Voki Love

I am very grateful to the Tampa Bay Area Writing Project, the Summer Institute of Professional Development I attended last summer for introducing me to many new ideas for the classroom.  One of my favorites has been, www.voki.com, an online program that lets my students create talking avatars.  So far we have used this three times.  My students created a Voki character to go with their biography reports.  This was their first attempt with the program.  Voki can be done for free, or you can choose to pay a minimal amount (under $30) to update to Voki Classroom.  I have found this to be very useful.  And the best part is all the second grade classrooms can use it, since it allows for up to six classes of twenty students or less.  In Voki Classroom, I can add assignments and can monitor my students work.  Since my children got so excited, I actually added two extra credit projects, and had several children go home and work on their Vokis!  When my students finished their biography, they created a character to match.  Next my students created an autobiography of themselves, which matched the story they wrote.  My students have also worked on a Voki animal character that can be found in the habitat of the Science Habitat PowerPoint Presentations they are working on.  It's amazing how much technology my students can learn and use effectively in such a short period of time.  I plan to use Voki's throughout the year next year to match all the units I teach.  It is highly motivating to my students, allows for a different type of presentation, and helps with computer and typing skills.   

Here is an example of a Voki biography avatar that was created:

              Amelia Earhart
                 by Fletcher
  

Check out the rest of our Voki's by clicking here!