Centers in the music room can be a great way to have students practice concepts and skills while engaging in a student-centered environment. Even though I've been doing centers for several years, I am still learning how most effectively to run a centers lesson in my music room.
The following is a list of five strategies that have worked well for my students when rotating through centers.
1. Think about noise
When planning centers, it’s important to not have noisy centers near each other. If you have students playing instruments at two centers, make sure they are not right next to each other. Additionally, students at the instruments can flip their mallets around into what I call "practice mode,” so that the sound from one center doesn't bleed over into another.
Consider the amount of concentration students will need, and how noise will affect that. Spread centers out if possible, or just plan one center involving noise.
2. Anchor yourself strategically
You might decide to anchor yourself at one center to assess students in a small group. If that is the case, make sure you are able to monitor behavior every so often. Students will try to take advantage of the freer environment, so just make sure you are near anything that might be a problem!
3. Only have one high-maintenance center
If you are anchored at one center, assessing students, think about how much students can work independently at the other centers.
For example, if you have students figuring out how to play a song on instruments from stick notation and solfa, they may need some assistance. If you are anchored, you might place the center you are at by that center, for easy accessibility.
4. Think about how students will be grouped and if you will provide intervention
Sometimes, when I group students for centers, I do it randomly. Other times, I look at their previous assessments and pair students by skill (with struggling students working with students who understand the material well).
Think about how you want to group the students beforehand and whether you want to provide intervention to any students who are struggling, which can affect your grouping. For intervention, you could pull one student at a time to work on concepts that student is struggling with.
For example, I recently worked one-on-one with first-graders who were struggling with dictation for ta and ti-ti (quarter and eighth notes), while the rest of the class worked in centers. I asked students questions about each rhythm, asked them to write patterns that I spoke, then had them dictate what I clapped. It was so interesting to see where their breakdown of knowledge happened.
If you want to provide intervention to specific students, then you will want to figure out the groups beforehand so that no more than one or two students are in each group.
5. Decide how to rotate
When I first tried centers, I only used four centers and had students rotate every five minutes. Once my class length was increased to 50 minutes, I began experimenting with 5-6 centers, with 6-7 minutes at each center. I've also tried having students choose their own centers and when they will switch.
This is a wonderful way to foster a student-centered learning environment. Students really seem to enjoy this model, and the bonus is that it is naturally differentiated for student needs and interests.
Your rotation model will depend on how long you see your students, the concept you are practicing, the technology you have and your student interests. Consider all of these when planning your centers lesson.
Centers can be a wonderful way to facilitate student choice while extending students' understanding of musical concepts. Whether students are practicing basic rhythms, improving recorder playing, or practicing staff work, music class can be joyful and student-centered!
