Many people need silence in order to focus on their work. I watch those people try to enforce that need on students who are actually auditory learners. It drives me up a wall frequently.

I’m not an auditory learner, but silence causes my mind to start wandering despite any efforts on my part to stay focused. I turn on music or a television show or a favorite movie while I work because it helps ground me, helps my mind to not wander because it’s singing along or picking out voices while I get a ton accomplished. Therefore, I sympathize with the student who wants to listen to their iPod while they work. My rules are fairly simple: As long as they keep working and I can’t hear their music, they can listen. (Luckily, I have pretty cool students, and they have no trouble abiding by those rules.)
People are all different in how they cope with noise. You just have to find thre compromise when you’re working with someone whose background noise needs differ from your own.
(Inspired by this lively debate on Lifehacker)

Posted by Rebecca in Uncategorized