In
my Music class I firmly establish a set of rules and procedures at the
beginning of the school year and run through my expectations of following them with
my students regularly. There is consistent positive reinforcement to give
incentives to enhance student learning and participation.
Below
are the positive management strategies I implement:
Verbal Affirmation
I
always praise the students aloud for specific good behaviors and good performances. For example: I would say, “ Thank you Jane for singing
so beautifully, I can hear that you are projecting your voice.” This does not only
have a positive influence on Jane, but the rest of the class too. I will
continue to praise many others that I see singing well and I will normally end
up saying, “ Wow! I really love how you all are singing. You are using your
head voice to sing and you are pronouncing the words so clearly.”
Stickers
Following
the praise, I immediately stick a sticker in the student's shirt. Also, for the
purpose of encouragement, there are times the whole class gets stickers even
though not everyone gets praised. This typically happens when there is no misbehaving in
class.
Bee Cards (reward coupons)
I
give out Bee cards to the students who work cooperatively throughout the lesson.
They put their names down and tick what positive behaviors they have exhibited
and turn in to the school counter. Upon collecting 10 Bee cards, the students
will get a prize reward from the school.
For
example, Susie is absolutely focused and cooperative while performing as well
as responsible and mindful in handling the musical instruments. She thus deserves
a Bee card.
Class Dojo
At
the end of each lesson, I will fill out the students’ Dojo scores to keep track
of their behaviors. Sometimes, I
encourage students to be honest and evaluate their own behaviors. When the
class consistently fares well, the students celebrate at the end of the month
by having a class party. Parents will also receive a message about their
child’s positive behaviors.
Award certification
After
rounding up the Dojo scores, high scorers will either get gold, bronze or
silver certificates for being cooperative in Music.
Actions to modify classroom misbehavior:
Close proximity and a nudge.
I
constantly practice “withitness” during lessons. When I see that a child either gets
off task or act silly while participating, I go close to him/her and
sometimes give a nudge to express disagreement. The student generally shapes
up.
Verbal warning
If
the undesired behavior persists, I give a warning to the child by firmly saying
“2nd time” and expect the student to get back on track.
Withdraw from the activity
If
verbal warning doesn’t work, I withdraw the student from the activity and have
him/her sit aside for five minutes to watch how one should be behaving in that
moment and have him/her tell me what the observation is. I expect the child to
get back in the group with a better attitude. At this stage, the child will
shape up as he/she has not only observed what is right but also missed out five
minutes of fun learning.
Dojo Scores
The
score will be affected for misbehaving students and communication with parents
via Dojo messages will take place at this point.
Reflection note
On a
few occasions, the really rebellious child has to write a note reflecting on
what his/her undesired behavior is; what would have been a better choice; how will
he/she not behave in such a manner in the future; and finally he/ she needs to let the parents know and get
their signatures to submit the note to me. I go through the note with the child
and keep him/her accountable for what has been written.
When
the class management system is well articulated and executed, the students will
know what is expected of them and the expectations will positively impact the learning
environment.
This flow chart gives a summary of my classroom management:
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