Classroom management skills and related issues are usually top concerns of preservice and new in-service music educators. This column, the first in a series about classroom management issues, is about designing lessons to avoid common behavior issues. There are many more variables to consider besides curriculum when designing a lesson, such as the students’ experiences directly prior to music class, the culture set by the classroom teacher, and dozens of others. This column contains a detailed examination with applicable strategies concerning two such variables: time of day of the lesson and students’ physiological needs.
ConwayC.ErosJ.PellegrinoK.WestC. (2010). Instrumental music education students’ perceptions of tensions experienced during their undergraduate degree. Journal of Research in Music Education, 58, 260–275. doi:10.1177/0022429410377114
2.
FolkardS.MonkT. H.BradburyR.RosenthallJ. (1977). Time of day effects in school children’s immediate and delayed recall of meaningful material. British Journal of Psychology, 68, 45–50. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1977.tb01557.x
3.
RobisonT. (2016). Personal and professional characteristics of music education professors: Factors associated with expectations and preferences of undergraduate students (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest LLC. (ERIC No. ED571173)
4.
WoodC. (1997). Yardsticks: Children in the classroom ages 4–14, a resource for parents and teachers. Greenfield, MA: Northeast Foundation for Children.
