After 6 years using blogger to run my blog, I have decided it is time for an upgrade. You can now find me blogging at www.rakisradresources.com/blog. At this new address, I will continue to provide you with tried and true classroom tips, technology suggestions and great resources, many for free.
Here on rakisradresources.blogspot.com, you will still find all of my old posts, by simply searching through the old blog posts. However, I hope you will stop by the new site - www.rakisradresources.com and find out about all the new ideas I have.
In college I was always told that teachers are known to "beg, borrow and steal" from our colleagues. Of course this means that the stronger our colleagues are, the stronger we are as teachers. This year I have the pleasure of having Veronica from When Inspiration Strikes as a colleague, so this year has made me the strongest I've ever been as a teacher. Today she is allowing me to share one of her ideas for our Website Suggestion Wednesday.
The website I would like to share with you today is called Vocaroo. On this website, your students can record themselves speaking (or reading) and get a link or a QR code that connects to their recording. The website is very simple to use. Students simply click record and talk. Once they are done, they can listen to themselves and choose to save the recording or re-record. When they have it just right and they can share their recording in a variety of electronic ways.
Veronica's students create QR codes to share their recordings. She prints out these codes and hangs them in the hallway along with the written work. My students love taking our tablets out into the hallway to scan her QR codes and listen to her students' recordings.
A few other ways you could use Vocarooo are:
- Have students create their own podcast or radio show on a topic they have researched.
- Allow students to record picture books for younger students to listen to. (This would be a great way to enhance book buddies.)
- Have students create spoken partner stories, where each person adds a few sentences but they do not communicate about where the story is going.
- Have students create "mock interviews" with famous historical people or famous book characters. Two students can then work together to make an audio version that interview.
- Allow students to use the app to record their fluency passage. Then students can listen to themselves, count their own mistakes and even use a reading fluency rubric to give themselves a grade.
- You can record center directions, activity expectations or spelling lists into Vocaroo and post the link or QR code in your center.
- Create QR code scavenger hunts by recording clues in Vocaroo.
How else could YOU use Vocaroo? Let's all "beg, borrow and steal" from each other. Leave us your favorite ideas for recording apps in the comment section.
