Managing for an Effective, Efficient,
and Fun Classroom!
Arkansas Choral Directors Association
July 29, 2015
Charlotte P. Mizener
Lamar University
Mary Morgan Moore Department of
Music
clmizener@lamar.edu
How about You?
• How would you describe the climate or
atmosphere in the ideal music classroom?
Your Responses
Your Responses
The Three Fs!
• Eff-ective
• Eff-icient
• Fun!
Suggestions to Achieve a Pleasant
Classroom Environment
• Effective oral, written, and physical
communication
• Giving directions, asking questions, and
getting responses
• Arranging students for various activities
• Monitoring and responding to students
MANAGE YOUR OWN BEHAVIOR
FIRST
• YOU are the primary ingredient.
• Your behavior is the first line of defense in the
classroom management effort .
Energy and Expression in Voice,
Facial Expression, and Posture
Introverts & Extroverts
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That
Can’t Stop Talking, Susan Cain
• Introverts can learn to stay true to their own
personalities and still express their passion for
music
• Eat your Powdermilk Biscuits!
• Develop strategies for effective teaching.
Enthusiasm, Exaggeration, and Intensity
•
•
•
•
Your voice
Grammar and language
Facial expression and gestures
Posture
Grow Eyes
in the Back of Your Head
• Monitor the entire room constantly
• Be aware of looking toward one side more
than the other
“Be the Grown-Up”
• Don’t acknowledge smart remarks and
comments
• Control and redirect the discussion
• Always have a Plan B
• Avoid sarcasm
THE TEACHER’S ORAL, WRITTEN,
AND PHYSICAL COMMUNICATION
Oral Communication
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•
•
•
Wait for the Ss’ attention before you speak
Talking to themselves
Gathering their attention
Speak softly. Vary the dynamic level of your
speech.
Written Communication 1
• Sermon No. 47: Your written products
represent you, your professional training, and
the entire education profession.
• Show our proud profession in the best light by
sending out only the best in written messages.
Written Communication 2
• Write large enough and dark enough
• Write critical information on the board
• Print your messages
Physical Communication
• Move with energy and intensity
• But don’t wear out the people watching and
listening to you!
• Model only positive examples of what you
want Ss to do.
• Avoid demonstrating negative examples.
Where Do I Belong?
• Locate yourself where you can see the activity
all around the room.
• Have a place to sit where children can see you
comfortably.
• Move around the room and walk among the
children.
Patience in Times of Stress
• Practice your best patience.
• Results will not always come immediately.
• Be consistent, persistent, and insistent of the
desired behaviors over a long period of time.
GIVING DIRECTIONS,
ASKING QUESTIONS,
AND GETTING RESPONSES
Giving Directions Directly
• Give directions in terms of what to do, not
what not to do.
• State your rules in positive language.
• Recycle directions and instructional
information.
• When you ask Ss to do it again, tell them what
to do differently.
Asking Questions
General Observations about Asking
Questions
• Ask the questions before you sing or speak. Let Ss
know to what to pay attention. Give them a fighting
chance of getting it right!
• You know about “wait time.”
• Let the children give the answers
• Give cues and clues when they don’t respond.
• After one S correctly responds, have other Ss signal
agree/disagree. Verify the response. Get Ss to
explain their responses.
Open-Ended Questions
There are “open-ended” questions,
and then there are “open-ended”
questions.
• Desirable: to encourage imaginative, creative,
individually-designed responses. invite
creativity and exploration.
• Undesirable: to find out what students already
know and understand or what they recall from
a previous lesson.
• “Who knows...?” or “Who would like to…?”
A Desirable Kind of
Open-Ended Question
• “Why do you suppose I am asking…?”
• Give Ss time to think and come up with a
thoughtful reply.
• Avoid, “Why am I asking…?”
• As stated, the question calls for a specific
answer.
• They can’t read your mind! Many will not
want to answer because they don’t know the
right answer.
An Undesirable Kind of
Open-Ended Question
• “Who knows...?” or “Who would like to…?”
• Invites chaos among younger learners
• Results in stony silence among older learners
Alternative to
the Open-Ended Question
• State the request (“If you remember…,” “If
you would like to…)
• Then specify the response (“…raise your
hand.” “…give me a thumbs up.”)
• Be sure to state the request first, especially for
younger children.
• Otherwise, all the hands will be in the air
before they know what they are responding
to!
Dishonest Questions
• Those questions that teachers sometimes ask
a class when behavior is not appropriate and
to which they do not expect answers (“Why is
there talking?”).
• Instead of asking the dishonest questions, call
attention to the classroom rule the Ss should
be observing.
Getting Responses
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•
•
•
Make clear how Ss should respond.
--Raise hands and wait to be called on?
--Call out responses at any time?
You may have different expectations for
different situations.
• Let Ss know when you expect hands and when
they may call out.
Responding with Signals
• Music is not a spectator sport!
• Expect all Ss to participate.
• Signals allow you to “check for understanding”
among all students.
• And everyone has to vote.
ARRANGING STUDENTS FOR VARIOUS
ACTIVITIES
Entering the Room
• Greet and supervise Ss as they enter the door.
• Have a routine for jackets and caps and for
lunch boxes, if necessary.
• I recommend seating charts, seating the
children boy-girl-boy-girl as far as they go.
• Have no more than 2 of the same gender
together.
Starting the Lesson
• Have an opening routine:
– Sing a greeting song.
– Chant rhythm patterns.
– Review rules or chant a Rules Rap.
– Sing the roll call.
Moving during the Lesson
• Ask all Ss to stand up and move to one side of
the room and then move them around.
• Watch for untied shoes.
• Promise Ss who step out of line to tie their
shoe that they will have their places back.
More Moving Routines
• When Ss move from a sitting position to
another location, have them just stand up and
stand at their places first, then move (to line
up, to return to their former places, etc.)
• Otherwise they can step on others’ fingers or
just plain use the floor or riser as a push-off
block for a race to the new place.
• Send Ss to a new location in small groups:
boys/girls; colors of clothing. (Ask me for “57
Ways to Get Kids in a Row.”)
More Moving Routines
• Have a set of movement rules and review
them before any movement activity.
• 1. Stay with the music.
• 2. Stay on your feet unless falling down is part
of the game.
• 3. We touch one another only if touching is
part of the game.
• FOLLOW THROUGH WITH THE
CONSEQUENCES FOR NOT OBSERVING THE
RULES!
On the Risers
• Ss always step down from the risers, and
never jump or leap.
• Step down one row at a time.
Closing the Lesson and Dismissal
• Have a good-bye song.
• Lead activities while Ss wait for teacher:
– Rhythm gossip (tap on shoulder of next student)
– Echo body sound patterns
– Sing hand sign patterns
– Tempo-dynamic clapping
MONITORING AND RESPONDING TO
STUDENTS
You Are in Charge
• Your Ss CAN behave appropriately.
• YOU must be persistent and consistent and
insistent enough to bring the desired behavior
out of them.
Monitoring
• Refer to Growing Eyes in the Back of Your
Head.
• Establish expectations (rules) and
consequences (positive & negative, rewards &
penalties)
Review the Rules
RULES RAP I
As a cool kid, a music kid, gonna close my mouth
when I walk in the door,
Put my hands in my lap and sit on the floor,*
Gonna be polite to everyone and participate in all
that's done.
One more thing we've got to say, got to treat the
instruments right to play.
Gonna mind those rules, no fuss no flap, and that's
the end of the RULES RAP.
(*OR Put my hands in my lap and feet on the floor)
Review the Rules
RULES RAP II
Gonna walk right in and take a seat,
Gonna clap the rhythm, gonna feel the beat,
Gonna learn to listen, gonna listen to learn,
Gotta know other folks gotta get their turn.
Gotta care about me, gotta care about you,
Gotta care about each other, that’s the thing to do.
Yes, we’re gonna work together, gonna make (name of
school) better,
Gonna weather any weather (stamp, stamp) oh yeah!
Review the Rules
• Ss patsch and clap a steady beat, then speak
phrases alternately (1/2 of class say phrase 1,
other 1/2 say ph. 2, first 1/2 say ph. 3, etc.
Halves may be boys alternating with girls.) or
individually.
• This can be done as a game. If any one misses an
entrance, he/she is in the mush pot. Continue
until you have a winner.
• Add body percussion patterns, then transfer to
instruments.
Reward Systems for Whole-Class and
Individual Behavior
• Team Kids vs. Team Teacher
• Score cards for the select few. (Ask me for
details.)
A Collection of Thoughts about
Observing & Responding I
• Don’t allow the children to go up to you to
speak.
• Remind Ss that you will call on those raising
their hands quietly and politely.
• "One person has permission to speak."
A Collection of Thoughts about
Observing & Responding II
• Watch all over the group for appropriate
participation and off-task behavior.
• Make sure Ss follow directions when you give
an assignment.
• Don’t smile when you are correcting student
behavior.
• Remind Ss of good sportsmanship and of
respect for teacher and classmates.
• Avoid comparing behavior of 2 Ss.
• Don't get involved with the tattles
A Collection of Thoughts about
Observing & Responding III
• About “I like the way...”
• Instead, state the appropriate behavior and
give an approval.
• Otherwise, children may think that they
should do certain things in order to please the
teacher, not because it is the right thing to do
or because it contributes to a desirable
learning environment.
Regarding Praise vs Constructive
Information
• Bennett, P. (1988). The perils and profits of
praise. Music Educators Journal, 75, 23-24.
• Bennett, P. (January 1989). Is praise always
positive? TMEC Connection, 12-13.
• Praise can cause feelings of embarrassment,
manipulation, and inferiority.
• Consider the difference between praise
substantive feedback or constructive information.
Try Some on for Size
• These ideas are things that have worked for
me.
• Choose a few of them and try them in your
classroom.
• If at first you don’t succeed, give the
technique another try… or two or three.
• And try another approach.
• Best wishes for an effective, efficient, and FUN
classroom!
You Must Read This
• Denton, P. (2014). The Power of Our Words:
Teacher Language That Helps Children Learn,
2nd Edition. Center for Responsive Schools,
Inc.
• ISBN: 978-1-892989-59-8
• Read Chapter 1:
• http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/sites/de
fault/files/pow_ch1.pdf
• Order the book:
• http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/product
/power-our-words
You Must Read This, cont.
• The Power of Our Words addresses:
• Direct language (avoid the open-ended
questions; give directions in polite
imperatives)
• Dishonest questions
• Appropriate tone of voice
• Sarcasm
• And much more