Looking for a way to spice up your lessons with some tech-related fun? One of the easiest ways to enhance your lesson plans is to incorporate audio recording technology.
If you have a computer lab available to your class, each child can access the sound recorder found in the Accessories folder of every Microsoft Windows-run machine. This voice recorder is limited to simple record, save, and playback functions, but young kids love to hear their own voices played back to them, so this limited functionality should be enough to keep them engaged.
Ideas for how to Use PC Audio Recording
- Put on a Play. Assign each child a part in a very short play script. Each child can record his or her line (or sound effect) ahead of time, and have it ready to play back on cue. Then, point to each child in order, have them play their respective line, and watch them light up as the story unfolds and they each get to help create it.
- Create Audio MadLibs . Assign each child a noun, adjective, adverb, or verb according to a MadLib script. Then, read the MadLib story out loud, and when you reach an opening in the script, ask the kids to play their appropriate recordings. Hearing the hilarity of the story will keep kids engaged, and they’ll learn the parts of speech while having fun.
- Play Audio Recorder “Telephone.” Begin by reading a short poem or tongue twister for one student to hear. Then, in “telephone” fashion, have each child record what they thought they heard, and share it with the child next to them. Next, replay each version for everyone to hear and watch, step by step, how the communication degrades. In this activity, the children will be exposed to poetry, and they will have the chance to witness common breakdowns in communication and memory.
Ideas on How to Use a Digital Audio Recorder
If you don’t have access to a computer lab, lesson plans can also be enhanced using a single voice recorder device. A voice recorder can cost anywhere from $7.00 to $250.00, though for these purposes, a very simple, inexpensive model should do just fine.
- Create a Collaborative Poem. Simply pass a voice recorder around the room, and have each child contribute a line to the poem. Then, play the entire poem back for everyone to hear. You can use this technique to teach the different genres of poetry, or to teach rhyme, alliteration and onomatopoeia.
As you can see, incorporating audio recording technology into your lesson plans can be a great way to enhance your students’ learning experiences and make learning more interactive, at very little or no cost. Audio recording can help students learn in a new way, and can help them find their individual voices. Just remember to be creative and have fun, because that’s what learning should be.
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Today’s Guest Poster: Sarah Stockton is an Outreach Coordinator for Voices.com, a site that connects businesses with professional voice talents in the audio recording industry. She enjoys helping potential voice talent find their start in the voice industry.
Photo credits: Woodleywonderworksand Dave Kobrehel
