Music in classroom keeps students focused
Dane Francisco carves out the inside of his mug while listening to music on his Air Pods.
February 14, 2023
Pop, Local, Rock, Indie, Alternative, Rap, Electronic Dance Music (EDM). Music.
In the classroom, there’s the expectation of being silent in order for students to work and be productive. Yet some students don’t enjoy the silence, which is where music comes in. Something to distract their thoughts, something to give them motivation for doing work, something to improve their mood. Using whatever they have to play music in their head—earbuds, headphones, air pods, etc.—to curb the silence of the classroom.
Not only the students who want to fill the silence, teachers can think similarly. Alexandra Wick, an art teacher at James Campbell High School, allows her students to not only play their own music using their devices but also has a playlist filled with her student’s favorite songs. Wick loves music, and she has multiple reasons to like it:
A distraction for unappealing tasks, a way to feel calm and relaxed when creating art, a way to split one’s focus. When people do two things at the same time, one of them becomes what they thoughtlessly do. Wick hopes the music in class makes their mood better, gets them motivated, and have them enjoy her class so much that they lose time.
The class playlist, students are able to list all of their favorite songs the first week of class for each period, (school appropriate songs), which gets put on a Spotify playlist that can be added to anytime during class. A playlist is made to help make the students comfortable in her class. Sabeinah Elcano, a ninth grader in Wick’s third period, finds the music in class relaxing and a mix of multiple genres and feelings.
Elcano finds that music helps improve the mood, or can be used as a distraction for things going on. It can also help with making the listener acknowledge what they feel without thinking about it as Elcano finds it does for her. Music can bring out many emotions in people, even if the listeners have no awareness that it does. People have different reactions to music, so it really depends on who listens to what song.