Classroom Management for Specials

Music, art, PE and other specials teachers have the unique challenge of managing the behavior of the entire school over the course of a week. These teachers will see each student once and sometimes twice each week and must have a creative solution for managing every grade level.

Here are two great ways to manage classroom behavior. Thanks to Michael Kenny and Damien Wagaman for sharing their classroom management strategies!

Color Coded Behavior Chart

Mr. Kenny’s solution to managing the behavior of students across multiple grade levels is a numbered seating system. Each child has an assigned seat, which corresponds to a number on the behavior chart. If a child acts up or is not following class rules, Mr. Kenny simply turns a card.

The card options are green to start the day, yellow for a warning and red for a note home to parents. For students who stay on green each day, there is a small treat of gold fish or similar snack at the end of class. If students get a yellow or red card, they do not receive the treat.

This management plan allows Mr. Kenny the freedom to move about the class and teach while still reinforcing positive behaviors. If a student acts up, he can turn a card without interrupting the rest of the class and it provides all students a clear warning and reminder that they need to follow the rules. This is an effective method for handling multiple grades easily.

Turning Good Behavior into a Game

In Mr. Wagaman’s class, students are racing against each other with their good behavior.

For this classroom management system, Mr. Wagaman has class rules posted by the door, a list of class activities on the white board and a noteworthy classes display in the back of the classroom. Each class is represented by a note on the musical staff on the noteworthy classes display.

The class as a whole earns points for positive classroom behavior and at the end of each day can move their class note the appropriate number of beats along the staff. This type of whole class reward system has the benefit of motivating each individual student to remind other students of the rules, and allows positive peer pressure to take place in the classroom.

Mr. Wagaman has each class split into five distinct parts, during which the students have the opportunity to follow the class rules. After each part of class, a check or an x is placed on the board next to that activity. Students can earn a yellow slash as a warning, but that warning turns into either a check or an x by the end of that part of class.

At the end of the class, the students are allowed to move their musical note one beat for each check mark they received during the day. As all the classes are on display at the same time, students know how well the other classes are doing and are thus motivated to do well. What sixth grade class wants to be shown up by a first grade class?

When students in one class reach the end of the music staff, they are rewarded with a special music day where they play games and get to enjoy playing on different instruments. This is similar to a fun Friday event.

While teaching specials classes do pose unique challenges, there are some great ideas to managing student behavior even across all grade levels. With a little bit of creativity, any classroom can be well behaved and excited about learning.