One airpod in my ear, and one hand on my paper, doing my work. I’m in my own zone working, when all of a sudden I’m being yelled at and an email is being sent home to my parents, simply because I was wearing airpods during work time. This is unfortunately a common yet unfair situation that happens to many students.
If you look around, you’re likely to see at least one person wearing airpods during class. Even though many teachers feel disrespected because of this, airpods can actually have a positive effect on students’ learning.
According to the National Library of Medicine, using repetitive rhythmic patterns can actually help to increase concentration.The predictableness and repetitive way of rhythmic music helps to support sustained attention, and creates a relaxed environment with a sense of control and focus.
Because of the fact that many teachers feel disrespected when students listen to airpods, they therefore don’t let students use them at all, not even during independent work time.
Yes, airpods can be distracting and take away from learning time during important lessons.But, banning airpods in total is not a good solution, since many kids just use their hair or something else to hide them either away.
A compromise to this can be that students are allowed to use airpods during work time instead of lecture time, because music can also be distracting as much as it can be helpful. This way, students are happy and so are teachers and neither party has to be upset.
Many teachers play classical music during work time anyway, so wearing airpods isn’t much different from just listening to what your teacher is playing. It also can be more helpful to listen to your own music, because it feels like you are in your own ‘zone’ rather than listening to a teacher’s preference.
Airpods help me to focus on my work. Listening to music helps me and many other people I know be able to work and focus on one thing at a time, rather than spacing out and getting off track. It also helps to make work time more fun instead of making work just feel like a chore.
The National Library of Medicine also found in a study of reading comprehension in kids with and without ADHD, that music helped to improve reading comprehension in ADHD groups and that it lessened in groups without ADHD.
This implies that music can help children with ADHD focus more, which is important considering 11% of youth today have ADHD and if music can help them focus more, it should be more widely adopted as a work tool.
Accepting airpods in the classroom during appropriate times such as work time will only help kids to learn better.
