As a foreword, I am NOT a classroom management expert. Every strategy written in this post is something I’ve found/borrowed from other music educators, lessons learned from college, or advice given to me from colleagues. In addition, nothing in this post will be a strategy that I haven’t tried or don’t plan to try in the future. What good would the information that I present do for you if I couldn’t tell you a little bit about my experience with the strategy, or why I plan on using it. That all being said, here we go…

MY CLASSROOM RULES (NON-NEGOTIABLES) 

1. Raise Your Hand
2. Participate
3. Do Not PLAY, Unless I SAY
4. Treat The Instruments With Respect
5. Treat Each Other With Respect

These rules are my non-negotiables. While I do believe that it’s important to involve your students in developing class procedures, it’s also important to know what your own standards are for classroom behavior. These would be your expectations that are “non-negotiable”. Before the start of my first year teaching, I picked 5 rules that I knew I would absolutely need to have in my classroom in order for things to go smoothly and also to keep myself sane. These don’t necessarily have to be your most important rules, but they should be the ones that you feel are crucial to you.

As you’re putting together your list of classroom rules, or having your students help you create rules in order to develop student accountability, it’s also important to put a positive spin on your rules. It’s the difference between saying “don’t do this” as opposed to “do this”. For example, instead of saying “Don’t speak without raising your hand”, instead say, “Raise your hand to speak”. It might not seem like a significant difference, but it greatly adjusts the mindset and perspective of your students from the negative to the positive.

TRANSITIONS

I’ve found that the quickest way for things to go off the rails in a classroom is when there aren’t clear expectations or procedures for transitions when entering the classroom, in between activities, and ending the class period. It’s this in between time where students may choose to do their own thing, talk out of turn, or try to move around the room when you don’t want them to. In order to cut down on the transition time, have a plan to move from activity to activity. Set up materials before class or have the students help you pass out materials so that everyone has something to do. Plus, getting the students involved will mean you don’t have to do it all yourself!

CLASSROOM RESET

Sometimes things do go off the rails despite your attempts to keep everyone on track. Side conversations and sitting incorrectly are two of the biggest issues that I face in my own classroom. A great way to get everyone back on the same page is to use a classroom reset. When I notice that multiple students are off task or not listening, I sing “RESET RESET RESET”, and they sing back to me “RESET RESET RESET”. This tells them that something is wrong and that they need to “fix their bodies” and make sure they are on task. It’s a great way to incorporate call and response (yay music), it saves you from having to speak to students individually, and it’s a quick and easy way to communicate without having to speak to take the time to explain to the class what’s wrong. Feel free to pick your own pitches, chants or rhythms that you feel work best for you. If you’ve explained your procedures and everyone knows the expectations, then every student will know what to do when they hear “RESET RESET RESET”. Just make sure you wait until everyone is ready before you press on with the lesson or activity. If a student thinks that you’ll just power through the reset and keep going, they’ll just keep on doing whatever it was that forced the reset in the first place. Also, save the reset for when there is classwide disruption. 

“REST” AREA OR A QUIET CORNER

We all have days where no matter what we do, we’re just not feeling it. Our kids have those days too. If you have a student who is especially unruly or simply needs a moment to themselves, let them use a quiet corner. This was something that I didn’t have in my room last year but plan to incorporate this year. Giving a student a chance to use the quiet corner will allow them to collect themselves while you continue on with the lesson. Make sure you establish that the corner isn’t a punishment space or a place where a student can go every class period to goof off. Save it as a break in case of emergency option for when you feel like a student really needs it. 

REWARDS SYSTEM

One of the strategies I wanted to try most but never had the time to implement was having a rewards system. This year I will incorporate a rewards system as an incentive to help motivate my students with their work. Students will get points to add on a chart for going beyond expectations, with reaching a certain point total meaning that they get a chance to pick from the treasure box. Plus, once the whole class reaches a certain point total, everybody will get to pick from the box! This is a great way to reward individual achievement while also making it feel like they can work as a team to get points and all get a reward. I will only give points for exceptional behavior though. The idea is to set the expectation that good behavior should be the norm, and going above and beyond should be the goal.

PRACTICE, EXPERIMENT, AND COORDINATE

As you develop your procedures, experiment with what works and what doesn’t. If you’re a first year teacher, you’re going to find that you like certain strategies more than others, or you’ll discover new strategies as you progress through the year. I didn’t start using a classroom reset until the 2nd Quarter of my first year of teaching. As you try new things, make sure you give your students opportunities to practice the procedures and strategies. If something is new to you, it’ll be new to them too. Practicing can also be a quick way to discover if a strategy will work for you. 

In addition, coordinate with other faculty members and your team to see if there are shared procedures or rewards systems that the school uses. Our Related Arts team has a shared GO FOR THE GOLD rewards system that also plays a role in school wide rewards on Reward Days. Schools also often have a school wide program that uses certain strategies or systems, so make sure you are following along with the program as best you can to keep things consistent for your kids. Have fun with it and be flexible so that you can figure out what works best for you and your students!

Until next time…