Centers and small group work are a great way to add fun into the music room while getting some one-on-one time with your students. I use centers as a huge part of how I teach recorder (read a bit more about that here), but they can be a great addition to any unit you teach in the music classroom. Here are my top 5 tips to pull off music centers successfully:
Think about noise level
Obviously, setting up 4 separate activities that are all noisy in the same room at the same time could end in disaster. If you have a large room or more than one location (practice rooms or hallway space you can use, for example), there is more leeway. In general, I try to have only 2 of my centers be noisy ones, where kids will be creating some sort of noise singing, playing, or discussing. The other two can be quiet or semi quiet, where kids are making noise none of the time or only some of the time. Examples of great quieter centers are worksheets, listening activities, sorting activities, or composition activities.
Also - try to place your noisier centers away from each other physically so kids don’t feel the need to make things even louder by competing with the noise of the other center!
Think about groupings
I try to have my students in groupings of 6 kids maximum. If you teach larger classes, you can set up, for example, 6 centers but only 3 activities (center 1 and 4 are the same, center 2 and 5 are the same, center 3 and 6 are the same), and have students only rotate through half the activities to facilitate those smaller group sizes.
I usually make my center groups mostly randomly and mix them up quite often, but I do sometimes shuffle kids around when thinking about who they will work well with, or if certain kids have adults who support them in the room, it can be nice to have students who need the extra eyes on them in the same group as the student who is being supported.
Train kids on games beforehand
Especially with younger students, any game we are introducing in centers I make sure to play with them beforehand in a full class setting, OR anchor myself at the center with a new activity…
Anchor yourself, or don’t!
That leads perfectly to the thought of anchoring yourself at one center – should you stay at just one center or move around? Both strategies can work well. In general, I roam between centers when I have younger students in centers, or students that aren’t as experienced with the concept. As they get older and more confident with the format of centers, I tend to anchor myself at one center and take the opportunity to get some one-on-one assessment time. Either way, be thoughtful about what strategy you choose.
Make kids accountable
Making sure kids were actually doing all the work at these centers I set up was something I struggled with when I started using centers. The ultimate thing I have found that helps is having a center that requires something to be handed in or submitted, keeping track of those submissions, and getting kids who didn’t submit/didn’t do well to complete it again! For example, if I have a note reading worksheet in my centers on Monday, when I see the kids on Wednesday I have a list of the kids who were present on Monday but didn’t complete the worksheet – they will be doing the worksheet before they can join the rest of the class in the game we are playing that day. You don’t have to do that many times before kids start getting things done!
Other things that can help with this are roaming around the room and checking in with centers if you are not anchored at one of them, and if you are anchored at one, sitting in a way that you can see as many of the other centers as possible and call out kids who are clearly off task. If you are assessing at the center you are anchored at, you might also recommend to the kids how other center’s activities might help them with your assessment. For example: “I noticed you were having trouble with the strumming pattern on this song, make sure you get your practice in over at center 1 where you’re playing Roll and Strum!” This helps kids make connections between the different centers and how they’re all working toward making them a better musician.
