Month: January 2012

Interviews with Educators | Lyndell Allen

Interviews with Educators | Lyndell Allen

by Ashley Chaney ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

We love hearing about how teachers from all over the world use Voki in their classrooms. In this edition of our Interviews with Educators series, we get a sneak peak inside of Lyndell Allen’s music classes in Ballarat, Australia! Have we mentioned that we love Australia!?

Lyndell Allen is an engaging and very busy music teacher, and mom of 3 boys. As well as teaching her regular music classes, Lyndell specializes in choral music and is the director of 4 junior choirs, a girls’ chapel choir, a boys’ chapel choir, and the chamber choir at school! Oh, and she’s also a bit of a Web 2.0 enthusiast and practitioner! Lyndell was kind enough to share with us some info about herself, her classes, and how she uses Voki as a tech tool (an “instrument”, if you will) to accompany her in the classroom.

Check out her video below to learn more about Lyndell and how Voki can be musical!

If you’re on Twitter, make sure to follow Lyndell: @lalalyndella

So, what do you think about our latest Voki Interview with Educators? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Want to be interviewed for this section? Send us a note and a link to your blog/ twitter: submit@voki.com!

Get Creative with Voki – New Arts Lesson Plans!

Get Creative with Voki – New Arts Lesson Plans!

by Ashley Chaney ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Get out your paintbrushes, glue, and construction paper! Bring out the lights, your best smile, and a script! It’s time to have fun with Voki and Visual Arts! From color studies and collages to instructional videos and personal short films, you can use Voki to help bring out the artist in every student!

Ranging from 6th to 12th grade, these lesson plans are designed to help students explore art, contextualize its meanings, produce artwork of their own, and make connections with light, shadow, color and mood to create a certain effect.

Along with lesson plans that focus on visual arts, we have also included  two lessons regarding the art of film. Your students will be in charge of writing and producing their own short films and using their knowledge of basic art composition to create entertaining and visually interesting shorts.

(We went a little crazy with the art lesson plans; but hey, what kind of renowned art isn’t a little nutty?)

Remember: The grade level we assign to each lesson plan is not a requisite – you can use most Voki lesson plans from a higher, or lower, grade than the one you teach – if you think they fit! Also, remember that you can adapt Voki lesson plans to fit your style, or your students’ abilities.

Art Interpretations (6th Grade, Arts) –  Students are assigned one photocopy of a famous work of art. They research the background and context in which the work was created. Students then create a Voki that interprets the work’s significance at the time it was created, and follow up with a brief, impromptu personal opinion of the piece.

An Artist’s History (7th Grade, Arts) –  Students discover more about notable artists and create a brief presentation that showcases an artist’s information, famous pieces, and a student analysis of the work. Students use Voki to talk about how they feel about the art and what it means to them personally. By the end of the lesson, students will have constructed an artist database to refer to before tests.

Immediate Attraction (8th Grade, Arts) –  This is a quick exercise to help students discover their art preferences and interests. Students will have 45 seconds to flip through art books and find one piece that catches their attention. After they have gone through 3 books, students will analyze each of 3 pieces of art. Students will use Voki to describe the art, how it makes them feel, think, and what kind of reactions their chosen pieces evoke.

A New Family Tree (9th Grade, Arts) –  Students use copies of family photos and magazine clips to recreate a picture of their fantasy family tree. By using various mediums, students will make collages that use real life mixed with various aspects of their imagination to create an avant-garde piece of artwork. Students will then use Voki to describe the brief history of their made-up family.

The Meaning of Color (10th Grade, Arts) – Students work together, and alone, using color to convey a story. Students will be divided into two groups of warm and cool colors. As a team, students work together cutting out colored paper and “collaging” to create a group piece of art. After the group work is done, each student will create a Voki that tells a story that represents the artwork.

The Identity Project (11th Grade, Arts) –  Students use video to create a short film that explores their identity. Students are encouraged to use whatever they would like to make their video and have all creative freedom as long as they remain on topic or can justify any deviation from the topic. Students will then create a Voki that introduces the video to the class.

A Guide to What?! (12th Grade, Arts) – Students draw three cards from a bag that contains different words. Students then create an instructional video that somehow incorporates the three words into the activity or idea being taught. Students will create a Voki that begins the video presentation by explaining what words were drawn and what the instructional video is going to teach.

As always, we would love to hear how you are using Voki in class. If you have a lesson plan that uses Voki (or that can be adapted to incorporate Voki) and you would like to share, please email us at lessonplans@voki.com.

Sincerely,

The Voki Team

Start Fresh: New Year’s Lesson Plans

Start Fresh: New Year’s Lesson Plans

by Ashley Chaney ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

It’s 2012 and school is back in session! Instead of forgetting about the happy holiday moments you and your students  experienced, extend the joy just one more day and try out one of our informative and fun New Year’s lesson plans.

With this new set of lesson plans, you and your students can talk about class resolutions and make a pact to work towards your new goals and be supportive of each other. You can also learn about different calendars used around the world and their New Year’s day celebrations.

Remember: The grade level we assign to each lesson plan is not a requisite – you can use Voki lesson plans from a higher, or lower, grade than the one you teach – if you think they fit! Also, remember that you can adapt Voki lesson plans to fit your style, or your students’ abilities.

What is your New Year’s Resolution? (Elementary, Public Speaking, Writing, Other) – A new year can bring a fresh start to your class. With this New Year’s lesson plan, you and your students can reflect on the last year in class and how this year can be better. Students will learn about resolutions and be introspective in order to bring out the best from within.

Calendars Around the World (Middle School, Social Studies, Other) – Students will learn about other calendars that exist in the world and about the cultures that observe different New Year’s days. Each student will create a Voki that teaches the class about the history of a different calendar. They will also use Voki to talk about when and how certain cultures celebrate their New Year.

Celebrating New Year’s Eve (High School, History, Geography, Social Studies, Other) – Students will discover more about the history and traditions associated with the New Year’s Eve celebrations in other parts of the world. In this interactive lesson, students gather into small groups and use Vokis to give an in depth oral presentation about the history of different culture’s New Year’s traditions. They will also do a show and tell with a visual that the students construct that represents the culture they studied. After the presentations are complete, the class can have their own New Year’s party using all of the customs and traditions they learned about.

As always, we would love to hear how you are using Voki in class. If you have a lesson plan that uses Voki (or that can be adapted to incorporate Voki) and you would like to share, please email us at lessonplans@voki.com.

Happy 2012!

Sincerely,

The Voki Team

The Voki Favorites of 2011

The Voki Favorites of 2011

by Ashley Chaney ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

We are always impressed to see what educators and students can come up with using Voki. The year 2011 was a good one for Voki as was apparent through the emergence of class videos demonstrating Voki in action, well developed instructional videos for newbies, great lesson plans coming from all over the world, and so much more!

We decided to collect our favorite ways of using Voki here for all to see. Please browse through the list to learn more about Voki and how teachers from around the world use it to make class a virtual blast! Hopefully you will be inspired to come up with other ways to make Voki a part of your class. Below is a short list of some of our favorites but believe us, there are so many more out there!

10 Ways you can use Voki:

  1. Improve Confidence
  2. Learn Chinese
  3. Voki Introductions
  4. Interactive Instruction
  5. Break Barriers using Multiple Means of Engagement
  6. Become Digitally Literate
  7. Voki Dictation for Language Class
  8. “Pass it On” Buddy Method
  9. Update Students and Parents on Class Blogs
  10. Make Learning Exciting!

Thanks to all who made this list possible and to everyone that has made Voki a part of their classroom! We look forward to the new year and to hear back from you about the fun and innovative ways you use Voki in your lessons. Who knows? You and your students may find yourselves and your Vokis on our blog!

Happy New Year to all! May your 2012 be filled with happiness, gratitude, and new experiences!

Say Goodbye to Writer’s Block: Writing Lesson Plans

Say Goodbye to Writer’s Block: Writing Lesson Plans

by Ashley Chaney ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Another year has come and gone and so has the winter vacation. Students may be coming back to class clinging onto the remaining visions of sugarplums and fairies; but instead of trying to overcome their rapacious imaginations, work with them! Now is the perfect time to engage your students in exercises that bring out their excitement and indulge their enthusiasm.

Below are a few Writing lesson plans that will enable students to write freely and use their imaginations with confidence. Many middle-schoolers consider writing a dreaded task, and tend to suffer from Writer’s Block. Too many times, students are required to write technical and analytic essays, at the expense of developing their creative writing skills with prose and short stories.

The lessons below are designed to help students gain confidence writing out their thoughts by using repetition and creative topics. Each exercise encourages individual perspective, unique ideas, and thought with little imaginative constraint. By introducing students into an atmosphere that is largely dictated by their free thought, writing will hopefully become an approachable subject that will enable students to handle writing assignments ease and fluidity, no matter what the topic.

Remember: The grade level we assign to each lesson plan is not a requirement – you can use Voki lesson plans from a higher, or lower, grade than the one you teach – if you think they fit! Also, remember that you can adapt Voki lesson plans to fit your style, or your students’ abilities.

Paragraph Practice (6th Grade Writing) – Students gain writing practice with a regularly scheduled, one paragraph writing exercise using Voki. By doing this exercise once a week, students will write in different styles and voices and will also be more accustomed to writing without preparation. At the end of the year, students will be able to listen to their paragraphs and evaluate their improvement in class.

Creative Writing Crunch (7th Grade Writing) – Students draw a prompt from a bag and have 15 minutes to write a creative narrative. Once the 15 minutes are over, students will use Voki to introduce their creative story and then take turns sharing their Voki and reading their work. This exercise will help students develop confidence in writing and technique. By using light-hearted prompts, students will have fun using their imagination.

Character Guess Who (8th Grade Writing) – Students will create a Voki and write a paragraph that describes their favorite book or movie character in detail.  Students will be encouraged to write using imagery and descriptive details with the goal of painting a picture with their words. After each Voki presentation is given, the classmates will try to guess who the character is.

As always, we would love to hear how you are using Voki in class. If you have a lesson plan that uses Voki (or that can be adapted to incorporate Voki) and you would like to share, please email us at lessonplans@voki.com.

Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

The Voki Team