One of the ways we see Voicethread helping teachers is to have other teachers comment on the content. For instance, I create a presentation on Volcanoes for my science class. As I go through the lesson students type text comments throughout my explanation. When the lesson is finished we go over some of the class comments so everyone has a chance to read what other classmates think about volcanoes, and have a chance to rebut whatever is discussed.
The magic of this for teachers is in the next team meeting I present my Volcano Voicethread to my fellow teachers, who now have the opportunity to watch my lesson as it happened (because it was recorded on the Voicethread website), and critique my teaching of the lesson. Since it is difficult to have other teachers sit in on your lesson, this is a way to have your closest colleagues see what's happening in your room.
It also gives teachers the chance to see students in another classroom with different subject material. If Suzie is not strong in Math and Steven often acts out, how are they doing in another classroom? The other teachers see that Steven really loves Volcanoes and Suzie jumps at the chance to share Volcano statistics. The teachers realize that Suzie is good at Math, but in a different way than the Math teacher expected, and Steven is engaged when the topics are interesting.
This is one way teachers can utilize Voicethread, for more information and examples of grade level specific projects visit Computer in the Classroom.
