Teacher Geek by Rachel Jones

Author:Rachel Jones [Rachel Jones]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781845909888
Publisher: Crown House Publishing
Published: 2015-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CREATING AN AURAL CLASSROOM ATMOSPHERE

Another way to think about using music is to set the tone for a lesson. From spooky music to accompany writing about Bram Stoker, to using film soundtracks to create tension while discussing dramatic techniques, the music can set the feel of the lesson and provide a hook to draw in learners.

It can sometimes be really hard for students to make the cultural links between ideas and some areas of knowledge, so providing a sound-based framework can offer a way in for them. When studying other cultures, historical events or anything that has a distinct cultural otherness, the shared experience of listening to music can provide a way to access the learning. For the centenary of the First World War, for example, some schools had class activities and assemblies to commemorate an event which can be very difficult for children to comprehend. Playing music from the period can give children an opening to think about the loss of life in the conflict. They may not be able to understand the mechanised killing of millions of people, but they can understand the emotion conveyed in music written around the time – for example, Elgar’s ‘Nimrod’. You could also play them some of the songs designed to encourage men to enlist, like ‘Pack Up Your Troubles’, as an avenue for thinking about why people went to fight.

Often, what attracts children to learning about a subject is that they see it as being interesting or strange. In my own classroom, the otherness of Ancient Greek culture, for example, attracts them to the topic. In no other lesson would they learn why sheep had water poured over their heads prior to ritual sacrifice.2 The information in itself may be fascinating, but you can further heighten their curiosity by playing a piece which embodies music from the period. (Historians out there: before you tell me off that any musical re-creation might not be accurate, please remember that this is about sparking curiosity in the learners by making the topic less two-dimensional.)

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