“What’s my rule?” Their faces looked perplexed. Come on now. I’ve said it a thousand times. I turned to the whiteboard and drew a bee and a smiley face.
“Bee Positive!” A child hollered out as she remembered.
“Yes!”
A classroom can quickly go from a healthy learning environment to a negative one when even just a few students have an attitude and want to voice their feelings out loud. Negativity halts learning and impacts the students who want to do their best. Negativity can make it difficult to teach the lesson at all. So, what are some ways music teachers can create a positive music learning experience in elementary music? This article will discuss some positive classroom ideas.
What Does a Positive Music Classroom Look Like?
In order to succeed in having a positive music classroom, one must first have an image of what that might look like. When I envision the ultimate teaching experience, I see myself happily teaching my lesson with students eagerly listening or participating. Smiles are on everyones faces and participation is high. Students are not afraid to voice their opinions, but they raise their hands before speaking. We have a strong relationship with each other and really enjoy the time we spend in class.
Let’s dissect this scene a little. Here are some things that were mentioned in this scenario that you can include in your own classroom.
The Class Feels Emotionally Safe
It may be good to have a few conversations with students about the classroom being a place we can feel free to try new things without being ridiculed. Tell them that they can use their voices to make different sounds. Some sounds may not sound as good, but that’s how we learn. We can say that “practice doesn’t mean that we will be perfect. No one has to be perfect, we just have to try our best.” If your class has students who have emotional trauma, you can give them a special time to speak to you privately about some things that may not be as appropriate for the whole class. Make time at the beginning to greet students as they come in or when they leave to come up to you and tell you that story about their vacation last weekend. You can also give them a special seat where they can concentrate on only you without distraction or maybe be away from the loudest sounds if they are sensitive to loud volumes.
Foster Engagement
Keep each activity in your lesson short. At most, ten minutes for 4th and 5th grades, 3-5 minutes for 1st through 3rd grades, and 2 minutes for preschool students. Assess your activity to see if you need to double up on people who get to participate. I’m thinking of those circle games where the instrument gets passed around. If you have a large class, it may be very difficult for students to wait for their turn. Can everyone write their answers on a personal whiteboard and then show it to you instead of having one student come up at a time and the class getting bored. Always have a high energy movement song ready for those days the class comes in with super high energy levels and you had planned for them to do something quietly. In other words, be flexible and be observant of the mood of your class.
Set Clear Expectations
Remind students of the class expectations even before they come into the room. You can say something like “Remember to come in quietly, sit on your dot, criss-cross apple sauce, and get your first class point!” At the beginning of the year, set some rules together and throughout the year, you can readdress and adjust class rules as needed for a particular class. Every music class has a unique group of students with unique needs. Not every rule will work for every class. Some classes need a ton of extrinsic rewards like stickers and fidget spinners, or a monthly music student award. Some classes are focused on basic communication skills. When a few students have special emotional needs, the entire class has to understand how to respond to that child in a healthy way. Set a clear expectation about what to do. For example, I had one student who would physically strike out when they were angry. Students would try to be helpful and tell me what the student was doing wrong or tell the student how to behave, but the student would only get angrier and the class would be interrupted by their violent temper tantrums. I eventually trained the class to not make eye contact with this student and to quickly move away from them, so I could get the child to calm down before they hurt someone. The other children knew what to do (to move out of the way), so there was less conflict the rest of the year.
Create a Positive Classroom Environment
Decorate your learning space with a theme, some positive quotes, or educational music posters. Help visual learners by writing your agenda on the board. Make sure students have a safe space to move and dance or a specific seating arrangement that suits their specific learning needs. Give students a place to calm down or take a break from sound if they need to.
Build Student Rapport
Take time to learn every student’s name and greet them by their name. Try to develop a real relationship with them and talk out any misunderstandings that may come up from time to time. Give students a choice in activities or music selection to make them feel like they are a part of the music class and be more motivated to participate. Realize that you are human and remind them of that from time to time. Students may feel better about expressing negative feelings if you show them how you correctly express those feelings as well. You can say something like this… “You feel tired from recess and it’s hot outside. I’m also tired. Let’s take a break from dancing and sit down for awhile. We can watch a video about brass instruments instead.”
Conclusion
I think all music teachers want to enjoy teaching music and want their students to also enjoy music class. Take time to imagine your dream classroom. Write down that image and create a list of goals for your class. Often, just focusing on one thing at a time and really addressing that issue can make a big difference in the class going forward. Try not to feel overwhelmed or hopeless yourself if things don’t go right. Experiment with each class individually by learning what their specific needs and interests are. If they like sports and hate music, bring a bouncy ball in to teach tempo. Tie in music concepts with sports examples. An example of this would be to say, “In football when players shout ‘hike!’ they use their diaphragm. That’s how I want you to sing with your diaphragm. Let’s all shout “hike!” Did you feel your diaphragm? Now sing the song using our diaphragm!” I hope this information helps you. Remember teaching is a learning process for us, too. Take your time to get better and better and eventually you will succeed.