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Introduce Headphone Hours

Materials required
Description
Strategy in practice

Headphones (earbuds or noise canceling)

​​It can be challenging to achieve in the classroom the level of silence that some students need to concentrate. One way to improve this situation is to give students headphones and declare "headphone hours" when they are okay to use. Depending on the resources of your school, these could be noise-canceling headphones or simple earbuds.

William used noise-canceling headphones in college to study. He had a loud roommate freshman year and needed them to get his work done. Suffice it to say that he empathized with the students in his 10th grade U.S. History course who did not thrive during loud group activities.

 

William surveyed his department, the librarians, and the IT staff; the school didn’t own and would not purchase noise-canceling headphones. Instead, William started a BYOH (bring your own headphones) policy. As part of this policy, students could listen to their preferred media (e.g. music, radio, news) on their personal devices in exchange for working alone. Essentially, with this rule, William sought to cut out any possibility of students watching videos instead of doing schoolwork. The media served as a vehicle to enable solitary schoolwork for those who preferred it.

Things to keep in mind

  • There may be a concern that students could take advantage of this as an opportunity to watch videos or listen to music at the sacrifice of real schoolwork. Reinforce that the music is meant to help them concentrate, and that the requirements for what they are working on are no different than they were before.

  • The earbud-music option may be difficult to achieve if your classroom doesn’t have a sustained set of computer or tablet devices. If this is the case, we suggest a three-pronged approach:

    • (1) Encourage students who have an MP3 player to bring it in and use it.

    • (2) Understand the digital landscape of your classroom. Take note of students who don’t have a personal MP3 player and ensure that a small amount of devices are available in the class to support them.

    • (3) Allow students to use their cell phones as a music player if you think they are mature enough to not become distracted.

William didn’t have a need for the school’s Chromebook cart because most of his classes didn’t require technology, but he did request and was granted two Chromebooks to keep in the classroom at all times, should any kids show up with headphones but without a device.

​​We suggest having a class set available but also recommend inviting students to bring their own earbuds so as to avoid any hygiene-sharing concerns. With headphones or earbuds, students can use music on their personal devices, YouTube, or elsewhere to drown out background noise.

References:

- Baldasaro, T. (2012). Embracing introversion: Ways to stimulate reserved students in the classroom. Retrieved December 11, 2016, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/introverted-students-in-classroom-tony-baldasaro

- Godsey, M. (2015, September 28, 2015). When schools overlook introverts. The Atlantic.

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