This is a tough one... no doubt.  On the negative side, (If your administration backs you), start getting rid of the problem students.  Make sure that you give them your expectatons.  Don't tolerate bad behavior or poor effort.  On the positive side, find those few students who are giving effort and give lots of age appropriate positive reinforcment.  Find someone sitting with great posture then point to them and say "great posture," or someone who is trying, smile and say "great effort."  Anything positive you can say to anyone will help.  Ignore what you can but at some point the line in the sand has to be drawn about what will be tolerated.  Its pretty tough to fix things this late (I'm guessing you're already well into some type of term) but change can be made... it simply is much harder.   Taking the long-view look,  get involved with teachers during the summer State ACDA conventions and bounce ideas of them, pick their brains to find what works.  That doesn't help you now but it can help for the beginning of the next school year.

Doug:  Do they need the fine arts credit for graduation?  If so, simply fail them and get them transferred out, into a study hall if necessary.  Sometimes you have to hit the mule upside the head to get its attention!!!

 

But how about changing the administrative culture that puts them in there to start with.  Demand the right to audition and to reject students who act out.

All the best,

John

I think it's really important that you come up with a way to describe what you are doing in very "academic" terms. You need to write a course description that clearly identifies what theis class is all about. You will then need to develop both a syllabus that spells out what is expected, and a series of assessments. It must be clear that it is possible to fail your class if course requirements are not met. You will need to have in place things like sight-reading tests, "part checks" in which kids sing in small groups to demonstrate that they have learned what has been rehearsed, probably some written work that will give them an opportuntiy to reflect on what they are doing. You've got to come up with a way to explain the difference between a grade of 97 and 98 (or between 64 or 65) that your administration will support and that kids and parents understand. You then must be ready to report progress to parents frequently. None of this should seem like "punishment" but rather a way to put your class on equal footing with other classes in which these kids are enrolled. If there is a feeling out there that this is an easy way to fulfill a requirement, you've got to work to dispell that notion.

 

I went through the same kind of situation early in my career. Because of some political stuff that occurred within the music department many years before I was there we were strictly prohibited from any kind of audition process. I never was able to learn what happened and why that was the policy, but it was more than crystal clear that I was going to take anyone who signed up. End of story. I developed a "work around" mostly by working with administration to develop a better way. "Chorus" was open to anyone who wanted to sign up. "Advanced Mixed Chorus" and "Advanced Women's Chorus" were only open to those who successfully completed one unit of "Chorus" or with teacher approval. (This allowed me to receive kids who may have moved from a different school that had a different structure.) I also had to develop a grading system that resulted in grades on a 100 point scale. None of the often used systems like Pass/Fail,Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory, A/A-/B/C, etc. were acceptable. I also had to create a written final exam that was given as part of the schools regular exam schedule. Every year there were at least one or two freshmen who failed. They not only needed to find another way to meet their arts requirement, but everyone knew that this was a real possiblity and nearly everyone took the whole thing seriously. The program grew and prospered to the point where additional staff needed to be hired. I've been retired from that position for 10 years, and the program continues to be very healthy.

 

You will have to develop additonal courses that will satisfy the arts requirement. We had a beginning and an advanced keyboard program, and our art department had a full program of introductory through advanced studio classes. There were alternatives for kids to take care of their arts requirement and then some.

 

My administration was extremely supportive and I don't think that there were any other faculty members who had the attitude that we were just doing "fluff stuff" don in the music department. The kids certainly knew that they were taking a class and not just "participating in an activity". They knew that the more seriously they took their work, the more they liked what they were doing. It didn't take long for a very healthy culture to develop. I had many kids who went through a great deal of difficulty with scheduling, including missing a lunch period in order to be able to continue in the choral program throughout their high school years.

 

This ended up being longer than I intended. I wish you well.