2. Digital Sound Recording Project at Great Gaddesden Primary School By Kate Johnston-Grant and Ruth McElroy

3. Project Focus: Poetry The stimulus for the poetry work was based on the witches scene in Macbeth.

4. Prerequisites of the Digital Sound Project using the Witches Scene Literacy lessons to:  Discuss the witches scene  Children to write own poems  Work related to use of language, rhyme, alliteration, mood etc.

5. Poem Extract: Round about the cauldron go Size seven skirt for a girl Throw in a silvery pearl In goes a human cursed With a slimy snake, insides burst.

6. Lesson Breakdown  Lesson 1 - voice sounds and sound waves  Lesson 2 - cut, paste and edit sounds  Lesson 3 - record own voice, mix own voice with vocal sounds, consider impact on audience  Lesson 4 - typing text, morphing text, mix morphed text with vocal sounds  Lesson 5 – combine all the above to produce a choral presentation of poem

7. Example of Work using Digital Sound Recorder  Voices play automatically with a slight pause between some of them.

8. Points to Consider  External noise – where to record?  Inhibitions/embarrassment of pupils when they record and hear their voices  Pairing of pupils  Class organisation for headphones and Microbob  Time – depends on ability, resources, adult input and age  Morphing sounds aren’t always the best – try your own  Limitations of 4 minutes on animation station, so do bit by bit, download and paste together  Remember to delete previously downloaded recordings before you start again  Editing sounds can be quite difficult.  Don’t record sounds too close to the mouth  Does using the digital sound recorder enhance the literacy teaching?

9. Links to the National Literacy Strategy based on Macbeth’s witches scene as a stimulus for choral poetry writing using Digital Sound Recording Term 1 text level 16. To convey feelings, reflections or moods in a poem through the careful choice of words and phrases.(year 5) 10. To write own poems experimenting with active verbs and personification; produce revised poems for reading aloud individually. (year 6) Term 2 text level 5. To perform poems in a variety of ways. (year 5) 3. To recognize how poets manipulate words. (year 6) 5. To analyse how messages, moods, feelings and attitudes are conveyed in poetry. (year 6) *Listen to each other’s work. Term 3 text level 4. To read, rehearse and modify performance of poetry. (year 5) 11. To use performance poems as models to write and to produce poetry in polished forms through revising, redrafting and presentation. (year 5) 4. To comment critically on the overall impact of a poem, showing how language and themes have been developed. (year 6) *Evaluate each other’s work as a ‘critical friend’.

10. Benefits to Literacy  Cross-curricular use of ICT with speaking and listening as well as writing  Greater self-awareness – how the child speaks  Redraft writing as well as own voice/sounds  Pupils become ‘critical poets’  Develops greater sense of audience  Polished, finished end product ( a performance)  Collaborative working – creative talking and listening  Highlights impact of rhyme, mood etc. as words/sounds heard externally to themselves  FUN=INCREASED MOTIVATION!