HEAR ME at SLB!
Monday morning, Jen and I met with the Saturday Light Brigade and about a dozen educators and non-profit professionals for a hands-on audio recording workshop, right in the SLB studio! Once we got coffee and crammed into the SLB studio (all 17 of uys, total), our morning of education began. We started by having everyone discuss their interests in Hear Me and tell an early childhood memory – everything from crashing big wheels to getting lost in the grid of NYC. After lots of laughs, the SLB team shared their strategies for eliciting high quality audio stories, teaching us how to use Zoom audio recorders, and how important the recording environment is to obtaining great recordings of kids’ voices. The session ended with time for us to get out the Zoom recorders and practice with partners on setting up the recorders, microphone distance, adjusting audio levels, and managing distracting background noises.
Although I think we all would have liked to spend more time together, soaking up more wisdom from the SLB folks, it was a very exciting and successful morning. I was inspired to sit in a room filled with people who are dedicated to making sure children are being heard. For example, Kristen and Sarah, two first grade teachers at Propel Montour shared their ideas for dedicating time to ensure their ever-enthusiastic students’ stories are being heard by their peers, their teachers, and the rest of the region through the Hear Me project. David Pribish from PAEYC shared his vision for recording the stories of children who cannot speak. Liz and Lindsay from the Mattress Factory hope to work with Hear Me to collect stories as part of their vision for an interactive archive for the exhibits at the MF.
For me, this workshop was an opportunity to learn and a morning to be inspired by others who are dedicated to the Hear Me mission of gathering and distributing stories while empowering our region’s youth. Thanks Larry, Jeff, Justin, Liz, and Robert for an informative and engaging morning in the SLB studio!
- Jessica Kaminsky, Hear Me education assistant