Welcome to the October NewsLink!
Dear Collegiate Member,
This month’s feature article, “Smart Starts for a Successful School Year,” offers several ideas on what you can do to have a smooth and rewarding year. Read on to learn how to reduce classroom management challenges, build a classroom community, and communicate effectively with your students.
Happy Halloween! 
Shauna Leavitt, Student Programs Manager
Smart Starts for a Successful School Year
Ann Marie Musco is Assistant Professor of Music Education at Georgia State University in Atlanta. She holds degrees from Indiana University, the Hartt School of Music, and the University of Oregon. As a teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area, Dr. Musco taught band and general music grades k-12, where she enjoyed working with students of diverse backgrounds and interests.
The beginning of any school year is full of excitement, to-do lists, and perhaps stress. Music needs to be ordered, the calendar needs to be confirmed, class lists need to be checked, and more. Yet all of these tasks pale in comparison to planning those opening lessons with our students. The first few class meetings establish the tone for the entire school year. What do our students want and need during those opening days with us, and what must we do to set the stage for a positive, productive learning environment in the months to follow?
Start with Music
Students come to our classes enthused about music, so let’s be certain that our lesson begins with a musical activity! Make this a motivating activity where students can be immediately successful and involve the whole class to reduce classroom management challenges. In elementary general music, sing a familiar song or teach a body percussion ostinato to be performed along with recorded music. In ensemble classes, sing an easily taught round, play an arrangement of a familiar melody, or sight-read a work that is well within the musical capabilities of the group. Plan an efficient means of taking attendance and briefly discuss expectations for behavior that relate to the activity, but avoid extended explanations of rules and procedures until later in the class period. Opening musical activities often serve multiple purposes, such as the name game that fosters classroom community while offering the teacher an opportunity to assess musical skills. Of course, always model and praise appropriate behavior.
With my elementary general music classes, I often used the medley “School Days” by Dizzy Gillespie. Kindergartners would copy my steady-beat motions, first graders would follow a beat chart, second graders would clap teacher-led rhythms while listening, third graders would match performed rhythms with notated rhythm cards, and so on. If beginning band and string students have not yet all secured their instruments, teach the fingerings of a familiar song by ear, begin with reading-readiness activities, or move ahead to the topic of instrument care.
For more experienced ensemble classes, select three or four works that might be programmed during the upcoming year and design a listening worksheet. Include multiple-choice and short-answer questions that require students to classify the meter as duple or triple, recall symbols and expression marks to describe the music heard, and identify the voices or instruments performing the melody. In addition to the teacher gaining an idea of students’ skills and knowledge, students will hopefully be motivated to work hard in order to rise to the challenge of performing these pieces.
Build Classroom Community
In any class, a sense of classroom community helps students work together in learning. In a music class, where ensemble music making is a daily activity, a positive classroom environment is vital. Students need to feel that they are part of the group, that they are valued beyond their skills in music, and that the music room is a safe haven of learning and creativity. During the opening days of school, the teacher needs opportunities to know the students while the students need opportunities for getting to know each other and the teacher. Students won’t care how much we know until they know how much we care.
Learn student names as soon as possible, and help students learn each other’s names. Get class rosters from the office before school starts and study them. Ask for a copy of last year’s concert program to learn who plays what instruments. If there is a yearbook from the prior year, glance through the student pictures. Have primary classes wear nametags during the first lessons or arrange the music room in alphabetical order so that you know who is sitting where. Make a seating chart for ensemble classes, even if ultimately you end up changing it, so you can call students by their names from the first class. Don’t forget to study the seating chart outside of class so that you can learn all those names, and be encouraged that it is only the first year at a new school where you will have to learn so many names!
In elementary general music, games are a terrific vehicle for learning names. “Ickity Bickity Bumblebee," "Willoughby Wallaby Woo," "The Telephone Song," and "Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar?” are some name game activities. In ensemble classes, carefully chosen icebreaker activities work well. Try pairing students in two concentric circles. Partners will shake hands hello while chanting “Happy day, happy day, it’s gonna be a happy day,” and then tell each other their names and answer a question such as, “What is your favorite movie?” Change partners as the circles move in opposite directions for eight counts and then shake hands again, make introductions, and answer a new question. Now move the circle only seven counts and repeat the activity. Reduce the number of counts each time until the circle moves only one count.
If you ask students to complete a form with contact information, instrument serial number, and so on, consider asking one or two getting-to-know you questions that demonstrate that you value each student as an individual learner and contributor in the classroom: “What is your fondest musical memory?” “What are your nonmusical interests or hobbies?” “How do you like to study at home?” It is amazing what we can learn about our students simply by asking them to share.
Assess Skills and Knowledge
In addition to getting to know students’ interests, it’s important to learn their musical and academic strengths and weaknesses to tailor instruction appropriately. Assessment may be formal or informal, utilizing a combination of individual, small group, and whole-class measurements. A quick glance at your class during movement activities will give you some idea of beat competency, and students are typically not shy about volunteering to clap rhythms. Choirs already trained in solfege can sing simple warm-ups via hand signs, and experienced instrumental ensembles can sight-read. However, remember that students may not have played their instruments in a few months and may be out of practice. Keep range demands modest and plan ample rest time so as not to overtire student embouchures. Breathing exercises, singing, and clapping can facilitate this goal while keeping students engaged. Melodic echoes offer the teacher an opportunity for aural-visual assessment of individuals and small groups of students. Design a short worksheet or game that will help students review important musical concepts while also giving you an idea of retained knowledge. With the exception of students who have been placed in an inappropriate music class, it is important for students to feel they can be successful in your class, so plan a variety of tasks to both confirm and challenge skills and knowledge.
Communicate Expectations
Students want to know what is expected of them, what special plans you have for the year, and how they can be successful. During the first days of school and beyond, offer suggestions for study and effective at-home practice. It is also important to explain, rehearse, and reinforce appropriate classroom behavior including respect, rehearsal etiquette, and constructive criticism. Students need to learn procedures for getting out instruments, turning in written work, and being excused to the rest room. Develop routines for taking attendance, as well as beginning and ending the class. Use rules to remind students of the most important guidelines in your room. At best, rules are stated positively and succinctly, are few in number, and relate to priority classroom management objectives. Involving a class in deciding class rules is often a good idea; when students understand the reasons behind your decisions or have had input in classroom resolutions, they are more likely to work together to create a positive learning atmosphere. In secondary classes, a program handbook will aid in communicating expectations to both students and parents, and a signed statement of understanding can encourage families to discuss the rules and commitment needed for ensemble participation. During the class period following the presentation of the handbook, try giving students a fill-in the blank worksheet where they are asked to show you that they remember, or can locate, information in the handbook: “How many points will I earn for turning in my practice sheet each week?” “What should I do if I am sick the day of a concert?” “When are All-State applications due?”
The first weeks of school are also the time when students will learn your tolerance for noise. If you intend “no talking while another is speaking” or “silence when the conductor is on the podium,” be certain you begin this learning process on the first day of class. Musical performances begin from silence. Without silence, it’s like beginning to paint on a canvas that is already partially decorated. I like to remind students that listening is the most important skill in music and that the letters of the word “listen” also spell “silent.”
Closing Thoughts
Music is why we’re here, and our most important tasks include selecting excellent music, sequencing activities for student learning, and organizing a well-rounded curriculum. Beyond this, we need to cultivate a sense of classroom community, adapt instruction to the abilities and interests of the students, and uphold high expectations for behavior and achievement to provide students with an optimal learning environment. I hope this article has served as a reminder of several important details for the first lessons of the school year. Best wishes!
October 9, 2008, © MENC: The National Association for Music Education