How Can you Contribute to “What Could it Mean” VoiceThread

Last week I had a great Skype conversation with Laura from Architecture of Ideas. Laura contacted me regarding the What Could It Mean? VoiceThread and how she and her students could contribute and collaborate in this project. She suggested the creation of a Wiki for interested teachers. So, I created

whatcoulditmean.wikispaces.com.

On the Wiki you will find :

• Project description
• Actual VoiceThread
• How to contribute an image?
• How to participate with your students to add their voices to “What Could it Mean?”
• The teacher key what each image actually means and what practice, tradition or custom it represents.

�Let’s collaboratively create a story about Global Awareness, perspective and points of view.

Key to “What Could it Mean?” VoiceThread

Patricia Cone left a comment on my previous post about the What Could It Mean? VoiceThread.

Is there any key that actually tells you what this means?

I responded to her that the point of the VoiceThread is for the students to come up with their own interpretation of what it means. Adding all the voices together will show that the same image has multiple points of view, depending on your background. I do recognize though the importance for the teacher to have a key, so that AFTER the students think about their interpretation and it is discussed how misunderstandings and misinterpretations could and do happen with two or more people looking at the same scenario.

I don’t know how to attach this key, that hopefully will continue to grow) to the VoiceThread, without allowing students to read it before they have a chance to add their thoughts about what it could mean. Any thoughts on this subject are appreciated.

What could it mean? VOICETHREAD KEY

1. Image 1- Buenos Aires, Argentina
   1. Plastic Bottle on roof of car
   2. In Argentina a plastic bottle on the roof of your car means, that the car is for sale
2. Image 2- Frankfurt, Germany
   1. Dog inside clothing store
   2. In Germany it is allowed and customary to take dogs with to stores, shopping malls, even restaurants
3. Image 3- Luxor, Egypt
   1. A man is waving to a cruise ship on the banks of the nile.
   2. He is wearing a traditional galabiya robe.
4. Image 4- Beijing, China
   1. Chain with hundreds of locks attached on the Great Wall of China
   2. According to tradition couples about to get married will add a lock to symbolize their everlasting love.
5. Image 5- Hing Kong, China
   1. Building with a hole
   2. According to a legend, there lives a dragon in the mountains of Hong Kong. Nothing can be in the way when he flies from the mountains to the drink water at night. Trained Feng Shui masters allow or prohibit the building of houses and buildings which are in the way of the dragon’s path.
6. Image 6- Detroit, MI, USA
   1. A painted run down building
   2. In an effort to beautify a run down area of the city, artists are using old buildings as their canvas.
7. Image 7- Yellowstone Park, USA
   1. Traffic Jam in the middle of the Wilderness
   2. United States is the country with the highest car ownership per capita in the world� http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:World_vehicles_per_capita.png
8. Image 8- Jerusalem, Israel
   1. Traffic stops-drivers stand by cars
   2. Israel Rememberance Day
9. Image 10- Rotorua, New Zealand
   1. Native Wooden Carvings
   2. Maori carving, usual for entrances to significant places
10. Image 11- United States
    1. Wedding couple jumping together over broom
    2. It has its origins in African culture, and was used during slavery as a symbol of union, since marriages amongst slaves were not recognized under the law, as they were not full citizens.� It illustrates a leap of faith.
11. Image 12- Brazil
    1. Brazilian Restaurant- Card reading “Yes, please” and “Sim Por Favor”.
    2. In a brazilian steak house, waiters will walk around the tables, slicing meat directly onto your plate, until you turn the usually green (yes) on one side of the card� to the red (no) on the other side. Once you turn your card back to the green side. The meat starts coming again.
12. Image 13- Dalarna Sweden
    1. Raising of the Maypole
    2. The setting up of the maypole is a tradition going back to the 16th century. Young people of the village work together to select and cut down the tree, to transport and to decorate it. During the preparation it is necessary to guard the maypole because young people from other villages who would like to steal it. The setting up of the maypole is a big feast for the whole community.
13. Image 14-Germany
    1. Six year old girl holding a cone
    2. The custom of a “Schultuete” in Germany dates back to 1810. Each child creates their own or is presented with their own cone on their first day of school (First grade). It is traditionally filled with candy and other sweets. In recent years the tradition has changed to fill the cone with pencils, crayons, and other fun articles.

School Wide Egypt VoiceThread- Preperations

Teachers are getting ready to participate with their students on our school wide Egypt VoiceThread. About a month ago, I posted my ideas and step by step instructions for the teachers to the project. Since then I have presented and demonstrated VoiceThread and our Egypt project to all the teachers at a faculty meeting as well as during grade level tech planning and again during one on one time.

Step one for everyone (Pre- Kindergarten through 6th Grade) was to create their avatars, that the teachers would be adding as an identity under their VoiceThread account. Some teachers had their students come into TechConnect and create an illustration in KidPix, while others used their digital cameras to take a photo of artwork that the students had produced previously.

First grade teachers have gathered as a grade level in TechConnect and are showing and discussing the 50+ images that are part of the VoiceThread.
They had their students bring in their journal books and a pencil. Instructions were to decide what picture they would be interested in to comment on. To which photo could they contribute a fact, an observation or add something they have learned in the classroom, a book or the Egypt blog. The teachers were showing each image on the big screen and students wrote down the number of the image they chose . They are taking their journal back into their classroom to prepare their comment by writing and discussing it with their teachers. They will return to TechConnect to record their comments directly into VoiceThread.

Another grade level (third grace) will be bringing their students into TechConnect today listen to VoiceThreads created by other students around the world. We want to allow students time to explore this new kind of media. Let them get a feel and an idea how other kids their age sound and what do they have to say? I want them to be comfortable and able to understand the way a digital audio storybook feels when you “read” it before they will be participants in creating one.

I am very excited to see how this project will turn out. For weeks the VoiceThread has been sitting idle online with just a bunch of pictures arranged in order. I can’t wait for the voices to make this story come alive.