The Classroom Environment
2a Creating an Environment of Respect and Rapport
This is a T-chart reflecting on Jimi Hendrix's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner". After studying and learning to perform the National Anthem, I showed them Hendrix's and had them discuss their opinions on it. What was excellent about this activity, besides exposing them to something new and very different, was that students learned how to hold their own opinions while respecting the opinions of others. Students, when given their opinion out loud, would have that initial reaction of, "No, that's wrong!" But I quickly steered them toward the idea that we do not have to agree in music, and a lot of musicians oftentimes don't agree about their musical ideas, but that is no reason to be disrespectful. This idea would come up much later in classes, when a student might voice loudly that he doesn't like the song we're working on. "I get it and respect your opinion, but what are you going to do about it?" I would ask him, leading him to find a way to be respectful and have good character despite his distaste.
2d Managing Student Behavior
At the beginning of my first year teaching, I had a very false idea of what went on within an elementary music classroom. My mind was set on making music, being active, and having fun. I was naive to set up my classroom and not give a thought to management strategies. I learned very quickly on my first day of classes that classroom management is about 75% of what makes a lesson (rough estimate). I started reacting naturally to unwanted behaviors: I gave the disruptive kids the attention they wanted. They were the students whose names I learned first, and the class always had to be put on hold for a minute everytime someone was acting up. I knew that it was a lose-lose situation, so I developed a positive behavior chart for each classroom (not including kindergarten). Everytime the class as a whole would do something great, such as being 100% on task or entering the classroom ready for instruction, they would be rewarded with a star on the whiteboard. If they had three stars by the end of class, a space on the chart would be filled in. If they reached the black line, their class would receive game day the next time they came in. This chart helps motivate students to not only do the right thing, but it helps peers pressure each other (like those disruptive students whom I know the names of by day two) into working together for a game day (and joke's on them, in music class EVERY day is a game day).
The chart is also a good indicator to me on how each class is doing. For the classes that have the fewest spaces to fill in, I prepare their lessons a little diferently. I look for what the problem is in the classroom (in one case, it's one 504 student who has a huge effect on others), and find ways to fix it by offering alternative activities (ensuring that the student is too busy with the activity to have a negative effect on others).
2e Organizing Physical Space
My building instructional coach had found out that I had never really had much elementary experience prior to being hired at Sacajawea, and so she made it her top priority to set me up with a tour of all grades, so I can see what each teacher did with each grade level regarding classroom management. I went to each classroom armed with my pen, notebook, and open eyeballs. I went into a third grade classroom, and wrote down everything the teacher would do to keep students' attentions, transition smoothly from activity to activity, etc. While students were working on math problems, she came up to me and said, "I bet it's because how different your classroom is from anywhere else; how it's so open, so there's less boundaries." I immediately took note of what she said, and it was an "Aha!" moment.
Up to that point, students would come in and sit on the floor in a rectangle and in alphabetical order. They didn't have a place to "be".
The very next day, I emailed my principal and asked him if I could get a classroom set of chairs. He enthusiastically delivered about 30 chairs to my room within a few days.
The classroom dynamic changed dramatically. Not only were students excited to be off the floor, but they now had a new objective that could no longer be argued: stay in your seat unless you are told otherwise. Students knew exactly where they needed to be, and the beautiful orderliness of structure would allow students to be less distracted and less inclined to do cartwheels at inappropriate times.