Kittens! Kittens! Kittens!

Kittens, Kittens, Kittens by techsavvyed

Exploring the most excellent tool that is SoundCloud while on another ds106 assignment, my wife became excited about the “over dramatic reading” activity. I had checked out a rather cute children’s book titled Kittens! Kittens! Kittens! last week, and she had just finished reading it to our toddler, we thought it would be humorous if she read it with a serious and commanding tone. Turns out, it was a rather interesting experience, and helps prove that often it’s not the story that matters, but it’s the delivery that makes or breaks a story.

It would be interesting to use SoundCloud to have students record their own reading using a tone that is discordant with the original intent of the author. It would certainly be a great way to demonstrate how important voice, tone, and mood are to a story, and give your students a chance to express themselves through performance.

If you enjoy her reading, please feel free to leave a comment for my wife…she had to record the book twice because I forgot to unmute the microphone on the first read through 🙁

6 comments

  1. Your reading was at once commanding, masterful, and a little alarming. I’m glad I was informed of the premise before I listened. It gave a whole new dimension and definition to warm, fuzzy, and comforting.
    I can see the endless possibilities for teaching impact of intonation on students. What you say isn’t always what you think you sound like. Good job!

    1. I was excited when my wife said she’s record it for me, and even more impressed when she did it in that voice! I’ll make sure to pass on your kind words….she was hoping for the first two, but alarming should make her smile a little 🙂

  2. I do believe that is the way that book is SUPPOSED to be read. Kittens are serious business, people! Everyone knows the make the tubes in the interwebz work properly!

  3. This is funny! Everything the kittens do sounds so creepy- it’s amazing how different a story can sound when it is read in a certain tone.

    1. I was really tempted to read something tragic in a comic laugh, but don’t want to cross any lines of good taste. However, my wife needed an excuse to get herself into ds106, and I loved that she was willing to do this.

  4. The poem is cute and the way she read it sounds so intense. The mood changed after using a different tone. This is good to be thought to children as well as teens. I am curios how kids will react if they hear this.

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