Here is a link to my Animoto video about my family.
I enjoyed using the three different web tools, VoiceThread, Animoto, and Wordle, this week and found all three to be very user friendly.
VoiceThread: Is an easy to use way to create a slideshow that allows you to leave voice over commentary and even draw on the slides during a presentation.
Animoto: Is also easy to use and allows users to upload their own images to create a movie-like slideshow with background music, and captions over the pictures.
Wordle: Is a fun way to play with words. It allows you to type in or upload text and than takes high frequency words and creates an artistic arrangement of those words in various colors, sizes, and layouts around the page.
Because I teach preschool and my students are not yet independently reading I would most likely stick to VoiceThread because it allows me to upload my own voice over captions on top of my slides. I could use this for digital stories, or introducing new content to reach both my visual and auditory learners. I would not use Wordle with my students because it is purely text based, and I would probably not use Animoto for anything but displaying class pictures to commemorate fun events such as a visit to the pumpkin patch, a holiday party, or end of the year graduation. The reason I would not use Animoto for my particular class is because it does not allow for voice over the way that VoiceThread does, and my students would not be able to read the text over images.
I would however use Animoto for higher grades (2-12) where the students are already independent readers. I think it would be a great way to introduce information in a fun format for students.