Three Classroom Rules

Over time, my rules has evolved into the following:

1. Respect the teacher

2. Respect students

3. Respect property

These have worked well for me in band and orchestra rehearsals, general music classes, and in the traditional classroom.

When you think about it, most other traditional rules are covered by the concept of respect. Interrupting shows disrespect for the teacher and/or students. Tardiness does as well. Gum, food, or drinks are generally not allowed because they can make messes and/or damage school property. Grabbing other people’s belongings such as backpacks or instruments shows disrespect for property.

If time permits, it can be to your advantage to have the students come up with their own classroom rules. They are much more likely to buy into the concept of having rules in the first place if they feel they’ve contributed or created the list. Here’s my dirty little secret: I usually allow the kids to rattle off all their ideas, write them on the board, validate everyone’s thoughts, and then show them how all their ideas fit into the concept of respect. But of course I don’t tell them I already had the list to begin with! The rules are now “their rules.”

In summer school I had a pretty wild group of students (not music students!), and I really tried to reinforce the concept of respect. I think it worked. Several times during the summer when a few students would get out of control, others would chime in and holler, “Hey! Respect!” The students probably forgot most of the content we discussed, but the word respect would probably come to mind when they remember my class.

And remember that the concept of respect works both ways. I try to show respect to even the most difficult students when disciplining them. My conscious always gets me when I do otherwise. More on that issue here.

Five Lessons I’ve Learned: #1: Demonstrate Organization

This is part 1 in a series of posts sharing and preventing some of the mistakes I’ve made or seen among younger teachers.

I’ll never forget a job interview I once had for a high school music position. One of the recurring questions from the panel was “Are you organized?” It seemed each panelist asked that same question a different way. I felt confident in my positive response, and I believe I was successful in showing the panel that I was (and am now even more) a person who takes pride in being organized (despite the occassional minor mishap).

The panel’s question, however, really made me curious about the previous music teacher. What organizational blunders must he or she have made to make these people so desperately concerned that I too would make them?

In my current job, I have the good fortune to work with well organized music teachers and exceptionally well organized leadership. But I have been around enough to know that others in the music profession aren’t as well equipped, shall we say, in the organizational arts.

I bring up this story for the benefit of readers who may not have a knack for organization. Many parents, fellow school teachers, and administrators won’t give a rip whether or not your students can play their super locrian scales or improvise a solo on Giant Steps, but they will care about being informed of events and important dates. They will care about you turning P.O.’s in on time. They will care when your application to the big parade was rejected because it was two weeks late, or that your hotel reservations were cancelled because you failed to send a deposit check. Your private students will care about your not showing up for lessons because you forgot to cancel because you got a better paying gig that night.

So here’s some encouragement for all of us to break the reputation of the disorganized musician and show the world that, often by necessity, we just might be the most organized people on campus.