Didn’t Rod Stewart say it well? I wonder how my first years teaching could have been more effective if someone had sat me down and shared their practical teaching experience with me? I loved my undergrad experience, but, my music education courses were more theoretical than practical. I needed to know how to set up my room, how to use a seating chart to learn names, how to deal with classroom management, how to assess students through stations and games, how to use a creative B section to assess students understanding, how to help young singers to find their singing voice… The list could go on forever.

My mission in creating “Just Orffin’ Around” was to chat, share, and learn together. I have a yearning to share what has worked for me. I want to help my colleagues around the world. In today’s post, I am going to focus on sharing “what I wish I knew” in a four part format : Classroom Setup, Classroom Management, Process teaching, and B sections for Assessment.

And we’re off…

Our discussion is going to be guided by questions that I hope you ask yourself as you set up your room. I don’t want to tell you what to do, but I would like to give you ideas that you can shape and match to your present situation.

Do you really need chairs and desks?

I remember in the summer of 2006, I had a deep thought. (Yes, it was that deep , I remember the year)😍. Why do I need desks and chairs in music class? Music education has evolved. we are no longer sitting in desks reading music from a book. We are singing, playing, moving and creating. We need open space. Since 2006, I have not had desks or chairs in my room and the students love it.

Could stickers on the floor provide students with the same sense of own space?

I was criticized at the time for making this choice. Other teachers felt that the students would all be lying around on the floor and in each others space. The teachers felt a loss of control over their classroom. I was able to keep that sense of own space for my students by placing stickers on the floor. In our school, currently, they are 5 squares apart on every side to provide room for own space movement, and for classroom management. it is the same as a chair but we still have the open space to move when we need it. If they are not sitting properly, I reming them to “Sit like a musician, please?”

Do you see the value in having a large open space for creative movement, folk dancing and singing games?

YES!!!! I wish I had ditched the chairs and desks when I first started. I disliked moving the desks and chairs around to make room for movement. It was a pain in the butt. I also didn’t do as much movement because it was such a hassle to rearrange the furniture.

Would it be helpful to have zones in your classroom for storage?

I have used bins to organize my non-pitched percussion instruments into families – woods, metals, skins, shakers, and idiophones. They are on a shelf and labelled so I can access them easily and put them back easily. (Some of the families have more than one bin. We seem to have an overabundance of claves. Why? I don’t know. 🤷‍♀️ ) My pitched percussion are off the floor when they are not in use, and I have organized my books and scarves inspired by the Home Edit.

Hopefully this post has given you a few ideas on how to get started and make your classroom work for you.