The First Day of Piano Lab Class

Do you remember your first day of High School? I can’t say that I remember mine in great detail, but I remember the overall feeling of excitement and build-up, with a bit of anxiety thrown in. I do remember going to buy my school supplies the week before and picking out the perfect agenda where I would write down all of my assignments throughout the school year. These trips to buy school supplies were always my favorite part of any new school year!

While I am no longer 14, a new school year does bring up many of the same emotions. There is a magical feeling of excitement about meeting my new students, and anticipation of all of the music we will make together this year. There is also a bit of anxiety about my class sizes and growing to-do list.

So today, let’s explore how we can make the first day of piano class a success. Some of these tips are general advice that could apply to many classrooms, but some will apply specifically to teaching in a piano lab.

Before the First Day

Curriculum Planning for the Year

In general, it’s a good idea to have a bird’s eye view of your school year. Personally, I like to do this by establishing benchmarks. This means that I have a general idea of where my students should be in the curriculum after marking period 1, 2, 3, and 4. My school district divides its school year into quarters so this works for me. You may decide to use different benchmarks. I also know that my students tend to move quickly through the first part of The Piano Laboratory curriculum and need more time at the end, so I plan to cover more ground in the beginning. Then, as my students approach each benchmark I can speed up or slow down my curriculum to keep them on pace.

As with any plan, there are many ways for these benchmarks to go awry. However, I still find the exercise useful because it’s easier to change/readjust an already well thought out plan, then create one from scratch. In case you’re curious, I have my students complete units 1-4 of The Piano Laboratory in the first quarter, units 5-7 in the second, units 8-9 and part of 10 in the third, the rest of unit 10 and 11-12 in the fourth.

Planning the Physical Space

Creating a warm and welcoming environment for your students is an essential part of planning for the first day of school. I won’t talk too much about how to set up your physical space because I’ve already written a whole blog on the topic, which you can locate here. However, here are a few extra tips for the first day.

Tip No. 1 The Students’ Perspective:When you’ve finished setting up your classroom, don’t just evaluate it by standing at the front of the classroom where you would typically stand. Instead, experience your classroom like a student. Try exiting your classroom and reentering. Notice the first things your eye moves to. Are there distracting objects by the door? Is the path to the seats obvious and clear? Then, sit at a student desk. Can you see the board? Are there distractions within arms length?

Tip No. 2 Unplug the Keyboards: My class sizes tend to be large with a lot of 9th grade students. It’s also located in a more central location where passing students can look in my door and see the cool and awesome keyboards. No matter how well I think I’ve planned my space, on day 1, there will be a student who enters my classroom, makes a beeline for the keyboards, turns one on, and starts banging on it before the late bell has even rung. If you have this problem, my pro-tip is to wait to plug the keyboards in until day 2, after you’ve established classroom expectations for behavior. Nothing deters this specific behavior like not being able to turn the keyboard on at all.

On the First Day

Create a Checklist

I find that no matter how many times I’ve gotten up and gotten ready for school, at some point in the first two weeks of any school year, I will forget something important or make a silly mistake. Just like our students forget things over summer break, teachers forget things over summer break too. That’s why for at least the first two weeks, if not a whole month, I am “The Checklist Champion”. The night before school starts, I sit down and make a checklist of everything I need to do and bring to school. Then, I make a checklist of everything I want to do before school starts, during my prep, and after school ends. This simplifies my first day. I don’t have to remember a million things, I just have to cross things off the list one by one.

Gradually as the school year progresses, I find that my memory of my to-do list improves and I tend to drop the checklist habit within a month or so. For me, the checklists tend to be replaced by the more nebulous post-it-notes all over my desk strategy. Whether you stick with checklists all year round, or only use them for a little while like me, I encourage you to try this strategy if you haven’t already. In my experience, it makes the first few days less chaotic.

The Day One Lesson Plan

The other essential component of your first day is of course your first day lesson plan. What do you plan to do with your students? How will you introduce your subject matter, your classroom, and your expectations? You’ve probably already thought about the standard things like syllabus, fire drill exits, school policies and procedures, etc. But one thing we need to plan for specifically is how you will introduce the physical space to your students. My students, especially the younger ones, are immediately drawn to the keyboard. This energy is great! But, it should be channeled appropriately. All of my day one plans include a component of establishing expectations surrounding respecting the physical space and the keyboards.

There are many ways to introduce these expectations. Consider asking your students to come up with class expectations themselves. You can do this a variety of ways. My favorite is to do a think-pair-share with the question: What does respect look like in the piano room? I collect the best responses and write them on a piece of poster board which gets stapled to the bulletin board.

After the First Day

Reflect and Adjust

As teachers, we always need to adjust our plans to meet the specific needs of the students in our classrooms. That’s why no matter how well you plan, you will need to make adjustments after meeting your students. When students are just a list of names on a roster, we can’t adequately meet their needs. Once you meet them in person, you can adapt! Make a note of the energy level in your classes on the first day. Who looks excited? Who looks unhappy? Who spoke up a lot? Who didn’t speak at all? Who’s taken piano lessons before? The more information you learn about your students, the more you will be able to help them succeed.

Treat Yourself

Every year on January 1st, we celebrate New Year’s Day. It’s a time to remember the past year and celebrate the year to come. The first day of a new school year is a little like that for me. First days are exciting, hard, and sometimes overwhelming, even for teachers. Don’t forget to celebrate your hard work! Find a way to treat yourself at the end of the first day!