I really like the idea of using music at the beginning and ending of each class. I will also try incorporating music during group activities in hope of keeping students focused, energized and on task. Seating and the use of colored paper is not an option in my situation.
During my culture studies course I use music, food, video, and lecture as a way to bring the culture home to the students. They are able to understand and commune with an abstract concept when it is brought together with something tangible and/or sensory.
My students know what type of learning we will be starting with depending on the layout when they enter the room. It prepares them before they even see the board with the daily outline. Also they are free to sit where they want so they tend to change seats if its a small group discussion vs a lecture at the front of the class. Just because someone has problems seeing the front overhead projection does not mean they wish to sit in the front row the whole term.
Kathryn,
if you are able to change the seating this is a great way to mix things up from time to time & keep it interesting.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I can add posters on the wall.
Change the seating to facilitate a better learning environment.
play music during class
hands on demonstration
David,
this is a great opportunity & a good reason to try & use more lively music.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
My current class starts at 6am. In order to get people mentally alert we've been doing Power Posing (Amy Cuddy) and bellow breath (Andrew Weil). I am excited to try to incorporate some entrance music to get the mind going.
Doretha,
this is a great observation & a way to use the music in the classroom.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Teaching medical billing I noticed that soft jazz, just the music no vocals sets a relaxed tone in the class and students tend to focus on their work more no idle conversations but everyone is working on assignments and are calmer.
David,
it really is amazing how the various senses can help in the learning process.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
While these are all great ideas, it is difficult to implement these types of things to the learning environment when you are constantly switching classrooms. If you are in the same classroom all the time, these are very effective tools.
Jeff
The use of all the mentioned methods can be applied all at one sitting. For example in a Human Anatomy/biology course students can get together in pairs with markers, color paper and materials needed to create visual representations of the human cell. The end results can be attached to the classroom wall and be seen throughout the course. This enforces the students to know the cell by memory every day in the class.
I post puzzle messages that the student needs to think about to figure out
I have read a lot about sensory processing. I think it is interesting that I can use music without words and high ups and downs when the students need to be able to focus. Also, bright and light colors depending on what is needed for the class. For some students they end up needing to have scents as well as long as it is a calming scent and not a stimulating scent.
Barbara,
this is a great way to work creatively within your parameters & still help your students.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Because I teach welding in a shop, this would be a seating and music would not be an option. Students are in booths and the machine noise is too loud to hear music. Color and visuals can be used together to reinforce warnings of safety and procedures to be followed.
Since the classrooms are used by different instructors, different cohorts, and different programs from hour-to-hour and day-to-day, it is very difficult to incorporate the great suggestions offered in this module. In the past, instructors did have the freedom to put posters and such on the wall, but then management issued a policy that this was no longer permissible. So, to incorporate the use of colors, I've used a variety of colored markers for the whiteboard and colored paper for handouts. I used to give handouts that incorporated the use of colored ink, but this practice was also halted due to need to contain costs. Now, I settle for having the students use colored pencils, crayons, or markers on outlined diagrams as creative learning.
This section helped me think about my classroom environment in ways I had not thought about before. I sometimes feel stuck by the way the room is already arranged and the fact that the classrooms are used by different faculty. I have had more white boards installed on different walls so that I can use different colored markers to right quotes or draw pictures/diagrams. Also, use them to have the students brainstorm and "brain dump" in small groups. I prefer more circular arrangements during sharing and discussions.
darla,
if that is possible then yes, I do encourage it. Obviously we have to manage this, but the students are there to learn & so some expectation of outside work is appropriate.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
In surgical technology, Music helps sooth the students mind when learning or practicing skills.
