And Ideal Educational Atmosphere by Nicole

And Ideal Educational Atmosphere by Nicole - October 2014 Scholarship Essay

Picture this: a class of 35 is sitting quietly in their desks, each student with a stapled test lying in various states of completion before them. Pencils dribble against the synthetic wood, the plastic chairs squall against the floor or squeak as someone adjusts their position, and the scratch of lead against paper is practically deafening in the din of the deep hush around them. Even the professor begins to get restless, uncomfortable, and bored as the test continues. How can this be remedied?

Two years ago, I was subjected to an Advanced Placement course in the dreaded area of Chemistry. I had taken Chemistry before, as an Honors class, and I knew that taking a college-level, extremely in-depth course in the same subject would be very challenging. However, due to a few simple incorporations my teacher made, it turned magically from an horrifyingly difficult class to my favorite time of day. I was learning more effectively, reproducing the material with more accuracy, and retaining the information with less effort and more continuity than I was in even my strongest subjects.

One of the most important features of this class what its size. There were only approximately twenty students signed up for the course, so the instructor was able to spend a lot of one-on-one time with each of us, as needed. The classroom was less crowded, and there were fewer distractions to push the educator off subject. The relative smallness of the class made it easier for students to pay attention as well, since they were able to sit closer to the front of the room, and were given more specific attention from their peers and their instructor. All in all, the classroom was very intimate, and the ability to communicate so frequently and with so much familiarity with the teacher created an atmosphere of mutual respect, and she was able to more accurately provide the tools we needed to succeed. She was able to alter or reinvent her lesson plans based on our collective limitations and to avoid covering material that we already understood.

Another factor of her class that made it very different and altogether more effective was the use of music to enhance the learning environment. During group work, or when we were left alone to work from the book or to complete an assignment individually, she would play classical, instrumental music in the background. This erased the uncomfortable silence, and put many in the class at ease, creating a warm, calm, and stimulating atmosphere. Many of the students found that the presence of the music alleviated the stifling silence and made it easier for them to focus on the materials they were studying, and that they felt more at home when it could be heard floating through the room. Music is employed in the same way when students study independently at home, so bringing it into the classroom was, in a way, mimicking our personal study habits. This consistency between what we did when we were studying in school and when we studied alone allowed the information to be more easily retained. In addition, when the teacher would play the same type of music during exams, it was easier to regurgitate what we had learned, and the soft sounds calmed us out of our test jitters.

Being in a small class in which music is implemented would be the ideal class environment. One-on-one beneficial communication, efficient learning and more accurate retention are only a few of the benefits of this type of classroom atmosphere. These surroundings assist both the instructor (in that it allows their methods and lessons to be better received) and the students alike.