SHARE: Noise Level Suggestion

[Suby Wallace <suwallac@COLUMBIA.K12.MO.US>]

OK, I am admitting to you guys that I am very distracted by noise.
I am one of those librarians who wants her library to be a happy but
quiet place.  When noise levels start low, they tend to build until
they're way too noisy.  I am a very ADD adult and too much noise
just drives me nuts.

So, here's something I do with my kids.

        WARNING:  This may seem persnickety to you, but it works
for me...   :)

I talk to them about different kinds of whispers.

1) is a STAGE whisper.  If you are in a play and your character has
to whisper something, you want the audience to be able to hear it.
So you do a very loud whisper which actually has a voice added to
it.  It is able to be heard by the person on the very back row of the
auditorium.  That's why it's called a STAGE WHISPER.

2)  is a VOICELESS whisper.  This is a whisper that has no voice,
just air.  It is able to be heard by the person right next to you, and
no one else.

I have them do this experiment.

1.  Put your hand flat against your vocal chords.  When I give a
signal, we say the word "talking" 4 times (if you don't put a limit on
it, they will go on forever) in a low voice.  Feel the vibrations of your
vocal chords?  That's because your voice is making a sound.

2.  Now, put your hand flat against your vocal chords again.  This
time we are going to say the word "whisper" 4 times in a STAGE
whisper.  Feel the vibrations?  It's because you're still making
sound.  When 25 students are all talking in a STAGE whisper, it's
still a lot of noise.

3.  Put your hand flat against your vocal chords a third time.  This
time we say the word "whisper" 4 times in a VOICELESS whisper.
You don't feel any vibrations because you're making no sound!

Sometimes I even go so far as to next do all 3 kinds of voices.  We
will say "talking" 4 times, do 4 STAGE whispers, and 4
VOICELESS whispers, so that we can hear the noise level reduce
with each change.

"Talking, talking, talking, talking...WHISPER, WHISPER,
WHISPER, WHISPER ... whisper whisper whisper whisper."

Whenever someone's talking too loudly, I just remind them
"Remember the VOICELESS WHISPER!"  I even use a creepy
voice when I say 'voiceless whisper' to make more of an impression.

I also have a sign that I made with a clipart picture of a mouth with
a "shushing finger" in front of it for a verbal reminder.

It's still a struggle, but it helps a lot.  If you want a copy of my
picture of the voiceless whisper, I posted it at this address:

        http://www.columbia.k12.mo.us/dre/voiceless.html



Suby Wallace, Media Specialist     suwallac@columbia.k12.mo.us,
Derby Ridge Elementary School  (grades k-5)
4000 Derby Ridge Drive              573-886-2000
Columbia, MO  65202              fax: 573-886-4729

(home) subyw@socket.net
http://www.columbia.k12.mo.us/dre
see the award-winning website created with a group of 6th grade students:  "Do We" 
Really Know Dewey?  http://tqjunior.advanced
.org

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