Kadjer Ch5

I really liked this chapter! I thought the comparisons between what would have happened if the students were simply writing compared to when they used Voicethread and created their own images was really beneficial. Despite her class being hesitant at first, they really got into not only their work, but the wrk of their other classmates as well. This was reinforced on page 76, at the bottom, where it discusses how this activity developed their classroom community. She did this by, after creating and composing their own work, the class had to draw three people at random to give feed back to. Not letting them pick who they were going to give feedback to was a good way to get them to listen to people's work that they might not have done on their own. For the students who are not comfortable sharing their work in front of the class, the spotlight was on their work, and not so much them.
When I think of students using technology or computers in the classroom, I think of them as working alone. This activity did both encourage personal development and identity, as well as team work. One student kept going back to his Voicethread to look for more comments left by his peers, which is something that would not have happened if they just handed in a paper. I felt this activity took students out of their comfort zone (with using a device they have never experienced before and sharing with people who they might be nervous to share their work with) but it didn't put anyone so far out of their comfort zone that they would shut down from the activity. This was one activity that had me completely convinced from start to finish.