I'm doing something I never thought I would do.
Today in my lesson I had some background music playing, and I must admit, I've been surprised by the effect it's had on the class.
First, some background on the class. This is a great class. They are year 10 and are very independent learners. They're not all bright, but they give the lesson a good go, and almost always try their best.
The students are working through some module based lessons that will culminate with them achieving a Certificate 1 in Business and IDMT. The lessons are self paced and easy to follow. While I usually actively teach them, today I thought I'd give this a go, and observe the effects.
The students were given quite explicit instructions around my expectations at the start of the lesson. Then I put the music on. No horrified faces, instead they went about their business completing the lesson tasks.
I explained that I did not expect them to work in silence, but at all times I wanted to be able to hear the music above the hum of their voices. I did not want to hear any one particular voice. The music essentially became like white noise.
I've liked a number of tracks that I thought were suitable, and attached them to my library in YouTube. It's now just a matter of putting the music on in the background of the lessons.Music for learning
