Soundscapes
As listening to a podcast is a new kind of text for most kids, it's vital that we explicitly teach how to listen. One of the elements to address, of which kids (and most adults) are unaware of, is the soundscape. When introducing this concept to kids, I will show the image I've included below and we brainstorm what sort of soundscapes accompany various locations in their lives. Novel Effect is a fantastic app that can also serve as a model of a soundscape. Kids love identifying elements of the soundscape and how they inform them as listeners and will begin generalizing this skill to other media they take in. With this in mind, I include a "soundscape" Amp that students can fill in when they find a short section where the soundscape is especially strong in helping to establish mood/tone, setting, or adding to their visualizations.
This is a great example of music being used to help clue us, as listeners, into how the author wants us to feel. When students are first identifying Music C(l)ues, I encourage them to simply use an adjective to describe how the music makes them feel. They often accompany Amps, so students become very tuned into listening for them!
When I do this activity with students or adults, I provide the following context: "Mars believes he is being chased by a man named, Oliver Pruitt." We then listen as students note any sound effect they hear chronologically. We then do a close-listen as they add to their list. Finally, they compare with a partner to fully flesh out their list.
In this clip, which is barely over 1 minute, there are many sound effects that help us to visualize the action and make inferences. This can also serve as an activity for students to retell this scene by writing a passage and being sure to include all the details that the soundscape provides for us - incredible!
While I don't always devote this much time to a one-minute clip, I feel it's a valuable activity as we are introducing students to podcasts!