I'm sure most of you out there have your own process, but let me talk to the wide eyed first year teachers out there looking at their empty classrooms and saying "Oh no, the kids are coming in ten minutes. What do I do? How do I fill the time?"
First of all, don't worry. The time will fill itself. Especially the first few days. Fill up your time with structure and rules. I'll write a post about my preferred classroom management technique later, but right now we're going to talk about how I structure a regular lesson
Let me explain my process. Here is how my lessons are usually mapped out:
- Welcome/Recite Rules
- Sing 3-4 songs
- Lesson/Game/Group Activity
- 5 minute completely unrelated video just for fun an just to say "thank you" for coming.
First, greet the class as they come in. With the little ones, I like to be at the door directing them to thier seats. With the older kids, as long as they are going to thier usual spots, I'll sit at the front of the room or at my desk while they come in, but always available to have individual conversations. If there is a change in seating, though, I'll be at the door directing them to the right place. Some people like to play music during this time, which might work for you, but I always found that a little too chaotic for me.
Once everyone is settled, it's time for announcements and a short discussion about general happenings. This time was just a way to reconnect with the group. This is also a great time to remind everyone of the rules of your class. I use my version of the Whole Brain Teacher rules with the hand motions and everything.
Following announcements/rules, I have 3-4 songs prepared for them. These songs are familiar to them and tend to be whatever I've introduced in the past that they really liked. The list is not the same every day and it's meant to be just an enjoyable way to vocalize together. Every week or so, I'll add a new song to the list and depending on how difficult it is or how important it is that they learn it, we may sing it twice. Generally I would have them stand to sing the ones we know and sit to learn a new one. (Are my Evangelical praise and worship team roots showing right now?) Too many new songs in one setting is too much. You will lose them. I use this time to introduce Program songs ahead of the rehearsal block. Like, if I wanted to spend 4 weeks practicing for a program, I would start 6 to 7 weeks out adding the Program music to this singing time just to familiarize the kids with it.
Next I like to introduce the lesson with a video. The kids will listen to me and accept what I have to share with them for a limited amount of time, but videos seem to just work better, even if it's a video of a woman talking to them. Go figure. This may be the clip of "Movin' Right Along" from the Muppet Movie if we are learning that song, or a video of double dutch competitions, or the Queen of the Night singing her big solo in the Magic Flute. YouTube is the life force of my music classroom. I'm not sure what my lessons would look like without it.
Time is limited, so talking should be brief. This is hard for me since I get off on bunny trails all the time. Heck, this blog post was started because of a bunny trail. Know what you want to say and then say as little of it as you can. Try to go for 15% Showing and 75% DOING. Yes, there are days where they will be in to what you say and the conversation between you and the class will be popping. That's not normal. Don't plan for it. Plan for them to get bored quick.
Class activities are hard to manage, especially if you're like me with 30+ students. These activities can be as simple as taking turns at the whiteboard, having students come up to the front and model the group activity we're about to do, or playing a class game. We have a couple class games that are a hit. If you chose to do a class game, that's going to take the rest of your class time.
The biggest portion of your time will be Small Group activities. If you have not been forced against your will to learn about Kagan structures, I would highly recommend you look into it. The instructors at my Kagan training called kids Logs and Hogs. Logs would just sit back and let the Hogs do all the work. Kagan teaches kids to work together and asks everyone to contribute. It's great.
Finally, the "thanks for coming" video. For years, I used it as incentive. I would plan everything out to the minute and if we took too long doing something, we wouldn't get the video at the end. Oh well! Maybe we'll get to watch one next time. GoNoodle was great for collecting youtube videos and not having to deal with commercials. I don't know if they still have that option, but even so, they have some fun videos that they've created themselves. I never felt like it was my job to buy candy or trinkets for 400+ kids. My rewards were always some free experience we could do during music class.
Feel the room. If kids are getting antsy and you're losing them, don't get offended and start yelling at them to calm down. Don't take it personally. Switch gears and do something else. Sing one of the songs from the beginning of class that they love. Play a youtube video. Play a quick class game. Keep things moving. If the kids are acting out, redirect. One of my teaching books from college said that if a stand up comedian or a musician stood there and waited for the audience to be quiet or yelled at the audience for whispering to each other, they would not be asked back to perform. Look at your class as your audience and play to them.
If you get all the way to the end and the kids are all lined up and you've got to stand there and keep them quiet while you wait, play "Poison Rhythm." Tell them the "poison rhythm" is Ta Ta Titi Ta and have them repeat a bunch of rhythm patterns. If if they copy you when you say Ta Ta Titi Ta, they go to the end of the line. Or you just point and go "Ahh!" and we do it again with a new poison rhythm. Do it with solfege. My son's music teacher does this and calls it "Poison Salami (sol la mi).
If you have a lesson that ends REALLY early, like 15 minutes turned into 5, point to the posters you have on your walls. Talk about music genres or instrument families. Show them videos of professional recorder players. Talk about the Wilhem Scream in movies and T.V. Have them do a Just Dance video. Play any number of games that are out there. Have them "pat pat clap clap snap snap" and during the snaps one person says their name and the name of another classmate and when the pattern continues, the kid that the first guy name says their name and the name of someone else and so on. Do it until someone breaks the rhythm. (Give a lot of grace at first).
The most importand thing is to develop a relationship with the group. Get to know them and what they like. Keep learning cool and interesting things and share it with your kids with excitement.
Oh yeah, and Google Earth. That will kill a BUNCH of time. I like to go on journies to different countries starting with the school building where you are and then zooming out to the country you are talking about. They have a great feature where you can click on pictures people have taken and "see the sights." The kids eat that up.
There are so many ways to fill the time. Don't worry. The longer you're at this, the better you'll get at filling the spaces. And if you're really stuck, visit my store at Teachers Pay Teachers. I'm always updating new activities and a few of them are free! Good luck!
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