Nine years. Sometimes I can’t believe I’ve been teaching elementary music this long. It’s been a crazy journey and there’s never a dull moment. There have been humps, bumps, and potholes but there have also been plenty of rainbows on my journey. Today, I’d like to share 10 tips for teaching music effectively.

1. Know Your Students

I can’t stress this one enough. Your students will NEVER buy into what you’re teaching if they don’t know, like or trust you. I completely understand that it can be overwhelming with HUNDREDS of students. My advice? Start by learning their names before anything else. Do whatever you have to do to make this happen. I use photos on my seating chart to help me learn student names quickly. I also make notes of nicknames and name pronunciations so I can minimize my mistakes with names. Nothing is worse than having a teacher who can’t get your name right week after week.

Once you learn student names, try to make effort to know the person behind the name. If a student greets me in passing, I’ll ask them about their weekend, their family or other things that interest them! You’d be surprised how much your students open up when you take an interest in their lives!

2. Don’t Be A Stranger In The School

Teaching elementary music can be isolating because we are often the only music teacher in the building. Even when you feel alone, it’s important not to isolate yourself from your colleagues. Classroom teachers and admin can be your best allies when you’re dealing with a challenging class, student or need some extra hands during concert time. Did I mention the secretaries and custodians? You will likely need their help more than anyone in the school. Be nice to them and always say “thank you”.

3. Be Flexible

This is a survival skill in this profession. You should always be prepared for change as a music teacher. Schedule changes, classroom changes and rehearsal changes are all regular and expected parts of the job. You’ll also want to be flexible with your students. There’s no such thing as a cookie-cutter student and sometimes a little flexibility will be necessary for your students (and your sanity!)

4. Effective Planning

Lesson plans are a big part of teaching music effectively. I’ll admit that lesson planning is still a long process for me after all these years. The truth is, I put a lot of effort into finding and creating activities that will engage my students with the learning objectives. Sometimes I’ll recycle lessons that were hits in previous years. But if the lesson wasn’t a hit? I’ll continue to tweak my lesson until I find the songs and activities that will keep my students completely engaged.

5. Reflect, Revise, Reattempt

Not every lesson you teach is going to be perfect and that’s completely normal. I’ve made a habit of taking notes in my lesson plans in cases of interruptions for things like fire drills, lockdown drills, assemblies, etc…

Sometimes I’ll have to back track in my lessons for a particular class. This goes along with #3 (be flexible). This year I recently transitioned into a new school district. During a time signatures lesson with my fourth students I discovered that my students were unfamiliar with basic note values. This meant I needed to revise my original plan of teaching them about time signatures until my students understood those note values. When I reattempted my original lesson a few weeks later, it was much more successful.

6. Fair And Consistent Classroom Procedures

This is actually really important. During my early teaching years, I found myself making excuses when things went wrong like…

• If he/she does it next week, I’ll contact the family then.
• “Okay, but this is your LAST warning.” (SPOILER: It wasn’t)
• “If you do this next week, ___________________ will happen.”

I don’t know why I shied away from consequences so much in the beginning. The truth is, it only created problems when I decided to implement a consequence because I had been so inconsistent beforehand. While there are exceptions for everything, it’s important to be consistent with whatever your classroom management plan is. Now, if students decide to test the waters they can expect a warning and an immediate consequence if the behavior continues after that. I also like to reference my expectations when redirecting students…

• “Please remember to raise your hand. We need to use good manners in music class.”
• “Our M rule is about Making Good Choices. Therefore, I expect you to keep your hands to yourself.”
• “It unacceptable to throw maracas because we need to care for the instruments.”

I’ve also learned that it’s helpful to be firm but positive. That way the student doesn’t go home thinking I’m mad at them or targeting them in class. Sometimes, I’ll try to catch the student one-on-one so I can chat with them quickly about something that happened in class.

“Hey ____________, I hope you understand why I took your instrument away in class today. Instruments cost a lot of money and banging it on the floor could damage it or break it. I’d have to take an instrument away from any student doing the same thing. No hard feelings. I hope we can start fresh next week.”

7. Nip It In The Bud!

This goes for behavior concerns and getting sick. I used to wait WEEKS before I reached out to parents about behavior issues and this is always a big mistake. Now, I make it a priority to reach out any time a student has continued a behavior after the parent. By nipping it in the bud, my initial contact home is friendly and less serious. I’ll share my concern with the family and invite them to team up with me so their child can have positive experiences moving forward. If I have to reach out again I will hopefully have the family on my side (win-win).

I also mentioned this goes for getting sick. If you teach elementary music then you know it is ROUGH to teach when you’re sick. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve forced myself to work when I’ve felt less than ideal. This has almost always been a huge mistake because I usually wind up with symptoms that will linger for weeks and make working more difficult. Sometimes that initial day of rest can make all the difference in the world and I highly encourage resting up if you’re feeling bad.

8. Keep Accurate Records

Whatever system you use, maintaining accurate records will only help you. Here are examples of things I’ve kept records of over the years…

• Attendance
• Grades
• Student work
• Permission forms
• Student behavior issues
• Times, dates and topics of discussion with families
• Any and all interactions with challenging colleagues and/or admin

It’s usually best to keep records of things in writing if possible. Personally, I prefer to keep my records digital so I can locate things quickly. There’s no wrong way to keep records though as long as it’s efficient and organized. The biggest mistake is NOT having records because you never know when you’ll need to reference something.

9. Ask Your Students For Feedback

Students LOVE when you ask what they think. I also guarantee you’ll be surprised and flattered by what they say. I will sometimes survey my students at the beginning, middle and end of the year to see what they’re thinking or feeling about a certain topic I’m teaching. I’ve also polled my students when I’m trying to decide on a song for them to perform in chorus. Students love feeling included and having their voices heard. If you haven’t tried this before, I recommend doing this a few times throughout the year.

10. Share What You Love Most!

Hey you got into this profession for a reason right? Hopefully it’s because you love teaching music! I’ll admit that I had some amazing opportunities and privileges that resulted in my love for music and I’ve realized that not all my students get to experience those things. Some of my proudest achievements have been the result of me trying to share something special with my students. Don’t be afraid to step outside the box if it means giving your students memories they’ll never forget!

Those are my 10 Tips for Teaching Music Effectively! Do you agree with my suggestions? Something I forgot to mention? Drop a comment below and share your thoughts with other elementary music teachers! Looking for freebies? Click here to join the Chamber of Freebies! Already signed up? You can access the freebies here!