A group of small children sits cross-legged with their teacher, Steve, on a round carpet. He's a pre-K teacher at Lee Montessori Public Charter School's campus, and although I'm here to meet him, I almost don't spot him because he's at eye level with his students.
Mr. Steve is talking students through a geometry lesson when another student approaches to ask an unrelated question. This kind of distraction happens all the time in classrooms around the United States. Mr. Steve doesn't lose focus. He uses American Sign Language(ASL) to say "wait" — palms facing up, fingers wiggling — and the child waits quietly. When the lesson arrives at a natural stopping point, the student is invited to ask his question, and Mr. Steve silently responds by nodding his head along with his fist, which is sign language for "yes".
This isn't a school for students with hearing disabilities, but Mr. Steve uses ASL as part of a broader approach to minimize noise in the classroom. And it's noticeably quiet.
"Silence is kind of a peak achievement in a child's ability to control themselves," Steve says. " We create the conditions for children to concentrate."
Unlike this classroom, the city outside is full of noise. And studies show that too much noise, particularly loud noise, can hurt a child's cognitive development , especially for language-based skills such as reading. That's because noise distracts developing brains and makes it more difficult for children to concentrate. But when their environment is quiet enough for them to pay attention to sounds that are important or particularly interesting to them, it is a powerful teaching tool.
"Young children's brains are longing for sound-to-meaning connections, so it's very important that the sounds around them be nourishing and meaningful," says Nina Kraus, a neurobiologist at Northwestern University. She believes turning down the noise in our lives starts with embracing — even enjoying — silence.
