Music to learn by

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