Students tend to be stuck in a mode of teaching and learning from the 20th century, using only pens, paper, and face to face communication. They also tend to be somewhat hesitant to using technology as a tool to improve their learning experience. In my classroom and in my schools, my goal is to integrate a variety of technology tools to enhance the teaching and learning that is going on and to provide students with the necessary 21st century skills required in today’s world. Students are familiar with and comfortable writing on paper and speaking face to face in the world language classroom. However, I want to challenge them to step outside of the classroom, expand who they are communicating with by having more peer to peer conversations, the location of people they are communicating with by eventually including some native speakers.Voicethread allows for students to communicate in writing, speaking, by using video, pictures, and uses audio to give opportunities to listen.  Because Voicethread is a web based tool, I will review the schools’ internet policy and acceptable web use policy with students at the beginning of the school year. Students sign the document when they enter high school. We will also review commenting etiquette within the Voicethread program.  Because photos, videos, and other media are able to uploaded to Voicethread, it will be a good idea to do a mini-lesson on creative commons with the students at the beginning of the school year and highlight the proper way to use media as a tool and how to make sure the owner receives proper recognition. At the same time, students will also learn how to copyright their own original material using a creative commons license.

Voicethread is an excellent tool to use to scaffold tasks in the world language classroom. At the beginning of the school year or beginning of a unit, students can be given a very scripted and guided activity. However, as the year continues on, the taks can moved to be more open ended and require students to apply their background knowledge and language skills to new situations that have not been introduced, therefore asking them to become critical thinkers.

Using this tool gives me another opportunity to introduce a new technology tool to my students and to integrate a valuable tool into my teaching. For myself, it is fulfilling one of my goals to continually use technology to enhance and better my teaching. It will also serve as a model to colleagues. I hope that colleagues can take ideas from me using it my classroom, apply it to their classroom and realize that the integration of technology is a beneficial thing for our students. I want to continue to be a resource for staff as we move our classrooms into the 21st century and as we prepare our students for technology based globalized future.