BE-WHY-VIORS
Managing Behaviors in the Music Classroom

Katherine Appleton

By the time music educators receive this edition of the Missouri School Music Magazine, we will be back in our classrooms. Hopefully, you have some new curriculum ideas from the 2008 music convention to add a little spice to the year! I hope to share some music activity ideas, and resources that I use in my music classes in another magazine issue. In this article, I want to share some classroom management ideas that have helped me to be more proactive and consistent with regard to discipline. I have two simple thoughts about discipline, “If you can handle the kids, chances are, you can teach them!” How do we handle, rather discipline, the children that come to our music classes once or twice a week? How do we help them to learn self-control? The second idea is, “Children have a reason for everything they do.” If we can figure out “why” the children behaved the way they did, perhaps we will be more understanding, and can help the children make positive choices.
If you are a veteran teacher, you probably already have some classroom management techniques that are effective. Even with my years of teaching experience, I continue to attend behavior management workshops to learn new discipline strategies for dealing with the children in today’s society. Children in today’s world have different attitudes because their environment is different than that of earlier generations. I also feel that the parents’ attitudes towards their children are different, thus changing the way we discipline.
If you are a new teacher, you may be shaking in your boots at the thought of standing before a classroom of first graders. I had a student teacher that came to me and readily admitted that he was terrified of elementary school children. That was a legitimate fear due to lack of experience, but I am happy to report that he is teaching elementary music today. Discipline in the lower grades was difficult for him because he thought that the children were so cute. They are adorable, but discipline is still a factor, perhaps even more so with younger children, because of their lack of self-control.
There are a variety of reasons or “whys” for behaviors. I will not pretend to be an expert on this topic at all; rather, I will try to share some information from my own teaching experience and also from some reliable resources that have helped me to make some positive and manageable changes in my classroom with regard to discipline.
First of all, I have learned that there are some basic areas to investigate when reflecting on a lesson that did not go as planned. We must be honest about the fact that behavior problems sometimes occur in our classrooms because of us, the teachers. It is important to think through a lesson from start to finish, making sure that all books, music, audio-visual equipment, handouts, instruments, and additional materials are ready or easily available. I keep most of the instruments displayed on shelves or in baskets so they are easy to get to and portable. An audio-visual cart with equipment can be used easily in the classroom or moved for assemblies. My computer printer in my classroom can also make copies when needed.
The set up and seating arrangement of the classroom can help to create an environment that promotes organization and cooperation and can also alleviate some unwanted behaviors. The size of my classroom enables me to arrange the chairs in a “U” shape with a small space in the bottom of the “U,” thus dividing the class into two teams. The teams are designated as the red team and the white team, which are our school colors. By doing this, the students are already divided into teams for activities, games, part-singing, etc. This helps to make the most of class time and minimize transitions, thus avoiding time for misbehavior. When the students come on the very first day of class, I plan an activity or song, and have the students sitting or moving in the center of the floor. During that time, I observe the students’ behaviors. I assign seats based on behaviors that I observe. I am also careful to accommodate any special needs students. The students’ names are quickly put on a prepared seating chart while the children listen and read the words to a song that they will learn during the next class period. The students are assigned a seat number on their team. This arrangement enables me to put boys and girls on both teams, pair up higher and lower academically achieving students, and separate students with behavior problems. The movement area is in the center of the chairs, so I can be sure that the children will not bump into equipment or instruments around the periphery of the room.
Also, it is very important to get to know the classroom teachers. They are a valuable resource for us, when behaviors are an issue. If I observe any unusual behaviors from any student, I discuss them with the classroom teachers. I cannot begin to express to you just how important your observations of the students are and what insight you can gain by communicating with the teachers. Remember my comment earlier in the article that children do what they do for a reason. Get to know your children and communicate about behaviors that you observe. Some children need you to teach them positive ways to get attention. A child who struggles with poor self-esteem may need your caring, listening ear. Even though class time is precious, listening can be a necessity for some children. I have had the most difficulty with students who are defiant. These students may need behavior plans with input from all of their teachers.
Several years ago, our school system introduced the Behavior Intervention Support Team philosophy, also called B.I.S.T, to our faculty. I had taken ten years off from teaching to stay home with our two children, so I returned to teaching feeling a little nervous about curriculum but pretty confident about discipline. I found myself feeling the weight of the children’s problems. I was going home exhausted. I was now a mother and I realized that I was trying to parent as well as teach. The bottom line is we can teach, but we can’t be the parents of our children at school. The B.I.S.T. philosophy gave me behavior goals, appropriate language, and a process for dealing with students that were acting out in my classroom. I actually felt that I had a way to help the children learn appropriate ways to express their emotions and a consistent method to deal with inappropriate behaviors. I have two safe places in my classroom, a buddy room down the hall, and our school has a recovery room. On the very first day of class, I discuss the classroom expectations with the children, the consequences of inappropriate behavior or attitudes, and the process that they will follow if needed. The school counselor and social worker have triage at the beginning of the school day with students who have more severe behavior problems. The B.I.S.T. process gave me a way to deal with more severe behaviors, like the defiant child.
I became a little creative with the B.I.S.T. program because I found that most of the time I was dealing repeatedly with annoying, disruptive behaviors, but not severe disorders.
Following is my adapted process that I found to be simple, positive, and effective:
1. Student receives one warning. Teacher says, “Can you control or stop ……(named misbehavior).” If the student replies “Yes,” I answer, “I’m so glad to hear that, good for you.” If the student replies “No,” I respond by saying, “Then I can help you with that. I’m so glad that you let me know.” Then the child moves to the safe place.
2. With the second warning, the student’s name is written on an index card with the misbehavior identified. At that point, I say, “I can see that this is hard for you. I want you to be able to be safe and learn in my classroom. I’m going to give you time to practice how your behavior should look in music class.” The child goes to the safe place, and I continue to teach, glancing in the child’s direction to check behavior. If disruption continues, the child goes to the buddy room and begins there the next music class. They must work their way back to the music class.
3. I keep the index card. The next class period I remind the student of the behavior that we are working on. This is a mini- triage session with the child who has probably totally forgotten what happened during the last music class. The child begins the class in his seat. If the unwanted behavior occurs even once, the child goes immediately to the safe place to practice the appropriate behavior.
4. The student must display appropriate behavior for three class periods in a row. This gives the student time to begin to form good habits. At the end of each music class, I praise the student for appropriate behaviors. After three successful classes, I give them their card and they can throw it away. If they cheer, the class cheers with them. This process puts the responsibility for the behavior on the child, not on the teacher, which is a wonderful part of B.I.S.T.
The card system helps me to quickly identify the students that most often need help. The other students in the class gain more of my attention, which takes even more power away from the disruptive students. More information about the Behavior Intervention Support Team can be found by emailing, BIST@Ozanam.org or on the website: www.bist.org.