Week of Internship: 1

Date:27/2/2020

Title of Journal: Noise Making in the Classroom

1. Focused Issue
I realised pupils make noise in a variety of ways. They tap their pencils, click
their tongues or talk something irrelevant to the lesson.

2. Analysis of The Focused Issue (Causes and Effect of the Issue)

Pupils are distracted by the other sources of sound besides the teacher’s
voice. When I was teaching in the class, the other pupils were easily
distracted by the pupils who were making noises. The noises can drive both
teacher and and other students to distraction.
Therefore, classroom will become noisier. When those went overhead,
teaching and learning stopped (Johnson, 2014).

3. Literature review on the selected issue

With the proliferation of distractions in the world today, the sanctity of the
classroom must be preserved. Poor acoustic environments in schools are
known to negatively affect pupils’ learning and achievement (Cohen, Glass, ,
Singer, 1973). It is important to create a learning environment that helps to
improve their ability to focus on reading, writing and listening tasks.

A loud learning environment can also negatively impact the health of

the teacher. A louder environment requires the teacher to speak louder, which
can lead to vocal fatigue and other long-term issues. Increased stress levels
caused by higher environmental noise levels will also be harmful for the
teacher in the long run.

4. Suggested ideas to resolve the issue

a) I should have everyone's attention before I utter even one word of the
instructions.
b) I should train my pupils to make eye contact with me to show they are
listening. When all eyes are on me, at least I know they aren't distracted
doing something else.
c) I should try to determine the pupil who is most likely to make noise.
 d) I should make certain the student is aware he’s/she's making noise. I
should take him/her aside and tell him/her specifically what he/she is
doing that is distracting to others.
e) If the pupil makes that noise again, I signal him/her to stop.

5. Duration of the Follow-up Actions

1 week

6. Follow-up Actions
In addition to speech recognition and concentration, background and outside
noise can increase stress levels, which can impact many aspects of our
health, as well as memory and information retention. In order to make sure
pupils are paying attention at me and are not distracted by something else, I
train my pupils to make eye contact with me to show they are listening. When
all eyes are on me, at least I know they aren't distracted doing something
else.
Noise distraction increases the difficulty in understanding the lesson
and also effects on pupils’ learning in the areas of concentration and recall.
Therefore, I try to determine the pupil who is most likely to make noise. I take
him/her aside and tell him/her specifically what he/she is doing that is
distracting to others. If the pupil makes that noise again, I signal him/her to
stop.

7. Date of Follow-up Actions being done

6/3/2020

8. Effectiveness of the suggested ideas to resolve the issue

No matter how noisy the classroom is, I always think of ways to make pupils
focus their attention on me. . If there are pupils make noises, I signal him/her
to stop. Therefore, the content of lesson can be delivered effectively.

9. Conclusion/ Reflection (Effects of the action(Needed) and Challenges

(Optional)
If a classroom contains high or persistent levels of background noise, the
learning environment is severely compromised. A child’s auditory
mechanisms don’t fully mature until ages 13-15, so younger pupils require a
 quieter learning environment still. Younger students require quieter
classrooms than secondary school students do. Any noise distraction should
be as little as possible to form a conducive learning environment in the
classroom.

References

Cohen, S., Glass, D.C., Singer, J.E. (1973). Apartment Noise, Auditory
Discrimination, And Reading-Ability In Children. J Exp Soc Psychol. 9, 407
422

Johnson, B. (2014). Auditory Awareness: Are Students Hearing the Lesson?

Retrieved 2019, August 1, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/auditory
awareness-are-students-hearing-lesson-ben-johnson