Sound Education - "Listening in Place" in Schools
Listening in Place in Schools
When the pandemic hit this March the VFC had to cancel all of its community workshops, which are usually held in person. This didn’t deter Sarah Keener, new in her role of Librarian/Tech Integrationist at Hazen Union School in Hardwick, VT. Sarah was signed up for a session titled "Audio for Community-based Research" and was still interested in exploring ways to bring audio storytelling and community-based inquiry to Hazen. When she reached out to VFC education staff to see if there were other ways to learn and engage from a distance we were thrilled at the opportunity to explore a collaboration. In serendipitous timing, Vermont Public Radio reporter Anna Van Dine had also been in contact with Hazen about a community partnership through her fellowship at Report for America. Multiple Zoom meetings and a few virtual “school visits” later an exciting network of ideas, connections and projects is emerging as Hazen staff and partners work together to build a “culture of sound” within their school and community.
From the start of school this fall, a main priority has been how best to serve students and educators during this unique and challenging time. The inspiration behind Listening in Place -- to offer support and a place of care for the many ways Vermonters are adapting to life of greater social restrictions -- aligned perfectly with Hazen's school needs and has helped VFC extend the participant reach and educational impact of the project. The collaboration has focused on offering tools and approaches to student-guided inquiry and curiosity during a time of increased virtual learning. By pairing the value of deep listening with easy-to-follow audio tech guides and project ideas, the classroom setting enables an array of creative directions for experimenting with sound production and developing interview and observational skills. What is most surprising so far is how each group has made this project their own and has adapted the listening activities to support their broader learning goals:
Students have explored their sense of place through sound by recording and producing “Audio Postcards.” They are recording at home, using their phones and are learning how to edit audio using an online editor called “Soundtrap”.
Some classes have started a “Capturing Covid in Interviews” project, examining the effects of the pandemic on Vermont schools through first-person interviews with teachers, peers, and family members.
VPR Reporter Anna Van Dine is consulting with Hazen staff and partners to offer a journalistic approach to documenting the many ways Covid-19 is affecting the lives of Vermonters. She will be working closely with a teacher for the course of the school year as students produce audio storytelling projects and create their own sound artifacts and primary sources to express their experiences during this unique historical moment.
VFC staff continue to consult and offer support and guidance to create pathways for student’s recordings, observations and expressions to become part of the Listening in Place Sound Archive.
This collaboration is active and ongoing and we look forward to seeing how it develops. We asked some of the educators and community partners involved in this work to share some reflections following a “Listening in Place for Schools” professional development training recently offered by VFC’s new Director of Education, Sasha Antohin and Education and Media specialist Mary Wesley. Stay tuned as these projects develop and don’t hesitate to contact the VFC Education Dept. to explore a similar partnership.
Emily Willems - teacher, Middle School Global Citizenship: “This workshop provided a sound framework for developing a classroom focused on listening and learning from one another in the classroom and out in the community. I am excited to work with the Vermont Folklife Center and with Anna, VPR, to have students explore their community and how it is changing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then to create a record of this exploration. We just completed this Y-chart about what active listening looks, feels, and sounds like (See left).
The work with Sasha and Mary got me excited about new possibilities and ideas! The workshop was helpful to me, because it explained the new concept (to me!) of ethnography, and also what an interview focused on this looks like, sounds like, and feels like to both interviewer and interviewee. I also appreciate how this feels like a first step, does not feel overwhelming, and that Sasha and Mary are open to further work with Hazen.”
Reeve Basom - Place-Based Education Coordinator (Center for Agricultural Economy/OSSU): “Creating spaces for new voices to be heard, for people to feel listened to, for stories to weave people together, for building community through listening - this feels essential for cultivating the sense of belonging that is at the heart of meaningful engagement, be it academic, civic, social, etc. I am looking forward to learning and practicing with students, teachers and community members how to integrate the tools and skills of audio recording, community ethnography, and storytelling into place-based education.”
Anna Van Dine - VPR Reporter/Host of The Frequency Podcast: “As a green podcast producer and journalist currently engaged in doing some sound work with Hazen students, it was grounding to be brought back to the principles centered by the ethnographic method (reciprocity, equity, care, etc). I am grateful to the VFC for their continued commitment to these values and this work. I do what I do because of work the Folklife Center has done in the past, beginning with a project when I was in middle school myself. I’m excited to be involved in Hazen’s work this year!”
Sarah Keener - Library/Media Specialist and Tech Integrationist: “VFC’s Listening in Place struck a chord with many of us here at Hazen, and it’s been exciting to see how these principles and practices can fit into education. A big takeaway from workshops and meetings with Mary and Sasha has been this ethnographic approach to interviewing and community-based research. I really appreciate the emphasis on the process itself, and I think we can all benefit from creating space for conversations and really listening to each other. The middle school’s focus on listening has been spilling into our TSA’s (Teacher Student Advisory’s) as well. After students journaled about a time they felt listened to, or about people in their lives who are good listeners, we engaged in conversations about what listening looks, feels and sounds like; this prompted some really thoughtful conversations, and we hope Listening will be an authentic way to build communication skills, empathy, and a greater sense of community. I’m also excited to introduce students to the creative possibilities of sound, and I’ve enjoyed exploring this myself, as well.
Paying attention to the sounds and stories that surround us encourages us to reflect on one of our framing questions for the year: Who am I - in my head and heart, at home, at school and in my community, and in this world? The common ground of our work with VFC has helped teachers see and make connections across content and grade levels, and it has allowed us to add depth and meaning to some of the content we teach - subjects like bias and ethics, “the danger of a single story,” the power of listening and of storytelling, point of view and identity, artifacts and primary sources. Ongoing projects include audio postcards; student interviews about the ways in which the pandemic has affected education and everyday life; and interviews with faculty, friends and family about the role that food, cooking and meals plays in their lives. We hope to collaborate with VFC and Anna Van Dine to create podcasts about these topics and more. Thank you, VFC, for your inspiration, guidance, and support. We look forward to continuing this work!”