This story is about a little girl’s experience as she discovers, through years of schooling, that she has a learning disability and the struggles and successes that go along with it. The students this story is directed towards also have some form of a learning disability, and it is important for them to be able to read a story like this that they may relate to in some way. VoiceThread was the perfect tool for this project as it provided students with the ability to easily comment on each slide of the story, allowing them to share and discuss similar experiences that they may have had and what strategies worked for them. The flexibility of this tool also gives students multiple methods for commenting, whether it be through voice, text, or video.
The fact that students had a choice of how they could comment was very important, as some students have difficulty expressing themselves through writing while other students have difficulty sharing their thoughts through speech. In addition, I was able to record the story in my own voice which was invaluable for students who have difficulty reading as they could follow along and listen to the story through speakers or headphones.
In addition to using VoiceThread, the visual aspect of this digital story was created in Toondoo. Toondoo is very simple to use and allows students who may have difficulty expressing their thoughts through speaking or writing the ability to create cartoons by choosing from a wide selection of images.