S15: E278 Sour Notes to Sweet Success: Strategies for What to do When a Lesson Doesn’t go the Way You Planned
We’ve all been there. You plan the lesson. You prep the materials. On paper everything looks great. Class arrives and you’re ready to go, but it doesn’t go the way you planned. There could be many reasons for this:
Students are out of sorts. Their morning schedule wasn’t the same as normal. It’s the end of the day and they’re tired. They’ve experienced some challenges with friends, school work or are just having a hard day.
You’re out of sorts. Your lesson plan is ready, but you’re tired, distracted about something school-related or personal, and the class prior to this one took everything you had and then some. You have a lot on your mind or you’re just having a hard day.
You thought the students were ready for the next concept, but they’re showing you they’re not understanding what’s being taught.
You planned a lot of activities requiring them to sit and listen and didn’t realize it until you’re in the middle of it.
You have a great plan and materials are ready, but you didn’t fully think about how you want to get them from activity to the next. Or process how you want to teach the new melody on instruments. So your mind is spinning as you figure out the best way to transition or teach.
And so it goes. I’ve experienced all of the above. We’re human and it’s ok! The question isn’t what to do if classes like this happen, but what to do when they do happen! Because at some point they will! I’m going to share a few ideas for what to do before class starts, what to do when you’re in the moment and what to do afterwards.
What to do before class starts:
Sometimes there’s nothing you can do. These are things I’ve found to be helpful in assessing how the students are doing before class begins to help you determine if there might be something you’ll want to observe during class or to navigate with a student before class begins.
1 - If you’re an elementary music teacher, and if possible, greet students at your door as they enter. I tried my best to do this when I taught elementary music because I was able to watch the class walk down the hall as they came to my room. In this brief moment of time I could sometimes assess if a student had potentially not taken their medication that day because they were demonstrating lack of control or impulsiveness. There were times that I could see students with arms folded and tears coming down their face. They were clearly upset about something.
2 - If you’re a middle school general music teacher and students enter your room during a passing period, check in with students as they enter. Have conversations before it’s time for class to officially start. I love doing this with my middle schoolers. I learn that they’ve had a test the class before, that they had a hard morning, or that they had something really exciting happen like making the volleyball team that day. Short and sweet conversations, but meaningful. I was able to get to know my students and it gave me insight into what they might need in that class.
3 - Check in with yourself. Honestly I feel like this can be hard. We just go through our day and push ourselves to meet the needs of the students in front of us. But sometimes we’re going through difficult things too. Know your headspace, the way you’re feeling and try to have awareness of how those things may impact your reactions and your energy. Sometimes I’ve found that if I’m honest with myself about how things in my world are going, then I can be more mindful of how I carry that over into the classroom.
4 - When you are preparing your lessons, keep in mind what students are actively doing during the activities. Check to see that there are opportunities for them to create, talk with peers in a productive way, sing, and move. My student teacher mentor used to always say that my lesson plan was the best classroom management tool. The lessons that often flop for me are the ones where I think I know enough about what I’m going to teach so I don’t fully prepare like I would if I felt like I needed to go through it in more detail. And when I plan lessons that are either too challenging, too easy or don’t offer enough variety in what the students are doing. Those are the times that I find that lessons don’t go as well. You may observe different things that come up for you!
These are not fool proof, but they can be helpful.
Let’s say that your lesson plan is ready and the class has started, but things are not going well. Here are a few ideas for what to do in the moment:
Stay as calm and composed as you can. Remember that this happens to every teacher! If it’s obvious in the moment that things are not going well (students are fidgety, confused, talkative, or unengaged), consider your classroom management. Is there something you need to do to help them focus? Are you not being consistent in your expectations and students are taking advantage of that, which is making it hard to teach? Or consider whether a switch to a new activity is the answer. If what is happening right now isn’t working, sometimes a switch can reignite the lesson in moving more positively for all of you! To make a switch to something different consider moving to a favorite game, movement activity, book or moving on to the next thing in the lesson plan.
Ask for student input. When things weren’t clicking in a lesson and I couldn’t quite figure out where the disconnect was, I’d ask my students to share something that’s confusing, something they had questions about or to tell me anything that would be helpful in understanding where they were at. This works best with older students! Be prepared that they may have responses at times that may feel critical or judgmental. But if you can reframe them in ways that allow students to get to the bottom of why they’re struggling or the lesson isn’t working, it can be extremely helpful! Two classes come to mind for this for me. One was a class where I was teaching a xylophone piece I’d never taught before. I thought I had a good idea of how the melody went, but as I taught it I realized I didn’t know it as well as I needed to. Students were confused and I was mentally trying to figure out how to explain it better. I was honest with the students and told them exactly this! “I thought I had a plan for how to teach this, but I need to go back to figuring out how I can teach it to you better. Is there any feedback you can share to help me understand where you’re having a hard time learning it? Or what’s confusing” They shared and then I stopped teaching the piece and moved on to another one. Then spent time working through ideas before coming back to it the next class. Another time I asked for student input was really fascinating to me because their comments weren’t at all what I was expecting. The class was dragging. The students were unengaged and not their usual selves. We went through a drum piece and their energy just wasn’t there like usual. So I told them what I was observing and asked for feedback: was the piece too easy? Too hard? Were there any misunderstandings? None of the above. They were all hungry. Our schedule has a short snack break in mid-morning since lunch is so late and today they didn’t get time to eat. They’d already had advisory, chapel, and were now in their 3rd 70 minute class and they were starving. I have a snack bin that I keep under my desk for my daughter so that after school she can have a snack while I’m in meetings or doing after school activities. We had just filled it. I told them that there was a writing activity that we were don’t next and that I had snacks for them if they’d allow me to provide directions and then gather in groups. I completely had their attention. They were able to work and get a snack at the same time. The energy, joy, and focus completely changed. Ask for feedback and hopefully get good insight!
Simplify and adjust. In whatever way you can, change the way you’re giving directions, simplify what you’re asking them to do into smaller steps (share what to do next rather than three steps at a time) or change the order of your activities so that there’s a change of pace.
The lesson ends and what do you do before you have that class again? Two ideas:
Reflect on how the class went. Was there a particular ? Was there one or more students who were being disrespectful or just having a hard day in general? Look for things that you can control in the next class (if there is anything you can personally affect and try). We can’t control everything, but finding something that we can make changes on in lessons or finding areas.
Remember you’re not alone in this. Every teacher has this happen every year no matter how many years you’ve taught. Connect with fellow music teacher friends to talk it through and seek advice. Post in a music teacher Facebook group, without providing personal details or private information about your school or students, to ask for guidance or ideas that they might have relating to what you experienced. I always believe in starting with your close music friends first. Then be really clear about what guidance you are wanting if you post to a larger group of educators you don’t know, but who do what you do!
Make notes for the next class about things you want to try or change. And go for it again! Stay adaptable, be open to new ideas and embrace the fact that we are all continuing to learn and grow. You’re an amazing teacher and your students are lucky to have you.