Students are stressed out! In our workshops with youth we hear about intense stress, issues with anxiety, challenges with mental health, and a desire to manage their stress better. This simple strategy for teachers can make your classroom more relaxing, boost engagement, and center student interests.
1) Elicit from students to what extent music helps them reduce/manage their stress. How important is music to them? How do they listen to music (phone, laptop, record player?) When do they listen to music?
2) Share some facts about the power of music to reduce stress. This article lists study findings that show that music can have psychological, emotional and physical benefits. https://psychcentral.com/lib/the-power-of-music-to-reduce-stress#1
2) Ask students to share some artists and names of songs they listen to in order to relax. They can write it in a Zoom chat, on a shared document, or in a private message to you.
3) Create a playlist or visual image of the students’ input (see image below)
4) Try the following activities in your class:
THIS OR THAT: Create a break during class time (breaks are shown to improve information retention). During that time, play two playlist songs and ask students to vote on which song they find most relaxing (Zoom Poll, Google form, chat response, holding 1 or 2 fingers up)
SONG OF THE DAY: Students sign up to present a (vetted/ school appropriate) song and share why that particular song relaxes them. This is a great way to start or end the week.
GUESS WHO: Play a song from the playlist and students guess who selected this song/artist. (Make sure to reiterate norms- people have different tastes- don’t “yuck their yum”)
LISTENING LOUNGE: Play a student playlist song/artist as students enter the virtual classroom.
5) Share this public Spotify playlist called Relaxing Songs. Explain that a group of neuroscientists did an experiment where they had people listen to these songs and found that their stress was reduced up to 65%! Here’s an Inc.com article on the topic.
6) Talk to your school leaders about playing music over the PA system to mark passing time between classes (when you are back in person). At Dewey High School and Kingsborough Early College Secondary School in Brooklyn NY, music (selected by youth and adults) plays between classes and makes for a more fun, vibrant and relaxed environment.
A playlist compiled into a word cloud, representing the most relaxing songs/artists selected by 130 HS students at Business Technology Early College High School in Queens, NY. Shout out to @Btechschool @JohnDeweyBK @ECICuny and Kingsborough Early Secondary School