Classroom Management Made Easy
It’s time to talk about the elephant in the music classroom . . . CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT. It’s super hard. You know it, I know it, the kids know it. The classroom teachers hold the power. You try your best, but at the end of the day, classroom management is a constant challenge. Add to that the fact that you’re tired, and your kiddos are done with following directions, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.
Today, I’m going to share with you my tried and true behavior management system . . . the best way to keep your kiddos learning and growing as musicians, and at the same time, the best way for you to leave with a smile on your face. I call it the REWARD DAY system.
For the first half of my career, I taught PreK through 5th graders. Currently, I’m teaching just 4th and 5th graders. I’m going to share a little secret with you. I was NOT good with the big kids earlier in my career. They ran all over me. I remember my first year as a teacher when I didn’t have a CLUE. One 5th grader came up to me at the end of the year and told me how much he loved coming to music class because they could come in any way they wanted. And they did . . . think leaping over chairs and shouting as they entered. It was NOT GOOD!!
I spent many hours reading about classroom management (If you haven’t read Harry Wongs book, The First Days of School, I highly recommend it. I also observed how other teachers ran their classrooms to figure out the whole classroom management thing. But I was never very good with big kids. . . until I only had the big kids! At that point, I decided I’d better figure it out. And I did. I’m not telling you that every day is perfect, but I have a really good handle on managing my big kids, and it all started with Reward Days.
This is how it works. My classroom is gamified. My students earn X.P. for doing things right, like raising their hands instead of shouting out, being respectful, and speaking only with permission. If you’d like to hear more about that, you can check out this previous blog post. The KEY is in the rewards. My students earn X.P. until they LEVEL UP, at which point they earn a reward day. Ha! So much fun and yet, so much learning is involved in these reward days!
You’re going to love this! It works like this. Just take the skills that you’re already teaching, and create an activity that involves music your students love, a cool, exciting title, and some fun manipulatives. Let me give you an example. In the last few weeks, many classes have earned Choose Your Own Adventure. The class gets to choose between the theme song for Star Wars and the theme song for Pirates of the Caribbean. Then the adventure begins.
The students learn some fun facts about the composer of the piece, then they get to listen. I ask them to close their eyes and observe the pictures they see in their heads while they’re listening. Next we analyze the piece for its form and discuss how each section sounds different. Finally, I pass out the fun manipulatives and we move.
I know, you’re wondering what kind of manipulatives they get to use. Well, really anything goes. Here are some suggestions:
- scarves
- monkey noodles
- bouncy balls
- beach balls
- light sabers (I found some inexpensive ones on Amazon)
- eye patches
The sky’s the limit. Try to choose something they can use while they move, and try to keep it in the theme of the piece. Once students have finished moving, they get to play some unpitched percussion instruments. Keep the rhythms super easy and use this as a review day. You know your students won’t be ready to learn new info during a reward day. The best part is that students are still working on music skills.
Both movie adventures give students the opportunity to work on the following skills:
- Note values
- Rhythm reading
- Proper instrument play techniques
- Identifying the form of the piece
Pretty cool right? Your students don’t get loaded up with candy, you save money on little trinkets for the treasure box, and your students are still learning. The best part . . . they don’t even realize they’re learning. Need more information? Feel free to email me at jeanette@storiesthatsing.net. Or you can check out my Choose Your Own Adventure lesson plan bundle here.