Tag: voki classroom

Guest Blogger: Shana Ellason

Guest Blogger: Shana Ellason

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Our students are growing up in a digital age where they can show their creativity through oodles of different media opportunities. Educational technology is engaging and can hold their attention span without them even knowing they are learning in the process. However, many students are still held captive in the pencil-paper classroom. So, why not tap into that engagement by bringing technology into the classroom? That’s why I love and recommend Voki to all educators. Voki is a fun way of introducing technology into your lessons. Teachers love it because it motivates students to showcase their knowledge. Students love it because they can be creative in their work while designing their own avatar from a variety of character and setting choices. The coolest thing about Voki is it allows you to record your own audio for the avatar by phone, uploading an audio file, or the text-to-speech feature. Voki is appropriate for any age or grade level from early childhood to adults. Here are a few ideas on how to integrate Voki into your classroom.

  • Have students record themselves reading a poem or passage. It is a great way to practice fluency, expression, and intonation.
  • Students can summarize a story.
  • For students that are shy and timid, Voki is an ideal method to deliver speeches or presentations. They don’t have to feel embarrassed to get up in front of their peers; instead they can have their Voki do it for them!
  • English language learners can build confidence by practicing vocabulary skills.
  • Emergent readers and writers can demonstrate their knowledge of content orally by retelling.
  • Have students debate a topic with each other’s Voki.
  • Students can explain a math formula, science hypothesis, or theory.
  • They can recite fast facts about a topic.
  • It can be a great way to do an “About Me” at the beginning of the school year to learn about one another.
  • Teachers and students can make Who am I? or What am I? Voki’s.
  • Teachers can use it as an instructional tool for recording directions for centers or homework.
  • Teachers can record classroom sing-along songs.

The possibilities are endless!

Here is an example of a kindergarten student singing the Days of the Week song. We only did one take so you’ll notice she has a challenge saying Saturday, but what a way to practice the days!

Here is a Who am I? example.

Another wonderful feature of Voki, you can share all your awesome creations through email, website link, or embed it within your blog or website. So what are you waiting for? Have fun getting your Voki on!

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For Shana’s blog, go here: Enchanted with Technology

Follow Shana on Twitter: @sellason

 

Interviews with Educators | Christina Martidou

Interviews with Educators | Christina Martidou

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Christina

Every month, we like to learn how teachers use Voki in the classroom. This month, we have another great interview with a tech-savvy educator! Christina Martidou is an English teacher who loves to use Voki to celebrate holidays!

Christina Martidou

My name is Christina Martidou and I have been working as an English teacher for the past eleven years. I currently work freelance as a private tutor and part- time for the British Council in Thessaloniki, Greece. My students vary from young learners to teenagers. I mainly prepare learners for the Cambridge ESOL exams, develop my own technology-based materials and love writing on my new blog (http://christinamartidou.edublogs.org). I have been using Voki since 2011!

What are your goals using Voki?

To make my ELT lessons more fun and engaging! With Voki the use of technology becomes meaningful!

How do you use Voki?

I mainly use Voki with my younger students especially to celebrate holidays like Halloween and Christmas. I also love the idea of assigning homework via Voki or giving oral instructions in this alternative way.

What are your 3 favorite things about Voki?

  • The fact that you can record your own voice and add sound effects to it!
  • It’s easy-to-use and safe!
  • Avatars can then be e-mailed or embedded in any social media site, blog or website.

What would you add to the Voki product?

I would extend the time limit of the recordings, add more celebrities among the speaking avatars and make it available for iPads & iPhones!

Do you have any Voki tricks up your sleeve?

I use Voki to play riddle games or a celebrity ‘guess who’ game!

 

Christina made a PhotoPeach presentation. Click the picture below to see it!

Chris

Check out Christina’s blog:  http://christinamartidou.edublogs.org

Follow Christina at: https://twitter.com/CMartidougr

Want to be interviewed for the Voki blog?
Send us an email at submit@voki.com and we’ll get in touch!

Guest Blogger: Phil Timmons from Byte Me

Guest Blogger: Phil Timmons from Byte Me

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I’m always looking for new ways to share and communicate in ways that will be engaging enough to keep the attention of my lively bunch of 7 & 8 year olds. We use our Learning Platform extensively for communication and sharing news and information and as it has grown it is getting more likely that areas will get missed or forgotten. I have also had a problem with allowing access to the Learning Platform to younger children where reading levels make it difficult for them to find and navigate to the correct areas.

Voki has been the answer to all the problems for me in one place. I created a character for our Learning Platform (we use frog primary) called Frogbot. He is a little robot Voki to act as a guide and a way to share news. The character appears around the Platform offering advice and direction to pupils and staff. The areas that were getting lost and forgotten are now being used again and children who find reading difficult now enjoy using the Learning Platform where they were somewhat reluctant before. The Internet can be a very ‘wordy’ place!

After embedding the Voki into our Learning Platform I started wondering how else I could use Voki. I happened to be doing speech and dialogue at the time and thought Voki would lend itself nicely to the topic. I created a new character called Doug who had a lot to say for himself. He was originally going to be used online until I stumbled upon a YouTube video. I use Smart Notebook and found out that there is a widget that you can download and embed your Voki straight into a Smart file. I used the Voki on my Smart page for the children to write the sentences using the correct punctuation. We used the idea then to do some further work about using alternatives for the word said and added them to the sentences we had written. Massive thank you goes to Doug for helping teach my class how to use speech marks and keep the engaged and excited at the same time.

I’m now looking at using Voki to make characters with the children to make conversations we can embed into Smart for the class to write up the next day.

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Phil runs the site Byte Me with his partners to provide helpful advice and suggestions for teachers.

Follow Phil on Twitter: @Bytemeict

Guest Blogger: Joann Claspill

Guest Blogger: Joann Claspill

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JCEvery once in a while, a new tech tool comes along that really makes an impact with me and my students. www.voki.com has been that website for me since last school year.

I discovered Voki when I was doing the novel study for “No Talking”, by Andrew Clements. I was online searching for activities to enrich and engage my students and saw that someone has made Vokis for the 2 main characters. I checked them out and was hooked! I used these to introduce the characters to my students, and then using Voki took off in my classroom.

We did another novel study on “Julie of the Wolves” later in the year. To work on summarizing text, I made a Julie voki (the main character) and had her summarize the chapter for the class. This was the “I do it” stage. Next, we developed a Julie voki together and posted it – the “We Do It” stage. Finally, it was my students’ turn.

Student One

Student Two

Student One chose to use his own voice for recording, student two used one of the many, many choices available on Voki as his characters’ voice. The abundance of choices is one of the reasons we love Voki. Students not only choose voice, they choose characters physical traits, backgrounds and more. There are even animal avatars to pick from!

Besides using Voki as a tool for reading instruction, I use it frequently to review or introduce History ideas. If we are learning about roles played in a war, I create Vokis to reinforce concepts to the students. Something as simple as hearing it from a Voki avatar makes it more interesting than just hearing it from me. I also review vocabulary terms using Voki.

SS Vocab

My students this school year are just getting into Voki and I can’t wait to see what develops. The site is user friendly, the students love creating these and I love the engaged learning that takes place when I use Voki in my classroom!

Joann Claspill
Langford Elementary
5th Grade

Voki Tip of the Week: Voki Classroom – Student Search

Voki Tip of the Week: Voki Classroom – Student Search

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It’s difficult to scroll through a list of 100 students! But instead of going through the LONG list, why not just search for their name?

First, click on your Students tab and type in your student’s name. Then hit enter or the green arrow button.

search

Now you can see if your student finished their assignment!

 

search2

If you have any feedback, questions, or comments for Voki, feel free to send an email to feedback@voki.com!

Until next time,
The Voki Team

Interview with Educators | Stacy Brown

Interview with Educators | Stacy Brown

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StacyWe bring you a wonderful interview with Stacy Brown! Stacy is the 21st century learning coordinator from the Davis Academy in Georgia. Stacy is a Voki user since 2010! Her goals in introducing Voki to the Davis Academy are to encourage student engagement, ownership and creativity!

Here are the things Stacy loves about Voki:

  • Voki is very easy to use
  • Voki captures the students’ interest
  • Voki helps integrate technology into the curriculum

Check out Stacy’s full Voki interview here!

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Follow Stacy on Twitter: @21stStacy

Want to be interviewed for the Voki blog? Send us an email at submit@voki.com!

Until next time,

The Voki Team

Voki Tip of the Week: Voki Classroom Student Password

Voki Tip of the Week: Voki Classroom Student Password

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Student passwords are automatically-generated in Voki Classroom whenever you create a Student account. But did you know that you can change your student’s password?  Your students can even choose their own passwords!

  1. To change your student’s password, find the account that you want to modify.
  2. Change the password here.
  3. Hit the Save button!password2

If you want your student to pick their own password, all you need to do is download the Voki Classroom list template and enter their passwords into the last password column! Download the template here.

password

Then just upload your list to your Voki Classroom account and your students can log into their Student account with their own password!

Have feedback, comments, or questions for Voki? Just send an email to feedback@voki.com!

Until next time,

The Voki Team

Guest Blogger: A Voki Spin on an Old Math Favorite – Jessica Johnston

Guest Blogger: A Voki Spin on an Old Math Favorite – Jessica Johnston

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As an Instructional Technology Specialist, I love it when teachers find easy ways to incorporate technology into their everyday lessons.  Technology shouldn’t be separate from what you’re doing in the classroom – it should be woven into what you’re already doing in the classroom.  Voki is a tool that we use in just about every grade level and subject area in my district.  It’s versatile, easy to use, and the kids (and teachers!) love it!

It was no surprise when Staci Stephens, 6th grade math teacher at Brenham Middle School, emailed and asked if I could help her with a Voki lesson in her classroom.  Our school got a new Chromebook cart this year and we were brainstorming ways to use the cart in her math class.  Staci decided to let her kids draw a math problem from the “problem paper bag” – like they had done a dozen times before – but this time they would have to script how they solved the problem.  With a little help from Google Docs, the kids worked through their math problems and typed out every single step.

Normally students would groan about this kind of activity – math AND writing?!  However, when you hold a flashy tool like Voki in front of them, all of a sudden writing about math looks like fun instead of work!  Staci and I were amazed at the detail the students included in their writing and we marveled at the level of engagement and deep thinking that was going on in the classroom.  You could have heard a pin drop – until the avatars started speaking!

Watching the students light up as their writing came to life in the form of a Voki avatar was priceless.  In a single class period, the students had created virtual speaking tutors for dozens of fraction problems.  In the process, not only did they ask meaningful questions about math and writing, but also about technology.  Voki got the students to really THINK about how they solve a math problem, but in a fun and non-threatening way!  Even struggling learners can feel successful with an activity like this.  Here’s what some of the students had to say about this lesson and using Voki:

  • Katherine: I think it helped me because if you are visual learner or you need to hear it it helps you.  You can hear the problem and it helps you work it out.  The Voki was very helpful to all students whether they know it or not.
  •  Rylie: Voki really helped me in Math.  It brought the math problem to life.  I now understand math a lot easier.
  •  Estefania: Well Voki taught me how to cut short sentences for only the important things.  Voki also is very fun to create your own character, to express who you are on your Voki.
  • Jesse: I like Voki because it is fun to do.  It helps me learn because when I hear about stuff it gets stuck in my mind.  It is fun to do because you help other people learn.
  • Arreyus: It’s technology and technology is well known in our century.  It’s fun, but we still learn while having fun.  Voki is a wonderful way for kids in this century to learn things.

Staci published the completed avatars on her teacher website with images of the problems being solved.  Publishing completed work gives the students an audience which makes the learning real and more meaningful.  See the completed avatars here: http://goo.gl/kDjbU.  Here’s what Staci had to say about this lesson:

I like that Voki motivates students to communicate their thinking in a new and exciting way.  Instead of solving 20 addition and subtraction of fraction problems, I learn much more about their problem solving process by having them explain 1 problem step by step.  It is so difficult to hear the voices of each of my students on a daily basis, especially my shy students, but Voki enables each student to explain what they were thinking without the fear often involved with speaking up in class.  I’m a big believer that learning mathematics is more than just solving problems- it is a problem solving process, but often when I ask students to write about or explain the process my students are very hesitant.  Generally, they do not like writing, and do not feel they are good writers, but Voki gives them a way to communicate their thinking in a way they enjoy!
If you are looking for an easy (and FREE!) tool to use with any age students in any content area, I can highly recommend Voki and I know my staff and students would say the same.  Brenham ISD loves Voki and I am certain your organization will, as well!
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For Jessica’s blog, go here: EdTechChic

Follow Jessica on Twitter: @EdTechChic

Like Jessica’s Facebook page: EdTechChic Facebook

 

Voki Tip of the Week: Voki Valentine’s Day

Voki Tip of the Week: Voki Valentine’s Day

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Love is in the air and Valentine’s Day is around the corner! Have your students write an acrostic poem using the name of their Valentine. An acrostic poem is a poem which the first letter of each line spells out a word or a phrase.

Check out an example below:

Have feedback, comments, or suggestion for Voki? Send us an email at feedback@voki.com!
Until next time,
The Voki Team

Interview with Educators | Stephanie Bullock

Interview with Educators | Stephanie Bullock

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This week we have an interview with Mrs. Stephanie Bullock. Mrs. Bullock is an academic technology teacher from The Lovett School in Atlanta, GA. She a Voki user since 2009! It was great that we have a chance to talk to Mrs. Bullock.

Here’s what Mrs. Bullock likes about Voki:

  1. My students feel like they are creating something original and personal to share with a wider audience.
  2. I love that my students can create their own backgrounds to further personalize their Vokis.
  3. My most favorite thing is that Vokis are easily embeddable and they are there for me to share with the students’ family.

Mrs. Bullock created a Voki about how she used Voki in class. She and her third graders did a really great reading project by creating Voki characters to represents the characters from the books they read!

Q: What would you add to the Voki product?

A: I would add the ability to edit the student Vokis from the teacher account. My students were too young and my time with them was too limited to ask them to handle the audio conversions that were necessary, so I had to keep track of all their usernames and passwords in order to add the audio for them. It was time consuming.

Wider variety of acceptable voice and background formats. I’ve had to open students’ backgrounds using Preview and then export them as low-quality .jpgs in order for them to successfully be uploaded.

The ability to publish a Voki without having to add audio so that the students’ work during one computer class period will be saved for the next time they have class. I haven’t found a way to save their work before they are ready to add audio. (See my work-around below).

Q: Do you have any Voki tricks up your sleeve?

A: I use the application Audacity to convert audio files to the acceptable .mp3 format.  My students only have access to the application Audio Recorder on their computer, producing an .m4a file that isn’t an acceptable file type.

To circumvent the publishing issue that I have, I usually type in a filler word like “test” in the audio component to Voki so that I am able to save students’ work from class period to class period.

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Mrs. Bullock runs a technology blog: http://techknowledgey.edublogs.org/

Follow Mrs. Bullock on Twitter: @srbullock

Want to be interviewed for the Voki blog? Send us an email at submit@voki.com!

Until next time,

The Voki Team