Teachers wired up in audibility innovation
Margret Sullivan teaching Tomasi Northover. Photo: Neil Wilson.
A class of five, six and seven-year-olds is writing ‘lazy 8s' exactly between the lines. Their teacher moves among them, offering quiet encouragement and praise. The atmosphere is intense and every word the teacher says can be heard by everyone in the room. Like a rock star, the teacher wears a microphone and her words are amplified through a speaker at the back of her classroom. Little wonder some of the older students at her school have begun calling her "Madonna".
The teacher is Margret Sullivan. She teaches in room five at Takaka Primary School and she is very enthusiastic about being "wired for sound".
"There are three children with identified hearing needs in this class," Ms Sullivan explained. "The system is especially good for them because they don't miss out on explanations and instructions. The speaker system works well for everyone else too because I don't have to raise my voice to be above the hubbub of normal group-work noise. Because I'm speaking very quietly, the children speak quietly too. It makes for a very positive atmosphere, where it's easy to hear what's important. It's useful for everyone to be able to hear the advice I'm giving to individuals. A great side-effect is that there's less wear and tear on teachers' voices too."
Takaka Primary School's principal, Neil Batten, explained how the school decided to give the system a trial.
"The Hearing Association in Nelson came to us with some research that suggested the incidence of middle-ear problems was higher than most people realised," said Mr Batten. "They offered us the equipment for one classroom at a discounted rate. You have to wonder how much behaviour management and missed learning opportunities arise because children simply haven't heard what they're supposed to be doing. The research shows that amplifying the teacher's voice has excellent results for all the children in the class, not just those with hearing issues. Listening is a teachable skill. Our children are learning to pay attention to the teacher's voice among the normal noise they're working in and they're getting the benefit of all the teaching that's going on. The teacher can flick the microphone off if she's talking to someone and the rest of the class don't need to hear her."
At the moment Takaka Primary has one other classroom with the sound system, but they have heard recently that they have gained the funding to install the equipment in all eight of their classrooms.
"We applied to the Canterbury Community Trust and they've granted us enough to fit out all or classrooms," said Mr Batten. It'll cost over $14,000 and we're really grateful to the trust. We think the sound systems will have excellent short- and long-term results for all our children."
In room five, the children have no doubt that the system helps them to learn.
"It's good. You can hear what the teacher's saying," said Tomasi Northover.
Neil Wilson
