Voice Tools

One of my favorite audio tools is Voki. Voki allows users to create a character and put a voice to the character. There are many options to choose when deciding on a character. A user could pick an animal and then have that animal talk about its habitat, what it eats, any adaptations, and much more. The user can even include a background that may resemble that animal’s habitat. One creation I did was a Native American woman who told about the Pueblo peoples of the Southwest, which is a second-grade standard in history and social science. I used a background that could resemble somewhere in the Southwest and I even considered her clothing and what would be more authentic for a Native American living in the Southwest. When the play button is clicked, the listener will hear about the Pueblo. Second graders could use this platform to share their knowledge of the various Native American cultures through characters they create. Voki could also be used in this same manner, but with other people learned about in social studies. Users can also choose the voice they want their character to have when speaking. Voki also offers users ‘Present’ mode and ‘Classroom’ mode. ‘Present” mode allows students the ability to present their creations and ‘Classroom’ mode gives teachers the ability to set up a classroom and create student accounts.

Click the image below to listen to my Voki character.

Another valuable voice platform I explored was SpeakPipe. This platform is perfect for a Podcaster because it allows the host to interact with their audience. After the Podcaster sets up SpeakPipe on their podcast site, audience members can leave messages for the Podcaster. Audience members could use it to ask questions or even request topics to be covered on the podcast. The Podcaster can also use SpeakPipe to post messages to their audience, which could include updates to previous podcasts or even answers to questions left by audience members. A librarian could use SpeakPipe on a library podcast, which would allow the librarian easy interactions with students.

Audacity is a recording tool that is used by the schools within Prince William County. It is used to record tests read aloud by educators to students with test accommodations. The recordings are saved and sent to the state testing office as proof that the test was read according to the read aloud guidelines.

Music Tools

The music tool I explored was Chrome Music Lab. This platform was extremely fun! My 11-year-old daughter helped me experiment with the various music formats. This site would be great for students to use to create music that could go along with a story they may have written. Students could depict their story electronically and include their music creation along with it. Some of the music formats on Chrome Music Lab had good sounds that could be used for sound effects, as opposed to actual songs.

Podcasts

I read the article by Scott Gilbertson, The Best Podcasts for Kids, and it provided a great many podcasts that are child-friendly. One of the Podcasts that stuck out to me was the Stories Podcast, which has folktales and myths from around the world. I work in a very diverse school and this would be a wonderful podcast for the students there because they would get to hear culturally diverse stories, some of which may be from their home country. This podcast also presents original stories. Students hearing original stories from other young people could inspire students to write their own story to be presented on the podcast. Another promising podcast mentioned in the article was Circle Round. Circle Round also presents folktales from around the world, but the stories include sound and music to help bring the stories alive.

Reference

Gilbertson, S. (Aug. 19, 2022). The best podcasts for kids. Wired. https://www.wired.com/story/best-podcasts-for-kids/