Classroom Atmosphere: Music Matters

Any of you educators out there play music before class? This has become a norm for me since teaching in higher ed; I always put something on at the beginning of class. In my former life as a middle school teacher I used to play music in class from time to time, but this is different. This is just about creating a particular classroom atmosphere.

Sometimes it's music connected to the lesson for the day. In my World Regional Geography class, I often use radiooooo.com to play music from the region we are considering. In my science methods class, I often put on Here Comes Science by They Might Be Giants. Occasionally, I'll choose a particular song that connects strongly to the lesson for the day, such as when I play "Cool Kids" by Echosmith to introduce a lesson on social and emotional learning in my middle school curriculum and instruction course. Or it might be a commentary on the fact that many students submitted an assignment late at night by playing "Who Needs Sleep?" by Barenaked Ladies. (They don't always appreciate that sort of humor...)

Often, it's just music that I happen to enjoy, or something new that I encountered recently. My students are quick to learn that I have eclectic taste; one day might be pop/folk/hiphop from Judah and the Lion, the next class meeting is ambient rock from Explosions in the Sky or Balmorhea, and the next time they come to class it could be Rend Collective, or Paper Route, or Josh Garrels, or Modest Mussorgsky, or Jars of Clay's old stuff from the 90s, or Adam Young's scores project. Or it might just be my feel-good Spotify playlist that I call "Just for Fun" that has a weird combination of Blue Swede, DNCE, Bobby McFerrin, Sonny & Cher, Kelly Clarkson, Pharrell Williams, the BeeGees, Katy Perry, and more. (Can't miss with that one--something in there that will get your body moving a bit no matter your decade or genre preference.) It's a running joke for some students that I listen to music that they don't listen to...because I'm so hipster. (Note: sarcasm here.)

Image via Pixabay

Why do this?

I'd like to say it's about setting an atmosphere that is warm and welcoming, and I think this is the truth. I like the music, sure. But I think there is something nice about coming into a room that isn't awkwardly quiet with everyone looking at their phones. Students seem more likely to have conversations with each other when the music is just loud enough to provide a background level of noise so it doesn't seem like everyone is listening to them. It means I try to intentionally get to class early enough to put the music on while students are just coming in, and that also encourages me to take a few minutes to connect with the students individually as their classmates are coming in. And having a soundtrack for our beginning of class time loosens me up, and gives me freedom to share a bit about myself, my tastes, my interests...maybe it's a way to show that I'm a real person.

I'm sure some students think it's kind of weird. Some are probably ambivalent about it. But the fact that students regularly--positively--mention the music on end-of-term course feedback makes me think there is something here. It's just something I'm trying to do intentionally to create a classroom atmosphere that reflects my personality, and is inviting for the students as they come in.

What do you think? Crazy? Or is there something to this approach for setting an atmosphere?

A Few Thoughts on Intentionality

It's been over a month since my last post. I'd like to say that it was an intentional break, but that's not really true--at least not entirely.

I usually try to write at least one post a week, which keeps me actively writing. And, as one of my friends has repeatedly reminded me over the past year, writing is thinking...and a big part of my job as a professor is thinking. So in this sense, blogging is almost a professional responsibility for me, or at least thinking about my teaching, and what I'm reading, and how I'm connecting with my field is, and that's primarily what I try to do here on the blog.

But as the busyness of the end of the semester and the Christmas season swelled, I just didn't make time for writing. And then I was out of town over the holidays and I intentionally left my laptop at home, to have an intentional break from all things work-related. And now that I've been back in the office for the past week or so, I've been preparing syllabi for the new semester, and working on a new course that I'm teaching for the first time, and making plans for some additional courses for the EdTech track in our Master of Education program.

I feel like I'm making excuses for why I haven't been blogging. The reality is that I have not been intentional about creating space for it. I haven't felt inspired to write lately, and even though it gives me a lot of joy, it has felt too much like, well...work.

It's funny: while I was in grad school, I was blogging actively...and I was busy all the time between work and class and homework (and trying to keep up as a husband and father and church member) and yet I kept writing. I think partly it was because I was in the habit of reading and writing ALL THE TIME in grad school, and blogging was writing "just for me," which made it a joyful, life-giving thing. And honestly, I had to be intentional about it, because I had so many other things going on in my life, that if I wanted to keep writing on the blog, I had to carve out 20 minutes here or there to work on a post.

And so I'm thinking now about carving out some intentional time each week just for blogging. If I put it in my calendar, will I be more likely to stick to it? Probably.

I'm a little late for making New Year's resolutions, so we'll just call this an "intention" instead.

So here's my intention for this spring semester: I'm going to intentionally carve out space a couple of afternoons a week for reading and writing, and I'm going to intentionally work on at least one blog post each week.

That's my intention, anyway. We'll see how this goes.

Image from Pixabay. [Public Domain]

You know what? I discovered something I find funny and odd: there's an awful lot of photos of laptops and coffee mugs if you search for "blog" on Pixabay. Seriously...you should check it out for yourself.