It makes your heart sing...

From a dedicated teacher colleague...with many thanks ...

I have a pupil in my class who is selective mute. We’ve been doing voice recordings/podcasting since November, and so far she’s never taken part. We did a podcast for the Head to take to a conference .The children recorded a section at a time on audacity and then we converted to an MP3 then imported into Podium. *’s group asked if I would leave the room as she wanted to record her voice. * has been selective mute all 7 years in school with adults although she will talk to other children. She spoke clearly, and in one take. Further to this, last week she has since recorded her voice with me in the room!

We have been trialling a VLE for 12 months and * has been prolific in her postings. I have given her her own ‘space’ that only she and I can see and I’ve had loads of messages from her. She attended a residential and we used it to allay her fears and start a dialogue. It has been absolutely inspirational to read funny, thoughtful, sensitive and intelligent conversations with her, and I actually feel I know *. I have learnt what a fantastic sense of humour she has. This makes her disability even more remarkable that she can maintain this silence when she obviously has so much going on. This technology has definitely changed *’s school life and my relationship with her. I can ask her a question and she’ll reply on the VLE and vice versa. She has many other special needs. The VLE in itself was revolutionary but the added part of her wanting to take part in podcasting has really moved me and made me realise how powerful these web 2.0 technologies can be. We’ve also set up a log in for * on the VLE at the Secondary School she going to move to in September.