Proactively Managing Difficult Behaviors in Ensembles
Why I Chose This Domain:
I chose the behavioral domain because this is the domain that I have the most experience with as a math teacher and it also feels the most relevant to the type of music I am interested in teaching, which is a jazz band/modern band ensemble. In these ensembles, behavior has a direct impact on the individual learning of each student but also the entire success of the group, so it’s extremely important to be able to manage behavioral challenges. Music is unique because of how much of it revolves around whole class collaboration, but this also means that one student not aligning with the behavioral expectations will really stand out.
Disability Description:
Behavioral disabilities are typically related to difficulties with self-regulation, focus, and social interaction. These behaviors are often linked with students who have diagnosed disorders like ADHD or other emotional or behavioral disabilities. Students with these challenges may end up making impulsive decisions, may struggle to stay focused, or may engage in inappropriate behavior with peers. This might show up in the ensemble setting as a student playing when they are not supposed to, a student having side conversations during instruction, or a student being disengaged during a rehearsal. One important thing to keep in mind though is that even though these behaviors can make us angry and disappointed, these are often not intentional behaviors and are instead a result of students’ difficulty with regulation and appropriate coping techniques.
Synopsis of the Article:
In the article, “Behavior Disorders: Strategies for the Music Teacher,” Gfeller (1989) discusses some challenges that arise naturally when trying to include students with behavioral disorders in music classrooms and also offers some helpful strategies. The article mentions that the music classroom environment can actually be tougher than other classrooms because of their structure, expectations, and social demands. A key takeaway is just how important it is to establish clear and consistent routines so that students know what to expect and have that baseline level of comfort built in. Gfeller also mentions how important it is to offer positive reinforcement for students as they demonstrate appropriate behavior and not just to reprimand students as they demonstrate unwanted behavior. I found this article especially useful because I agree with Gfeller that many behavioral issues can be prevented simply by ensuring that there is predictable and reasonable structure in place for students.
I have worked with a few different jazz bands, and one of them stands out because of the lack of structure within the ensemble. The jazz band ended up being more of a relaxed ensemble at this school, and students just kind of rolled in whenever they ended up getting there around the time that the ensemble was meant to start. Students had no expectation to be prompt and also were not given recommended warmup routine ideas or anything to get them started. Rehearsals actually started whenever the director finally decided it was time, and by that time a significant amount of time was already wasted. Throughout rehearsals with this ensemble, side conversations were very prevalent and many students were playing games on their phones or going on social media. I felt like it wasn’t my place to correct these students because I was not the primary director and these were not my classroom expectations to set, but the expectations set for these students were clearly not high enough and the ensemble consistently suffered because of these low expectations. We either set students up for success or set them up for failure with the expectations and procedures that we put in place in our classrooms.
Recommended Activities/Adjustments:
In these ensemble settings, there are several activities/adjustments that can support students with behavioral challenges. One is of course establishing a structured rehearsal routine where students are not guessing when they should be playing vs. listening. I think that a great warmup activity is rotating around the band and having students take solos over a jazz standard. Depending on allotted rehearsal time, the ensemble could pick a jazz standard each week or month and focus on learning not only the melody but how the chord changes work together and what scales/chords will work over these chords. Devoting time to this at the beginning of every rehearsal helps students to associate this with the rehearsal starting and realize that it’s time to be a productive and active member of the ensemble. Another thing that I really think can help students model positive behavior techniques is allowing students to help select ensemble repertoire. Most students enjoy playing the music they truly like the most, so allowing them to help with the decision making empowers students and encourages them to be productive and well-behaved members of the ensemble. One last thing that I think can help is breaking up rehearsal time into chunks for longer rehearsals. If a jazz band rehearsal is two hours long, students cannot be expected to be locked in and fully engaged for that entire duration. Providing students with predictable breaks supports that established structure and allows students some natural time to socialize with friends and reset so that they don’t have to resort to chatting or being disruptive during ensemble time.
Conclusion:
Exploring the behavioral domain has helped to reform my understanding of how these behaviors arise and how we can prevent them from appearing (as much as possible). If we work to create strong and positive environments that provide students with consistency, structure, and opportunities to be engaged, we can support our students better and this is especially helpful for our students with disabilities.
Outside Resource:
Teaching music to neurodiverse students
(Extra link in case above link does not work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1562&v=QWojIPPZYFU)
I enjoyed watching this presentation from Andrew Keeping about how we can adapt music instruction for neurodiverse students and offer them more individualized supports. At around the 26 minute mark, a list of many effective strategies are discussed and related to neurodiverse learners. These strategies are especially beneficial for students with behavioral disabilities because of the structure, predictability, and engagement opportunities that they provide.
Works Cited
Gfeller, Kate. “Behavior Disorders: Strategies for the Music Teacher.” Music Educators Journal, vol. 75, no. 8, Apr. 1989, pp. 27–30. https://doi.org/10.2307/3400293.
Josh, the resources you listed were so informative especially the link to the slideshow PDF. Great breakdown of neurodiversity in its many forms. Several thoughts that you mentioned throughout the blog ring so true across many disabilities and learning differences and those are "structure", "consistency", but I think choice and positive reinforcement can certainly benefit everyone! Great post.
ReplyDeleteHi Dr. Davis,
DeleteI'm glad that you found the resources informative, and I couldn't agree more on the importance of structure and consistency in general for all educational applications. It's amazing how empowering it can be to allow students to have some choice in their learning and of course positive reinforcement will generally help all around with the classroom environment. Thanks for checking the post out!
Josh, I loved the resources you provided as well as the attention and focus you put on the idea of structure within rehearsal settings. As someone who typically runs a relatively loose rehearsal at times I have found that when I have students with behavioral needs or challenges that I have to really focus on that consistent rehearsal process for us to have an effective rehearsal process. I have found that with the modern band style "facilitator" role also works really well for students with behavioral challenges. Less of the "I talk you listen" and more of the "how can we discover this new goal or topic together" has been very helpful to me in my teaching. Obviously you need to stay on top of students who want to push those boundaries but the modern band / jazz setting is a great place for students to self discover with guidance and structured rehearsal practices! Great job on your blog!
ReplyDeleteHey Dan,
DeleteI think it's great that you recognize that you shift the amount of structure in your rehearsals depending on the student makeup. It definitely makes a huge difference to behaviorally challenged students when you allow their expectations to be met and give them that comfort. I also like that you mentioned your use of the "facilitator" role. I really want to try out this style of directing if I can ever get a modern band started here. I think students would really appreciate it and enjoy having more freedom. Thanks for checking out the post!
Your blog is insightful. I learned to better manage students’ behavior; it is best to chuck class activities into smaller increments to prevent misbehavior. I better understand how classroom management strategies are put in place to be expected and proactive. I am sorry you had to go to a classroom where management systems were not in place, I can relate. I am glad to learn that our expectations either set students up for success or failure. I agree, it is good to reward students for showing positive behavior, in the same way students are held accountable for misbehavior. Thank you for addressing the cause of misbehavior, I look forward to better management skills. Some questions I have for you are as follows:
ReplyDeleteWhat are some positive reinforcements you have in place?
What coping techniques do you have in mind for younger students?
Hey Aamon, thanks for your feedback. I agree that chunking things is very effective for overall classroom management and focus maintenance. For your questions, I would say that I consistently praise model behavior in class in front of the entire class which helps to motivate students to strive to behave in this way so that they too can be complimented and acknowledged for their work. I also do reward behavior occasionally with candy or other prizes. As for coping techniques for younger students, I'm not sure specifically what coping you are referring to and I also do not work with students below the high school age range so I am not sure about this! I'm sorry I don't have a better response. Thanks for checking out my post!
DeleteHi Josh! Thank you for sharing this blog post! I've definitely encountered behavioral disabilities in my ensembles and have struggled to find ways to manage the behaviors while not trying to aggravate the student or make the situation worse. It is very important to have clear expectations for students and to reiterate them regularly throughout the year, especially during long stretches or around highly anticipated breaks. It also helps to have your expectations posted somewhere in the classroom as a visual reminder to students of expectations. Setting routines also helps to maintain behaviors, as the students know exactly what should come next in each lesson.
ReplyDeleteHi Josh,
ReplyDeleteI resonated with this post because I have significant behavior problems with boys in Grade 4 and 5. It is not just my class, but as all teachers and deans have discovered, it really is a lack of consistency between teachers and classroom expectations. For some reason my music class and the art class really try to uphold high classroom management styles, but it can backfire when their CORE classes are more of a free for all. So then students think why is my "special" music and art class so much more strict and regimented...It has been very frustrating because these boys are also not diagnosed, but I am sure there are some emotional/social things happening at home and school, plus puberty. While I understand that a lot of misbehavior is not intention, what we are seeing is very intentional, which resulted in 2 students getting out of school suspension for 2 weeks. Without those boys in class, the rest of the students have been able to thrive, smile, and laugh in class instead of feeling like teachers are constantly against them. Fascinating stuff that is not easy, but that's why it also takes a very strong support system among colleagues and administration. Thanks for your post.