I also got some material to work with in my classroom: the Chinese Horoscope. Each sign is represented by an animal that is thought to dictate personality traits. For instance the description of people born under the Tiger sign read as follows:

“Tiger people are sensitive, given to deep thinking, capable of great sympathy. They can be extremely short-tempered, however. Other people have great respect for them, but sometimes Tiger people cannot make up their minds, which can result in a poor, hasty decision or a sound decision arrived at too late. They are suspicious of others, but they are courageous and powerful. Tigers are most compatible with Horses, Dragons and Dogs.”

When I ask my students to describe themselves, they usually say “nice”, “friendly” or simply “I don’t know”.

Teaching adjectives using these short descriptions hopefully will make them more tangible and everyone will be able to connect to their own personality traits. In addition, their vocabulary will increase tremendously! In my classroom, I plan to use Burke’s Vocabulary Square as it will be really effective to teach these words as well as create the mental visual my students need to incorporate into their own vocabulary.

Can you name 5 adjectives to describe yourself? Which is your Animal Sign?

" I also have a dream!"

Four decades after Martin Luther King’s most famous speech called "I have a dream..." delivered on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial, it still can be used to educate and inspire students to speak about their own dreams. In addition to the rich historical information provided about the way life used to be before the Civil Rights Act, I like to use the inspirational side of the text to motivate my Hispanic students to set their own goals.

After listening to King’s speech, some of my second grade students dared to say … “I also have a dream!”

• “My dream is that one day…I will go back to Mexico to visit my family.”

• “My dream is that one day… I will speak English like him [MLK].”

• “My dream is that one day… I will get a good job and be a millionaire”

What is your dream? Don’t give up! Be persistent!