Chapter 8: Playing Music

I have never thought of using music for a presentation. I always thought that presentations have to accompany a lot of talk. I wonder if Steve Jobs ever used music for any of his presentations. While music can help students concentrate on work better it can also create disruption. For example, currently my students are a group of ESL students and I teach them technology. Music works so well in order for them to gather their thoughts and carry on along a lesson. On the other hand, years back when I was a brand new teacher of math to a group of ninth graders in a low performing school music did not always work well in the classroom. As it turned out that some students did not see this as a privilege. There would be frequent verbal arguments between two students over which song to play. Nevertheless, I do believe that music can work wonders-specially for kids who have learning disability such as ADD. Burmark also suggests use of drama during instructions(Burmark, 2011). I have not yet used so myself but would like to see how that would work out. I think in order for a presenter to tap into emotions or tweak the interest of the audience it is very important to know the audience first. Music is an integral part in a child's education. I would like to see it become part of public school curriculum.