Group+2

Does tool require Sign-in? Yes but it's easy. However, your school has to pay for a subscription.
==Description of Tool: VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that allows people to comment in various ways, using voice, text, audio file, video or doodles. It can be easily moderated, because the account belongs to you, and the students access it by making different identities that are attached to your account. You post a slide, picture, video, or image and the students can comment on it and have a conversation about it. There are 700,000 free images through the New York Public Library alone!==

.

==**You could use it as a forum for debate. You could post an appropriate video and lyrics of a rapper like Common, and debate his visit to the White House, as appropriate or not. Is he a poet? Then, this could be expanded to a larger debate about rap as a form of poetry.**==

Creating, because the students must use their own knowledge to create conversations on the material presented. You could use it for analyzing and evaluating as well.
=Part 2=

Adapted Lesson Plan
Objective: SWBAT interpret a character's words and actions and how those words and actions impact the conflict and plot of a story. They will use VoiceThread to comment on MacBeth in two scenes in which he is contemplating an important decision. They will analyze his actions, and compare/contrast the two scenes. They will then create their own video of a character making a choice to compare and contrast with MacBeth's scenes.

== **While studying MacBeth, you could show the clips of the parts in Act 1 where MacBeth is dicussing his choices about possibly killing Duncan, and have the students comment using VoiceThread on a video which shows MacBeth making a decision alone not to kill Duncan, and then being influenced by his wife to kill him later. They will be asked to pay attention and comment on the character's word choices, facial expressions, movement, and body language in the first scene, where he is talking to himself, and the characters' word choice, facial expressions, movement, and body language after the influence of his wife's opinion. We would have a sheet for the students with both the dialogue and a translation of what each line means. With older students you could have previously done the translations together. The students should also comment on one of their peer's comments in a productive way (saying "I agree" or "I don't agree" does not count).** ==

**YouTube video of both speeches (Lady MacBeth comes in around minute 2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aObwAhpkNsQ**

 * In class, we will compare and contrast the two scenes, and the difference that Lady MacBeth has on her husband's beliefs and character.**

**We would assign them a task to comment on the video as stated above, and comment on their peers as stated above.**
== **You could then expand the discussion in class to characterization, and how MacBeth's actions are influenced by others, what that says about him as a character, and how that drives the conflict and the plot.**  ==

==**Then, we would put them into groups of two and have them find their own appropriate video clip of a character making a decision in your favorite TV show or movie (you could assign the video clips if you don't want it to be so open), either alone or with influence, and compare/contrast them to the MacBeth videos using one of the comment styles (**voice, text, audie file, video or written comments/doodles). There will need to be at least two of each (comparisons and contrasts). They should focus on how the character's actions drive the conflict and plot of the show/video. The teacher will put those slides together into one show. Then (potentially the next day) the students will comment on at least two of their peers' work (can be assigned as to which slides they must comment on) by agreeing or disagreeing respectfully with one of their peer's points and explaining why. If you wanted another option you could also ask the students to simply add another comparision or contrast to at least two videos.==