8/11/2019 Scs Music Handbook http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/scs-music-handbook 1/29 " Shelby County Schools Music Handbook John Aitken, Superintendent Michael Lowe, Executive Director of Curriculum & Instruction Margaret Gilmore, K-12 Instructional Supervisor & Fine Arts Supervisor Rachel Cooper, Lead Music Teacher
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entering and exiting the room.4. Have an agenda written on the board.
5. Establish a non-verbal signal to let the students know you are ready
to begin.
TIPS FOR CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Why You Shouldn’t Shush Your Students and What To Do InsteadBy: Michael Linsin of smartclassroommanagement.com
When you hear a teacher shushing students, it’s a good sign things aren’tgoing well.Behind tight shoulders, tired eyes, and index finger poised over puckered lips,
you’ll find a teacher struggling to keep his or her head above water. Shushingstudents to quiet them down is associated with shaky-at-best classroommanagement, chronically distracted students, and a mountain of stress.Because it becomes progressively less effective the more you do it, shushingpromises more and more frustration as the school year rolls on. Though notas self-sabotaging as yelling or scolding, shushing similarly makes teachers lesslikeable with students. It also makes you look like you don’t know what
you’re doing. Follow the steps below and you’ll never feel the need to shush,
hush, or plead for silence again.
1. Decide Before starting any activity, decide the voice level you want from yourstudents. It’s important you consider this ahead of time. After all, if you don’tknow what you want, your students won’t know either.2. Model
Gather your students around you and model precisely the voice level youexpect. Make your modeling exercise as detailed and realistic as you can.
Your students need to see and experience what you want before it makessense to them.3. Pract ice
Ask your students to turn to the student(s) next to them and discuss theirfavorite movie or other topic using the voice level you modeled. Have thempractice and prove to you they understand what you expect.4. Observe Good teachers observe a lot to make sure their expectations are being met.Start your activity and monitor their voice level closely—especially within thefirst several minutes.5. Stop If at any time their voice level gets louder than your expectation, instead of
shushing your students, stop the activity by signaling for their attention. Dothis whenever they exceed the level you’ve asked for.6. Remind
After getting your students attention, remind them what the voice levelexpectation is and put them on notice that if anyone goes beyond it, there willbe a consequence—as promised by your classroom management plan.
7. Enforce Listening and following directions should be one of your classroom rules. As
such, if any single student is unable or unwilling to keep his or her voice levelas modeled and practiced, then enforce a consequence.Note: With group discussions, voice levels tend to increase as studentsattempt to talk over the other voices in the room. If it becomes loud enoughto distract individual groups, simply stop them, ask them to take a few deepbreaths, and then restart the activity. Do not, however, enforce a consequence.8. Standardize Consider standardizing the speaking levels in your classroom. For example:
! Level 0: No Talking! Level 1: Whispering! Level 2: Small Group Discussion! Level 3: Whole Class Sharing
Create a small poster for reference and before every activity say simply, “Forthe assembly today, we’re at level zero.”Effect ive At Any Grade
It may take a week or two for your students to get the hang of it. But whenthey do, controlling noise and voice levels in your classroom is easy andbecomes something you never really have to think about. Setting voice levelexpectations—for partner sharing, group work, browsing in the library, or just a
walk across campus—through the super-effective one-two combination ofdetailed modeling and student practice works at any grade level. And it’s somuch more effective than having no clear picture of what you want, noexpectation to model for your students, and no sound strategy to modulate the
voices in your classroom…other than a great big ugly, “Shhhh!”
What is the lesson object ive?(What will the students learn and/or demonstrate?)
Standards addressed and expectations of students:
Anticipatory Set :(“The Hook” –something to excite the student about the subjectmatter)
Teaching/Instruct ional Process:
(Input, modeling, and checking for understanding)
Guide pract ice and monitor ing:(Monitor orally individually or together; monitor via writtenlanguage or via a task performance; monitor via group sampling or
visual answers, e.g., “thumbs”—you monitor to know if students arelearning and lesson objectives are being met)
Independent pract ice:(This can be a question or problem for students to ponder on theirown or in small groups of pairs. The aim is to reinforce and extendthe learning beyond the lesson and ideally into real world settings.)
Teacher makes students aware of the standards related to Music Education.
Crit ical Elements:
Active Participation of all Students• Students are active participants of all activities.• Students are experiencing enjoyable activities.• Students are encouraged to participate in and attend music
performances outside of school.• Students get to experience a wide variety of music from all
genres.• Students are encouraged and receive positive reinforcement.
Skill Development• Students learn self-discipline, creativity, cooperation, teamwork,
responsibility, and develop self-confidence as a result of workingon musical skills.
• Instruction of skills is based on defined standards.• Students master musical skills, which will provide knowledge and
experiences to promote a lifetime of musical enjoyment.
Performance• Students have the opportunity to perform alone and with others.• Students are well rehearsed and prepared for their
performances.• Students’ stage presence, appearance, and concert etiquette are
of the highest quality.
Assessment• Assessment is based on defined standards.• A variety of different assessment practices are used to assess and
therefore meet the needs of all students.• A combination of formative and summative assessment is used.
by Ann Cappetta, An Coordinator/Teacher, North Haven Middle School,North Haven, Connecticut
Ideally, music instruction should take place in a well-equipped musicroom. However, this is not always the case. In many schools throughoutthe country, art and music specialists have had their programs relegated toa cart due to a resurgence in student population and lack of building space.
An itinerant music or art teacher who teaches in several classrooms needstime to unload one stack of materials and load others onto a cart or into acarton, as well as time to briefly prepare the next lesson. If the teachermust travel to several classrooms, these should not be scheduledconsecutively in opposite ends of a building. (1992)
* Work with your principal to create a realistic schedule that builds in
5 minutes traveling and set-up time to make a smoother transition fromclass to class.* Always carry your class schedule and school floor plan or map.* Carry your own office supplies, e.g., stapler, clips, tape, etc.* Arrange with the classroom teacher for an area where you can have roomfor any movement activities.* Use bungi cords on side of the cart to hold smaller unpitched rhythminstruments.* Place the music room rules on a chart clipped to the front of the cart.
* Try to develop a curriculum that parallels the facilities and the schedule.* The principal, custodian, and classroom teachers can be your bestadvocates.* Make a point of returning the room to the way you found it.* Special attention needs to be directed to school and state policy regardingstudents' assistance in moving large equipment such as the cart or anyaudio/visual equipment.* A room or storage room is necessary to house equipment, materials, tools,etc. It should be centrally located and accessible only to the music specialist.The room needs sturdy shelving of various depths is needed for storage ofinstruments, books, or other resources.* Wear comfortable clothes and shoes and keep smiling.* Teaching from a cart can be a challenge, but it can also be apositive experience, it all depends upon your vision. An affirmativeattitude coupled with professionalism will reap endless rewards and asatisfying career.
References:Susan Costello, "Art a la Carte". School Arts, September, 1988. Audrey
Worman, "Art from a Rolling Cart", Arts and Activities, November, 1992.Thanks to the following individuals for their contributions: BobbiBowman, Felicia Geraldi, Christine Laue. Bob Looney, Principal, LaurelPlains Elementary School, New York City, New York, and Elissa Oken.
MUSIC EDUCATION RESOURCES, MATERIALS,AND COMMUNITY RESOURCES
Alfred Publishing, alfred.com• The Composer Series (DVD set (6) available through most music
classroom catalogues)
Integration Resources
COMMUNITY RESOURCES:University of Memphis Music Education, Vocal, Choral, or InstrumentalDepartmentsOpera Memphis, Educational Division, Center for Southern Folklore, StaxMuseum, Memphis Bluegrass Association, International Bluegrass
Association, Memphis Ballet, Navy Band Midsouth (Naval Air Station,Memphis)
BOOKS:Transforming Music Education, by Estelle R. JorgensenPraxial Music Education: Reflections and Dialogues, by David J. Elliot
A History of Music Education, by Michael L. Mark, Charles L. Gary, MENC,and The National Association for Music EducationMusic Matter: A New Philosophy of Music Education, by David J. ElliotThe Ultimate Music Substitute Teacher’s Music Resource Guide, by GoeffLowrance, Barbara Meeks, Robin Virzi, Janet Vogt
The Practice of Assessment in Music Education, by Timothy BrophyGENERAL:GIA Publications, giamusic.com (good source of music education resources)
Great Music Websi tes
www.musictechteacher.com
http://exchange.smarttech.com/search.html?sbj=mu (excellent site forSmartBoard Music Lessons (K –12)
musicexpressmagazine.com/teacherscorner/worksheets.jsp (good for subs)
brainpop.com, brainpopjr.com (BrainPOP and BrainPOP jr have great videos and quizzes on arts and music as well as other disciplines. Theusername and password to login is shelbyc)
The proceedings of the 2007 and 2009 International Symposium on Assessment in Music Education are also wonderful resources (the 2009proceedings should be available in early 2010). They are available at the GIAPublications web site:http://www.giamusic.com