Listen to his stories.
As the trees are exploding with new buds and leaves, and everyone is heading outdoors, this might be the perfect time to explore sound recording, out in the world! Introducing HDSB’s Sound Map, an innovative audio publishing tool available to educators in Halton! Sound Map is a unique tool that allows you to publish audio of any kind (stories, poems, interviews, music), into particular places in the community. Then, using the Sound Map player, listeners can go to that location to hear the creations! This tool would be great for creating story walks, revealing histories of a location, playing games, and generally for people to tell their stories. The Sound Map player is simply a webpage link that you can share out with your school, with parents etc. There is no app needed! For those of you who are familiar with geocaching, Sound Map feels a bit like audio geocaching – with audio treasures to discover in particular locations in the world.
Recently, Curtis Ennis, Director of Education for the Halton District School Board recorded his own stories to share on Sound Map. If you open the Sound Map Player, you will discover one of his stories near all the schools in Halton, so you have a chance to go discover the story and experience how the Sound Map works out in the world!
Halton Educators using Sound Map
Here are some ways that Halton educators have started using Sound Map! You can click on the links and listen through your web browser if you aren’t in the area using the “remote listening” feature:
- Kelly Bourassa, Grade 3 at Brant Hills PS mic’ed up her students to capture the conversation and moments of natural discovery in “I notice, I wonder, It reminds me of”
- Tracy Terry, Grade 7 at Brant Hills PS – Recorded the Sounds of Natural Discovery while Foraging in the Forest
- Jennifer Plens’ Grade 11 Creative Writing students recorded Creative Writing pieces to discover around Dr. Frank J. Hayden
- Cameron Steltman’s Grade 4 class at C.H. Norton used Sound Map to record a story walk of spooky stories
- Nadia Bhabha and Andrew Male at White Oaks Secondary School used Sound Map in a Grade 9 ELL Geography Class to create a scavenger hunt in the forest
- Amy Abbott’s Grade 12 Music students at T.A. Blakelock created an audio walk highlighting black and racialized composers you might not have heard before
Next steps and a challenge!
Intrigued? We hope so! If you are interested in learning more about Sound Map, you can check out this Bite-Sized Learning Module we have put together that walks you through Sound Map in more detail (and you can request an editor account too). If you have any questions, your Shift coaches would be happy to help!
Challenge! First 12 people to record and publish a public audio story on Sound Map will win a new Shift T-Shirt! To enter the challenge, the first 12 to fill in this Google Form will win a shirt! Open to any staff in HDSB. Happy Creating!
