Learning Environments and Misbehavior

I'm pretty envious of those who are going to be teaching very young children, like Pre-K and Kindergarten. The learning environments they'll get to create seem like warm, comforting, fun places for kids to learn, like the pictures in the early education book we looked at. With a music classroom, in my case, it'll be a bit different and a little more difficult I think for me to create a conducive environment for kids.

There are really only so many options for me to set up my future classroom. In either middle or high school, the chairs will be set up the same way (in a semi circle with kids in their instrument sections)

In elementary school (at least all of the ones I've been to and attended) there will be some shallow risers with chairs. I feel that the best way I'll be able to create a conducive learning environment will be through my corkboards that I'll get to decorate, my use of the whiteboard/smartboard, and lots and LOTS of posters.

Of course I will have plenty of musical equipment. How could you not in a music classroom? I'll have charts explaining how music notes work, composer posters with facts of information listed underneath. I'll have shelves and boxes with all of my musical equipment readily available, and a piano in the corner. I want my environment to be visually interesting, without being distracting, which will definitely be a challenge, but I'm sure it won't be too hard to find a nice balance between the two.

As for dealing with misbehavior, I am a big fan of the warning system. My students will have 3 opportunities to correct behavior. On the first offense, there will be a warning. Second offense, there will be a note sent home to parents that will have to be signed and returned to me. Third offense will warrant a trip to the principal and/or a write up.

I feel that repetition is the best way to get kids to do what you want, and a very effective way to deter bad behavior and bad habits. I currently help teach 7th grade band at Karns Middle School, and every week when I go, I am always repeating the same instructions, not because the kids don't remember, but so that the behavior I want them to exhibit becomes habit. For example, the first thing I at the beginning of class is ask a question, and it's always the same one.

"What am I going to say about your posture?"

And the students always answer, "Sit up straight, feet flat on floor." And as they answer the question, they fix what is wrong.

I do this every class without fail. I also have 2 girls that always sit next to each other. On more than one occasion, I have had them sit elsewhere to deter any extra talking during the lesson. Since I have had them sit apart more than once, the extra talking has diminished SIGNIFICANTLY, because I showed them the behavior I expected from them and I repeated it. They know that if they want to sit together, they need to pay attention to my lesson.

Of course, there will most likely still be trouble students that misbehave not matter what precautions you take. I found an article that gives some suggestions as to what to do about it and when to do it. It also gives several options as to handle a situation.

http://www.incredibleart.org/links/toolbox/discipline.html

This article does mention very troubled situations, but it does also state that a preventative measure is establishing a set of classroom procedures, kind of like what I said I currently do.