I became a public school teacher after 12 years of freelancing around Chicagoland. I used to joke that making my living in my twenties was a patchwork quilt of different job titles, all asking me to use my musical brain in different ways: chamber musician, orchestral musician, non-profit starter, private teacher, chamber music coach, musician at this random gig which is for sure extremely far away from my house; and while it felt good to be so industrious in my music making, it also felt like a lot at times to be invested in so many different places at the same time. Perhaps that is why I have been fascinated with the concept of community in my classroom ever since I started teaching in a public school last year.
I think it’s easy for new teachers to get wrapped up in pedagogy. While pedagogy is obviously important, creating a nurturing and inclusive learning environment is equally important. I like to think of our music classrooms as uniquely situated to offer our students the opportunity to feel a part of something, to feel they belong. The need for a safe and warm community during the school day is especially important now that there are so many things competing for our student’s attention. The intrinsic joy that is cultivated through relationship building is a powerful tool that we can use as educators to not only build and retain our programs, but to give our students a sense of belonging.
Here are some ideas for ways to make the community in your classroom tangible for your students:
1. Connect with your students. This might go without saying, but connecting with a student is the glue that binds a team together, and is the bond that allows the learning to happen. When a student trusts that we care about them, they start to feel comfortable enough to “fail” around us. And that’s when learning begins. Any conversation which leaves us more connected with students is an investment in their future learning.
2. Say We/Our instead of I/You. Compare “You’ve been working so hard this year. It speaks to your values as a team.” to “We’ve been working so hard this year. It speaks to our values as a team.” Using “we” expresses solidarity with our class and let our students know we’re with them.
3. Trust students to do the work. Just like in professional orchestras, it’s so common for teachers to stand on the podium and simply tell students what’s wrong with what they just played. “You’re behind the beat again.” But how empowering could it be to instead ask a student’s ears to do the work. “Were we on time, rushing, or dragging?” When students feel included in the learning, there is a personal investment connecting them to what they’re learning.
4. Consider a name for your group that brings unity. It felt good for me early on to start referring to my class as “team” because I was looking for a way to bring us all together. Bonus: It’s gender neutral, and helps with the midwestern habit of saying “guys.” I’m imagining it could also work to call an ensemble by the school’s mascot, “Hey, Lions!”
5. Be honest and respectful. This could sound like, “It’s so nice to see you, Team. I know you’re feeling tired, thank you for giving your energy to our class today.” Or, it might take shape in a different way like, “I’m feeling frustrated right now as your teacher, because I feel like our team isn’t making the best decisions. I know we can do better.” Both statements are honest, and both statements demonstrate a level of respect for the class.
6. Hold yourself to the same standards. If our students are expected to be ready at a certain time for our class, then we need to be too. If our students are expected to take risks, we need to be putting ourselves out there as well. If our students are encouraged to be supportive of the team, we should be doing the same for our fellow faculty members. We need to live what we are expecting our students to live. It’s reciprocal.
7. Collaborate. I think it’s important for our students to know their crafts are valued outside of our music classrooms. Any opportunities to work with “Core” classroom teachers should be taken advantage of or created if possible. As a first year teacher, it’s easy to feel isolated in the music wing. I know I did, so I used collaboration as a means to get to know my fellow faculty members and ended up making two friends out of the deal, and in the meanwhile, my students had the opportunity to connect music to poetry, and even do some composition as well. It was a win/win for all of us.
8. Have a Share Day. Not everyone in your ensemble lives and breathes for playing their instrument, but chances are, they feel a part of something when they are in your class, so they want to stay in the program. Those students probably do live and breathe for something else, however. Maybe it’s ballet, or chess club, or hockey. Who knows! The point is, it matters to them, and it should matter to us. Imagine an environment where you were seen and celebrated for the things you felt pride about or most enjoyed.
9. Apologize. Being an adult does not make us immune from error. Our students are worthy of apologies from us. Plus, students need to see that we make mistakes too. Apologizing to our students is a sign that we respect them, and it models the behavior we expect of them as well.
Ultimately, you need to develop a set of tools to make your classroom nurturing in a way that is authentic to you. If you’re the last person in the world who would refer to your class as “team” then dropping that into your vocabulary all of a sudden will seem awkward and forced, both for you AND your students. My suggestion is to start with gratitude and respect for the community you have the privilege to lead each day. Then consider asking yourself, what would have felt good for you?
Aimee Biasiello is an Orchestra Director at Alan B. Shepard Middle School in Deerfield, Il. She holds degrees in viola performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Chicago College of Performing Arts, and a certificate in teaching from Northeastern Illinois University. When she’s not teaching, she enjoys meditation, yoga, and taking walks with her husband and silky terrier, Frito.