Re: Tough 3rd and 4th crowd...

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I'm going to suggest you do something other than change
materials because I honestly don't know what I'd suggest. I
suggest you try getting them to participate differently. I
kept Me and You points on the board. When a student or group
did something that was good "You" points were given.
Examples: answered a question, raised had instead of calling
out answer, had good posture when singing, row 3 did a great
job keeping the beat, nice singing voices, had a turn to come
up to the board to fill in an answer, treated the instruments
with respect, listened, followed procedures, smiled at me,
etc. Whatever good feedback you can give is emphasized with
the points. However, you, as teacher, also earn points for
when student or students are rude, not participating, not
following procedures (established rules for instruments,
entering and leaving the music room, getting and putting away
materials, etc.) and other things. Each class had a piece of
paper where I kept a record of the points. I posted the Me
and You points on the wall where they could see them when
lining up. When we got to the bottom of the paper then it
was time for a music game day. Sometimes when I was proud of
what I had done, the students gave me a point. The attitude
of the classes became positive. I also started to bring out my
grade book so that I could give individual credit to students
during a question/answer time or to keep track of turns to the
board or to play a particularly special instrument, etc. My
student population was different from yours as only a third
were on free/reduced lunch. I also taught in a small town.
(It's my first year in retirement and I am writing this while
still in my robe at 8:45 am. Yea!)

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