My rights as a reader

Age: 9 – 12 yrs

Overview

VoiceThread is a tool dedicated to the creation of multimedia presentations mixing voice, text and image all in one. But it’s most interesting feature is the possibility of having a group discussion around the presentation, by integrating several audio and video comments on the document itself.

Description

The teacher creates a presentation on VoiceThread, with the 10 Rights of Reader, by Daniel Pennac (French writer). Each slide has one of those rights, illustrated with drawings previously elaborated by the students.

The 10 Rights of the Reader
The right not to read.
The right to skip pages.
The right not to finish a book.
The right to reread.
The right to read does not matter what.
The right to love the “heroes” of the novels.
The right to read does not matter where.
The right to jump from book to book.
The right to read out loud.
The right not to speak of what was read.

Pennac, Daniel (1992). Como um Romance, Ed. ASA, p. 155.

The students are then invited to choose the right they identify themselves with the most and share their experience as a reader. They comment on it with an audio or video message. To show them how that can be done, give them an example and comment on one of the slides yourself.

Once the activity is over, watch the presentation and the comments together in class and discuss the most important aspects the students mentioned. This way they will get a an overview of how they are as a class of readers!

What do I need?

Internet connection
Account on http://voicethread.com/
Audio or video recording hardware

Added value

The use of this Web 2.0 tool contributes to the development of oral expression, critical spirit and power of argumentation of students, in a playful way.
The VoiceThread can be easily embedded into blogs to disseminate the work or even in Moodle, which may makes access easier.

Hints and tips

Start with simple activities for students to understand how Voice Thread works and how they can leave messages. Demonstrate the activity, leaving a video message (or voice) and encouraging students to participate. Shy students often use it to text messaging, initially. Let them take their time until they make the decision to participate with voice or video message.

Other opportunities to use the same software

The teacher can create presentations on various subjects, making them multimedia discussion forums and encouraging student participation.

After being familiarized with the tool, students can create their own multimedia presentations, gathering input from other students / groups or peer feedback from other groups / classes or teacher.

By Helena Felizardo
Portugal