Audio

Audio can increase a student's ability to comprehend, to read fluently and to read with expression.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Audacity is one of the best free programs on the web. Download it and use it to record student voices.

http://voicethread.com/about/ Voice Thread is a tool that every teacher should be using to enhance reading instruction. Sign up for an educators account and use it to have students discuss books: genres, plots, rising action, conflict, etc... The cost for an educator account is $10, a class account is $60 http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com/ Use this wiki to find out how other educators are using voicethread in the classroom. http://bvlibrary.wikispaces.com/Caudill Award Here is an example of a Voice Thread that was created to discuss the Rebecca Caudill Award books.

http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video Learn Out Loud offers over 500 free audio files. Additional files can be purchased.

http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/index.html This site offers free sound effects that can be downloaded and used in presentations or on web pages, but can not be resold. Scroll down to the list at the bottom of the page to find the links.

http://www.freeplaymusic.com/ This music is free for educational use in the school. If you are using this resource for presentations outside of the school building you may have to sign a licensed agreement and pay a fee. This source does __not__ allow you to use their sounds for podcasting free of charge.

http://www.soundzabound.com/ This site offers royalty free music for education. Once you have paid for a license, the downloaded music is purchased for a lifetime.

http://readthewords.com/ This website allows you to upload word documents or type directly into the web page. The words are read back to you. Files can be downloaded as a mp3. There is a free membership plan that allows for three uses. After that, it is a first month fee of $9.99 and then each month after that is $3.99 for 350 recordings.

http://www.ispeech.org/ Enter text, a file or a url to convert text to speech.

http://vozme.com/index.php?lang=en Text to speech converter that allows you to save as a mp3 file.

http://www.gcast.com/?nr=1&&s=191288503 GCast lets you create a podcast right from your phone!

http://edupodcast.wikispaces.com/ Consult this wiki for information on how to podcast.

http://web.mac.com/ibpaulkim/iWeb/bookwink/Podcast/Podcast.html Podcast of books by kids.

http://web.mac.com/jennifergingerich/jennifergingerich/Blog/Entries/2008/11/20_G.L.A.D._for_Thanksgiving_Dinner.html An example of using podcasting in the elementary classroom for literacy.