Homework 8-3: Sound in My Life

In My Home:

Growing up in a family of five, with a large and rambunctious dog- I would say I come from what I consider to be a loud home. My parents have generally loud voices, my sister and I always watched movies while doing homework, and my other sister was musician and opera singer. Additionally, the piano my father refinished for her turned out to be the loudest upright grand piano we had ever heard. It had a very full and beautiful sound, but if she kept the windows open I could hear her practicing halfway down the block.

I was never aware of the general volume in my home until my older sisters went to college and our dog passed away. The house was a much quieter and calmer place, which my mother and I interpreted as simply “too quiet.” My father was adamant about not getting another dog, but less than five months later we brought Marley home from the shelter. The sound of his collar tags filling up the house was one of the most comforting sounds to all three of us. The quietness of our home was equated with loss and sadness. Even today, over 15 years later, we still talk about "The Quiet Period" as if it was some dark period in my family history.       

In The Classroom:

The sound of a classroom is crucial to many aspects of the students’ learning and engagement. When you walk past a very loud classroom, you instinctively know if the loud volume is the result of either excitement and interest, or distraction and disruption. Similarly, you can sense if a silent classroom is full of students engulfed in their work, or just  bored and disinterested. The volume at which a teacher speaks, the methods he/she uses to quiet the class, the volume the students are expected to maintain... these elements are all unique to each and every classroom and can affect each students experience. Similarly to the way people may say they are "visual learners," others can also say they learn better in loud, active settings, or quiet environments.