Sep

30

Take Note Miss Manners.

Filed Under The Way I See It | Leave a Comment

Today when I was out shopping I finally got it. In an earlier post , I was complaining about the fact that people don’t seem to hold the door open for each other as much as they used to. Given my experience today while shopping, I noticed that often people don’t hold the door open for each other , but in most instances they put their hand against the door to keep it open so that it doesn’t slam into your face. I guess that’s something. I’m going to pay more attention to the evolution of manners, and maybe I’ll notice other new appropriate ways of being. Now, if whoever is spitting on the floor at school would just stop, I’d be happy to open my own doors even when I have my hands full.

Sep

26

Hope as an Obstacle

Filed Under "At-risk" students, The Way I See It | Leave a Comment

Hope is important, because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today. But that is the most that hope can do for us-to make some hardship lighter. When I think deeply about the nature of hope, I see something tragic. Since we cling to our hope in the future, we do not focus our energies and capabilities on the present moment. We use hope to believe something better will happen in the future…

Thich Nhat Hanh

Hope as an obstacle? I’ve never thought of hope as an obstacle until I read these words by Thich Nhat Hanh. I’ve always thought of hope as a good thing. It’s been my chief strategy on more than one occasion, and yet here Thich Nhat Hanh is telling me that the nature of hope is something tragic. I already knew that the nature of hopelessness is tragic. I see that in many of my at risk students. They have no hope. Their past experiences have led them to conclude that the nature of school is hopeless. There’s no future in school for them , or more accurately there’s no school in their future. So they leave.

What’s to be done? I’ve always hoped that we could keep these at risk students in school until they matured enough to see the value of a high school diploma. Happily, the school board I work for is doing more than hoping. Peel is focusing its energies and capabilities on supporting these students in the present moment. I’ve just come from an all day professional development session where we looked at what was being done right now, at this moment in the schools, and I must say I am absolutely delighted. I dare say, Thich Nhat Hanh would be delighted too.

Sep

23

Listening to Music Helps Students Be More Productive in The Classroom

Filed Under "At-risk" students, Behaviour Management, Special Education, music in the classroom | 47 Comments

I was looking through Friday’s Globe And Mail (C2) when this headline caught my attention; “If music be the food of work, play on.” I read the article with interest.

Workers are more turned on by tuning in to music, a survey finds.

Nearly one-third -32 per cent- of 1,613 U.S. employees said they listen to music while working through the use of an iPod, MP3 player or similar device.

And 79 per cent of them said all that humming along improves their job satisfaction or productivity, the survey conducted by Harris Interactive for staffing company Spheron Corp. found.

The effect of music was the highest among younger workers, with 90 per cent of those 18 to 24 and 89 per cent of those 30 to 39 saying it boosted job satisfaction.

That finding didn’t surprise me one bit. As a teacher, I’ve known that for years. Listening to music helps improve productivity. Why? One reason is because music acts like white noise in the background preventing students from noticing every other little noise that usually distracts them. Some kids can’t tune out things like a pencil dropping or someone asking a question. Their brain takes everything in; consequently, they are often distracted and off task in the classroom.

Of course there have to be some guidelines for this to work effectively. I’ve learned the hard way.(Have you noticed, I seem to say that often?) After discussing using music as a tool to assist with concentration and focus, I give student these guidelines (well, they’re actually rules, but “guidelines” sound so much better. Some of my at risk students have trouble with rules. It’s all how you say it. I’ve learned that the hard way, too) These are the guidelines:

1. Listen to music that you know and love. Listening to new, unfamiliar music is distracting (your brain focuses on the new) and that defeats the purpose.

2. Listen to your own music on your own iPod, Mp3 player etc. Absolutely no sharing. Sharing wastes time and causes commotion that is distracting to other students and that defeats the purpose.

3. Listen to your music after I have taught the lesson. Listening to music while I am teaching distracts you from what I am saying and that defeats the purpose.

My students are cool about the whole music thing in class. They understand the need for guidelines and usually don’t push too often. It’s amazing to see the kids hooked up to their music and working away, doing far more while listening to their music than they would without listening to their music.
When I create an Individual Education Plan for my Learning Disabled or Behaviour students, if I believe that listening to music while working will help that student be more successful, I will include that accommodation in the I.E.P. and share that with the student’s teachers.

UPDATE
Click here for research about benefits of music in the classroom

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