Using VoiceThread to Help Students Visualize Their Thinking

By Brian Heyward -

  

    Believe it or not, students naturally possess the skills to process and think. They naturally explore the things in their world that interest them.1 As an educator, part of our responsibility is to help them make appropriate connections and explore other connections and why they don't logically connect. Since we don't have the ability to literally look in their brains, we have to find ways and teach our students to demonstrate how their thinking is working. We often refer to this concept as visualizing their thinking. There are a number of tools that can be used to help visualize thinking, but I'd love to highlight VoiceThread. 

VoiceThread provides students a number of ways to visualize their thinking. Students can use video, audio, as well as visual medias such as images and drawings. Because of VoiceThread's flexibility, assignments can be placed in a way where students can show process instead of just produce a product. Students can reflect or edit a writing sample or talk and draw through a math problem. From interactive read alouds where students can fill in the missing word or answer the question on the screen to allowing video or audio responses to peer edit a classmate's draft or hypothesis.

Getting Started with VoiceThread Video


Other areas of visualizing student thinking using VoiceThread include:

  • Brainstorming
  • Student Agency and Voice
  • Ease of Evaluation on Student Work
  • Peer Review
  • Reflection

(c) 2021 VoiceThread

    If you haven't checked our VoiceThread in Richland 2, log in using your district credentials and give it a try! You may find that VoiceThread opens an entirely new realm of visual thinking possibilities for your classroom and your students.

References

1 How Do My Students Think: Diagnosing Student Thinking. APA↩

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