This post originally appeared on my old blog, Practice Your Lasagnos, on 8/8/14. See an updated version below.
Do you have students who just don’t listen to you? It can be really frustrating when students are disrespectful. Younger students especially need boundaries. Behavior is very important to me, and I believe that it is very important for students to learn respect (teachers also need to show respect to students, but in a bit of a different way). I’m not saying that teachers need to be total control freaks, but if there isn’t order in your lessons, it is frustrating, less productive, and potentially dangerous.
Students should certainly be encouraged to ask questions and explore music; but they should learn to do so in an appropriate way. This is helpful not only for their success in music lessons, but also in school, future employment, and social life.
Here are some suggestions for helping young students listen:
- When the student does listen, make sure to demonstrate that you noticed. Specific, positive praise is your friend here. You can use verbal praise, or maybe even give the student an extra sticker.
- If the student insists on playing a different song than you requested (yes, this can be a problem!), ignore him or her. It might help your patience if you remember that you’re getting paid for that time even if the students isn’t using it wisely. That probably doesn’t sound like the most altruistic (fancy work, eh?) approach, but sometime you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do to keep your sanity.
- Consider extra stickers and/or a special prize at the end of the lesson if the student does an exceptional job listening (be careful to ONLY reward with the extra/special incentive if the student is behaving well, otherwise this can just reinforce bad habits). The prize should be awarded at the end of the lesson (again, only if earned) to avoid the distraction of the prize during the lesson. If you allow the student to choose the prize, you might want to count down the time the student has to choose to make it a game while limiting the time spent at the prize pouch/bag.
- Notice if the student’s behavior changes (positively or negatively) when the parent is not present. Sometimes there’s a power-struggle.
- Be patient (but not wimpy!). It could be that the student who’s being problematic will become one of the students whose lessons you most look forward to. 🙂
- If there’s been a change in behavior, the student might be getting used to a big adjustments such as a new sibling. The student should still be respectful, but sometimes it can help if you have an idea of what’s going on. You might even want to ask the student if something is bothering him/her.
- If the disrespect lasts and/or it just isn’t working out, you can recommend the student to another teacher. Not all personalities mesh, and it could be that you have a colleague who knows just how to handle this student’s personality.
- Don’t forget to tell your students who are generally well-behaved how much you appreciate their behavior as well!
What are your experiences with student behavior? How do you handle it?
-Barbara
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Barbara Fischer runs Fischarper, LLC and loves her job as a harpist and private music educator. She enjoys blogging about various aspects of the music field on fischarper.com/blog. For more music resources, check out the Fischarper Teachers Pay Teachers Store and Making Harp Lessons Exciting For Young Children, written by Bambi Fischer (Barbara’s mom!) and revised and edited by Barbara. You can connect with Barbara all over the interwebs on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube. And you can sign up to receive Fischarper updates by joining the email list.
Barbara Fischer runs Fischarper, LLC and loves her job as a harpist and private music educator. She enjoys blogging about various aspects of the music field on fischarper.com/blog. For more music resources, check out the Fischarper Teachers Pay Teachers Store and Making Harp Lessons Exciting For Young Children, written by Bambi Fischer (Barbara’s mom!) and revised and edited by Barbara. You can connect with Barbara all over the interwebs on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube. And you can sign up to receive Fischarper updates by joining the email list.
Barbara Fischer runs Fischarper, LLC and loves her job as a harpist and private music educator. She enjoys blogging about various aspects of the music field on fischarper.com/blog. For more music resources, check out the Fischarper store. Find out where you can find Barbara on the interwebs here. And you can sign up to receive Fischarper updates by joining the email list.