Charlene Owens
Snapshot
Listen and Learn
To address my problem of practice, I plan to provide over the headphones to each student in grades K-6. 300 over the ear headphones are needed for each student in our school, grades kindergarten through sixth grade. Over the ear headphones are known to cancel more background noise than earbuds. Also according to atlantahearingdoctor.com, over the ear headphones cause less damage to ears than earbuds. The students will take part in a pre-survey about their listening distractions and use of digital resources without headphones or relying on use of their own earbuds. Then students will be assigned a set of headphones to be keep in the classroom where they are readily available to them for use while working on their digital resources either individually, in small group or in whole class diagnostic testing or instruction and practice. At the end of 9-12 weeks of using the classroom over the ear headphones, students’ scores and data involving time efficiency will be analyzed. Students and teachers will then respond to another survey about their the efficiency of routine and access to the headphones as well as ability to focus. Nicolas Huang and Mounya Elhilali from Laboratory for Computational Audio Perception, Department of Electrical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University did a study about background noise and ability to pay attention. They found, ” … distracting noises in the background activate the same region of the brain as sounds we choose to listen to. This demonstrates how background sounds are able to re-direct our attention.” (https://elifesciences.org/articles/52984) This action plan is sustainable if proven to be effective. The headphones are reliable and durable and will last beyond one year or more. It will also establish a routine for teachers and students to effectively use headphones that will improve student focus and learning in blended learning classrooms.
2022 Spring FIRESUMMIT
2021 Fall FIRESUMMIT