Becoming an Effective Classroom Manager.

Britt Beil
MUSIC 23241
February 11, 2011

Becoming an Effective Classroom Manager

               This article was very interesting and helped the reader understand what you need to know when you go in to teach your first ensemble. Kantorski gives a list of pointers for good classroom management which consists of impressing students with musicianship, making students responsible for their behavior, establish a routine, maintain excellent instructional pacing, only give instructions once, and decide what to ignore during rehearsals. These pointers are all crucial to creating an educational, enjoyable, and effective class and ensemble.

               In high school, I had seven classes a day. These included the traditional classes like science, math, and English, all of which bored me to death. The highlights of my day were my choirs. This wasn't just because I loved to sing and was good at it, but because my choir director, Jane Page, always greeted the choir with a smile and "good afternoon". She also decorated the classroom with posters that had inspirational quotes, plaques from accomplishments and music notes all over which created a positive atmosphere which created great outcomes. I do believe that students are affected by their surroundings and a comfortable room with positive feelings can make a student want to learn and do better in class.

               I definitely agree that classroom management and discipline come at different times. Classroom management is more proactive in that it sets the stage for appropriate behavior for the class, but discipline is definitely reactive and happens after behavior problems. The first day of class sets the bar for how the year is going to turn out because it establishes the classroom management you are going to hold for the year. I also agree that you should only need to give instructions once and only in some cases twice. You must maintain good pacing throughout the rehearsal so you aren't wasting your time, or more importantly, your students' time.

Kantorski, Vincent. (2007). Becoming an effective classroom manager. TRIAD, 75 (2), 58-60.