5 creative ways to use ambient media in ELA

I love the idea of having a signature English teacher marker. You know, 10 years from now when students are reminiscing about school and say “remember that teacher who always _______?” Well for me, my classroom signature was ambient media. I know this because I once had a student sleep over at a former student’s house and apparently my former student put on some Harry Potter ambient media to set the vibe. My current student blurted out, “OMG did you get that from Mrs. Bible!?” HA I just love this. Out of all the things your ELA students learn from you, it’s usually not anything particular that they remember. However, the ~feeling~ your classroom has is something that they will never forget. 

Though it’s literally as simple as hitting play, ambient media can work wonders in creating the atmosphere you wish to achieve in your ELA classroom. Much like the lines of your favorite literature, ambient media can create a sensory experience that transforms your block walls into something else. Here are five creative ways to use ambient media in the ELA classroom.

ELA Ambient Media Ideas:

Use ambient media for ELA classroom transformations

I love to decorate for special occasions, and it sparks a lot of joy for me to transform classrooms. However, if time or finances do not allow, an easy way to transform your classroom is through ambient media. No matter what you are teaching, there’s ambient media for that! Here are some ideas to get you started. I found these examples by Googling themes on YouTube + “ambient media.” For example, “Farm ambient media”

Animal Farm classroom transformation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFWkGc6EIok

For more Animal Farm ideas, read this post: Teaching Animal Farm Like It Is Your Civic Duty

Lord of the Flies classroom transformation

For more Lord of the Flies ideas, read this post: Lord of the Flies Introduction and Activities

The Great Gatsby classroom transformation

For more Gatsby decoration ideas, see this post: Ideas for Your Great Gatsby Classroom Party

Beowulf classroom transformation

One neat thing about this mead hall ambience is that it can be used as a cue for “mead hall groups.” I have all the details in this post, but in short, students form groups at the start of Beowulf and any time the mead hall ambience comes on, they go to their groups to discuss the text or play a game. 

Use ambient media as a group timer or cue

Using classroom timers is helpful to keep both your lessons and students on track. However, some classroom timers can be very overwhelming and startling. Do a little search on YouTube for “ambient timer” and bookmark a few of your favorites to use for group work or any timed classroom activity.

As I mentioned above, you can also use ambient media to cue students to get into their groups. If you are doing a project, literature circles, or anything else that requires meeting in groups over several days, pick a fitting ambient media and let it serve as a group work cue. 

Use ambient media as a writing cue

After reading the book Automic Habits, I’m fascinated by cues. You and your students can create positive cues for positive habits. My favorite way to create positive writing cues is by using ambient media. 

I’ll choose either one ambient station or one specific ambient video and use this any time I want students to silently write in class. I do not play this ambient media any other time. It’s a special cue I save specifically for in-class writing time. 

You can read more about how and why I structure in-class writing time here:  English teacher mindset shifts for prioritizing revision over grading essays

Here is the style of ambience I like to use for writing cues:

It has page turning, writing, and typing sounds that give a sensory example of what I want students to be doing during their writing time. When it’s time to self-check progress, I’ll turn off the ambience. I want to students to create a positive habit that when the ambience is on, the are quiet, focused, and writing!

Use ambient media for “Starbucks time”

Similar to quiet writing time, my friend Megan (@ TooCoolforMiddleSchool) does something called “Starbucks time” in her middle school ELA classroom. You can grab her free slide here, but the gist is that you rebrand “in-class work time” to be more appealing by calling it “Starbucks time.” What a better way to add to your rebranding than to put on coffee-themed ambience while your students snack and study in your classroom coffee shop. 🙂 

Use ambient media to start a unit 

As we talk about in our book Keeping the Wonder: An Educator’s Guide to Magical, Engaging, and Joyful Learning, piquing students’ curiosity at the start of a unit is key for engagement and buy-in. Think about ways you can use ambient media to make students curious about what they are doing that day. 

For example, if you are gearing up for a Poe unit, you might play a beating heart and let students wonder what it might mean. The answer will later be revealed in the Tell Tale Heart. 

If you want more ideas on how to start a unit, read more here: 10 Creative ways to start a literature unit 

I hope this post inspires you to upgrade your ELA classroom with ambience!