To begin, Voicethread will be used mainly as a tool to practice communication inside and outside of the world language classroom. Naturally, by using the language more frequently with peers, teachers, and/or native speakers, students will not only improve their speaking skills, they will improve their listening and comprehension skills. Voicethread also allows students to read passages and prompts, as well as respond with written comments. Because of the students gain the added benefit of practicing their reading comprehension skills along with their writing skills all in one web based tool.For each chapter or unit of study, students are required to complete both a written and speaking performance assessment. Each performance assessment asks students to carry out a specific real world task in the target language. By completing these performance based tasks, it allows me to evaluate each student’s ability to communicate appropriately and coherently in the target language. It also allows me to evaluate in a comprehensive task their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and comprehension skills. For each performance assessment, they are evaluated using the following rubrics :

World Language Oral Presentation Rubric

World Language Written Response Rubric

While the focus of our lessons is proper form and function of the target language. Students are not expected to speak or write perfectly in the target language. The ultimate goal is communication. If the student can clearly communicate what is being asked, using language, body language, and circumlocution; then they have proficiently completed the task.
Voicethread will also be a useful tool for practice leading up to the performance assessments for each unit. By using Voicethread, I can assign specific tasks to individual students or the students as a whole to complete in class or to complete outside of the classroom. Using Voicethread as a formative assessment tool, I can informally assess how each student is progressing as well as use the information submitted to guide my teaching. I will be able to clearly see where students are succeeding and where they may be struggling with regards to reading, speaking, listening, and general comprehension skills. I can also use the information collected to work with students who may be struggling on a one to one basis, when the majority of the group is proficient with a particular skill or content area.

Because Voicethread allows for both formative assessment and summative assessment, it is an excellent tool to use in order to show growth over the course of a unit, a school year, or over the entire course of language study at the high school level. This is an important thing in schools now, especially in Michigan where great importance is placed upon the data collected from student performance.