Sonic Postcards
https://www.sonicpostcards.org/
What does your environment sound like? We’re used to looking at the world around us, but how much time do we spend listening? What happens when we concentrate on our soundscape as much as our landscape? And what can we learn about other communities and other locations through the medium of sound?
Sonic Postcards is a unique and innovative national education programme which explores these issues and encourages participants to “open their ears”. The project enables pupils from across the UK to explore and compare their local sound environments through the composition and exchange – via the internet – of sound postcards with other schools.
The project focuses on the impact of sound on our lives and demonstrates the possibilities for creativity through the manipulation of sounds with technology. As with an ordinary postcard it offers the opportunity for people to exchange information about their local environments; providing windows into a variety of places, lives and cultures in rural, urban and coastal locations.
Sonic Postcards is aimed at young people between the ages of 9-14 in primary, secondary and special schools, PRUs (Pupil Referral Units) and community groups across the country.
The project links a number of curriculum studies at Key Stages 2 and 3, including music, geography and ICT, as well as English, citizenship, art, history, biology and physics and is pertinent to key government initiatives for e-learning and for the environment. Sonic Postcards follows both good practice and government guidelines for working with young people.
Sonic Postcards is run by Sonic Arts Network, the national organisation which explores the art of sound.
Using Amazon’s Alexa to Develop Speech Skills in Your Autism Classroom or Home School
https://www.curriculumforautism.com/blog/using-amazon-alexa-in-autism-classroom-or-homeschool
Engaging and motivating low preparation way to help your students, or your own child, develop their speech skills.
Case Study:
“My son, who had no speech until he was three, and still has a language delay, speaks very fast (he does everything fast!), running all the words together. He often misses out words in his sentences, particularly articles such as “the”. He also deletes final consonants in words (eg saying “stan” instead of “stand”). Therefore, people who don’t know him well struggle to understand him, causing him to either give up communicating or become very frustrated.
He loves listening to music, so I wondered if asking the Echo device to play him music would motivate him to speak more slowly and clearly. Just a few hours after his Echo was set up he was saying “Alexa, play The Beatles” & “Alexa, play Michael Bublé” clearly enough for Alexa to understand him. Wow!
In just a few months his speech has slowed, his articulation is improving and he is projecting his voice across the room. He can now say “r” much clearer because he wants to listen to Diana Ross (he has a very broad taste in music). And, when Alexa doesn’t understand him, he patiently tries again, and again until he succeeds.
Another skill which he has developed since talking to Alexa is the ability to assertively say “No!” and “Stop!” (when Alexa plays him the wrong cover version of a song). Being able to say No and Stop is so important for our kids and young adults so that they learn to speak up for themselves if others attempt to bully them”
Unlocking Potential: Innovative Library Programs Enhancing the Lives of Autistic Individuals
This was a piece of research that was shared with me after contact from http://www.studentsforresearch.org. One of their students had come across this piece of research and were keen to share it with me on the online platform for other educators to use.
Education has Sprung! A K-2 Musical Integration Unit with Science, Math, Reading and more
In this exciting cross-curricular unit students learn all about spring! Using music as a platform we touch on all sorts of K-2 Standards, from parts of a plant (science) counting currency (math) and The Very Hungry Caterpillar (reading). Perfect for both the sunny and rainy spring days!
Teach Me Through Music 