Notebooks, Music, and Routines

I've been reading "Upstanders: How to Engage Middle School Hearts and Minds with Inquiry" by Sara Ahmed and Harvey "Smokey" Daniels. They discuss how Sara begins her classes calling it a "soft opening". The students come in and know where to place their homework, there's a message on the board, and they find a spot and begin reading. This eliminates teachers nagging and nudging students to get started on a "bell-ringer" or "warm-up".  I couldn't get that picture out of my head since I read about it, but this year I committed to beginning every day with notebook writing, Sacred Writing Time. I wondered if this could work with writing like it did for reading, so I tried it.

Three class days ago, with music playing, and a message for students on the board, me at my desk writing already, our soft opening began. The students came in from lunch. This means they are loud and laughing and silly. It took only a couple of minutes for my sixth graders to figure out what to do. They grabbed their notebooks, sat down and began to write. After our time ended, we discussed the change in how class began and we all agreed that we liked it and it would continue. 

Music was an addition to this time because I felt like it helped set the tone. I played some songs from my iTunes that I felt would be enjoyable but not distracting. We began this process on notebook check day and I'm glad it worked out this way. I had no idea how much impact the music had!

Students always request to listen to music in class and I flip flop between allowing in and denying it. Writing requires concentration, so I rarely listen to music while I write, but I'm not the only writer in the room. I turned the volume low and reminded my writers to find a place away from the music if they found it distracting. I thought that would be the end of it.

During the next couple of days, I read entry after entry about the music. Some students hated it! One of my quietest and most polite students wrote a powerful entry that shocked and delighted me...

She's right. We agreed on silent and I changed it without any discussion. We talked about this and I apologized. I asked her if we could try instrumental music and she took a deep breath of relief and nodded vigorously. The freedom that she felt with expressing these thoughts makes me grateful AGAIN for notebooks and our Sacred Writing Time.

A few other students wrote about moments and memories stirred by the music. Not one student said anything to me about the change in routine with the music, but at least half a dozen wrote about it.

Our class will continue to begin with our "soft opening" inspired by Sara Ahmed. Our notebooks will greet us and start our class. I will continue to read these notebooks and listen to my students.

How do you begin your class? 

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