Exploring voices to develop language at Putnoe Lower School
Whispering walls might be cause for concern at some schools, but at Putnoe Lower School in Bedfordshire the whispering corridor is now a favourite feature of school life.
The corridor in question is a sound installation developed by pupils, teachers and creative professionals as part of their 2010 Creative Partnerships Change Schools project.
The school chose for their focus of their project and exploration of expression, the human voice and developing expressive language in their pupils. This focus linked with the school’s development plan and aims the staff at Putnoe had to raise attainment in literacy, specifically in speaking and listening, but also improving writing and reading.
They planned to develop in the children improved social skills and competencies in research, reflection and team working through an exploration of their own voices and the voices of family and teachers. In particular, the school wanted to involve grandparents and other family members in the project with the aim to introduce learning conversations at home that would continue beyond the life of the project.
The project was delivered in two parts. The first was led by audio artist Andy D’Cruz and involved a series of audio installations. The project opened with a mysterious speaking object appearing on a plinth in school and which emitted a series of words, words which were mostly new to the children. This was followed by more speaking objects appearing around the school, creating interest and the basis for literacy work across the school.
Grandparents were invited into the school for tea and cake and to have their own favourite words recorded for inclusion in the installation, the centerpiece of which was the whispering corridor, a legacy piece which remains at the school.
The second part of the project involved creative professionals including an actor, a poet, a dancer and a sculptor being invited in to work intensively with the students to respond to a previously selected word through their medium. The creative professionals modeled using a word to stimulate creative expression as a starting point for the next phase of the project, in which the students created animated films. These animated films were all based around a word and developed in small, self-managing groups and were shown to a wider audience of staff, peers and parents to celebrate the end of the project.
By the end of the project the staff discovered students were aware of, and freely demonstrated, new vocabulary (words such as exorbitant, superabundant and lavish), were confident using vocabulary books to capture new words, and were confident in spelling some of the new words.
The staff at Putnoe recognized through doing their animation projects, the children were also improving their literacy and numeracy skills, and through working in groups they were practicing leadership, negotiation, problem solving, and communication skills. The children also reported using new words outside of school which helped them to explain their experiences.
They described the experience of being able to choose a response to a brief, and how they came to a group decision about how to proceed. They were aware that they had some power in the decision making process and that this was bounded.
Teaching staff reported seeing a high level of collaborative work, team work and group problem solving skills among the students. They noted a shift from the students classifying school subjects as separate, to a recognition that numeracy and literacy could be part of the creative process.
Those students receiving support for their speech and language showed improvements in their expressive language, and were able to articulate words better. Using video and audio equipment gave the children a sense of audience and encouraged the need for clear articulation.
The ownership of the project shifted from the school co-ordinator to the school staff in the second part of the project. Teaching staff were required to adapt their normal teaching and learning practices and while some required some reassurance all participating staff took the leap, experienced risk and the resultant success. Some teachers reported they found 'letting go' stressful, risking failure by allowing the students to respond freely to the brief given.
Through the project, teachers involved have realised creativity is an area where success is achievable for some students who have traditionally struggled in other areas - it is a doorway to success.
Teachers, having experienced these new techniques have felt more able to use creative techniques elsewhere in their teaching and overall the staff at Putnoe found their ambitions for the project had been realized: the young people’s vocabulary expanded hugely both in terms of new words and new concepts
