For most of my teaching career, I had been really good classroom management.
As soon as attendance was taken each day, I’d get the kids’ attention so we could get down to business. I had clear expectations and the kids were almost always really good about meeting them. I was quite effective at keeping kids engaged and classes ran smoothly. It took a lot of energy to do this hour after hour and day after day, but the consistent efforts gave me really good results, so I continued to work hard to maintain outstanding classroom control.
Sure, there were always a handful of kids in each class who were excessively chatty or who couldn’t seem to stop playing their horns when I cut the band off in rehearsals, but 97% of the time, I was in control and things ran smoothly. At the end of the day, I usually felt pretty darned good about how my classes operated.
But as the decades have passed, teaching has changed. Kids today are different than when we were kids, and if you’ve been teaching for more than ten years, you know that teaching effectively in this day and age requires a different set of skills than how we were taught in school.
Teenagers haven’t changed – they are simply reflecting what they see going on around them. Having been exposed (or dare I say OVER-exposed) to electronics and other stimuli since birth, their attention spans and ability to focus on anything for more than a few minutes is staggeringly low. It’s not their fault, but that is their reality.
Traditional forms of classroom management and discipline aren’t always effective in today’s classroom.
Like I said at the beginning of this, I used to be really good at classroom management.
But now things are different. Now the students in my classes manage their own behavior and I spend my time and energy teaching music instead of responding to student disruptions!
Several years ago I made a significant change in how I approached teaching, and the results have been off-the-charts amazing!
In the 30,000+ classes I have taught in my teaching career, it is how I structure the FIRST FOUR MINUTES that has fundamentally uprooted everything about how my classes run and how students are learning and retaining what I teach.
I asked my students to share how the First Four Minutes have impacted our class. Here are a few of their responses:
- We play better in tune because we can feel pitch and not just hear pitch.
- We are more musically sensitive and expressive.
- Hardly anyone is tardy anymore. (They don’t want to miss our routine)
- Everyone is more engaged.
- Our performance skills are improved.
- The stress level is much lower.
- Non-instructional noise has been eliminated.
- Benefits carry over from year to year as students.
- It’s easier to learn and retain what we learn.
- We have a communal energy.
- Music feels much more intuitive and easier to learn.
- Band is a lot of fun because we can work super efficiently and make great music together. In my old band (where we didn’t do this routine), so much time was wasted on discipline and constant disruptions that I stopped looking forward to that class. I almost quit, but now that I’m in a class where we actually get to spend time playing music, I’m staying!
As a teacher, I have reaped the benefits of having classes where I get to do the very thing I wanted to do all my life – teach music! I get to do it in a setting where classroom management has become effortless. I no longer expend energy on “being in control” because I’ve learned to teach students how to take control of their own energy. And they do it. Every day.
I love one of my recent client’s comments where she said,
“I’m in a coaching cycle with this outstanding author and Bad Ass Band Director and ideas are constantly leaping off the pages in the book and out of our Zoom calls. Even strategies I didn’t know I needed are coming to life and finding a home in my unique and non-traditional classroom.“
Chelsey has implemented my First Four Minute routine into her classroom and it has been a game-changer for her, too. The reason it’s working is because we took the concept and customized it into a routine that works in her classroom and in her situation.
That’s what I do now – I help teachers create and implement a successful First Four Minute routine that helps them take today’s students and get them ready to focus and learn so they can teach content and not spend their energy “controlling their classroom.”
If you are a music teacher who is already running a successful program but needs an easier, more effective, and reliable way to keep kids’ attention and focus without having to give constant reminders, (you know what I’m talking about…”put away your phone”, “trumpets – stop talking”, “percussionists, wake up and pay attention”, etc.) then I’d like to talk to you.
I am looking for a small group of dedicated music teachers who have a 2020 VISION of taking their already good program to the next level by learning and implementing a strategy that will fundamentally up-level their teaching.
Because we are kicking off a new decade, I am offering a 50% tuition discount to anyone who schedules a strategy session with me by January 5. I am interested in working with teachers who are highly motivated to get results and who are open to achieving them in unconventional ways.
If you know you have a lot to teach your students and want to spend more time teaching and less time re-teaching and managing your classroom, I can help you!
Click the link below and let’s talk about your situation. If I can help, I will offer to do so. If I can’t help, I will be honest with you so you don’t waste your time or money.
Are you going to up-level in 2020? I’m with you on the journey. Schedule a call and let’s get started!
Hugs – Lesley