Submitted by Stephanie Menefee, Tacoma, Washington
Idea posted August 18, 2004
As the second music teacher at one school, I taught for an entire year in the lunchroom. Here are my suggestions for successful lessons:
- Use a wireless microphone of some sort, preferably one that pins on or has a headset. This will save your voice.
- Do lots of movement activities (mostly dancing) with your groups.
- Use Boomwhackers®, rhythm sticks, and any easily portable instruments. I had a cart that I could use to bring instruments, books, or whatever I needed in for my morning/afternoon classes from the music room to the cafeteria. I loaded everything I needed for the half day on the cart, then switched for the afternoon at lunchtime.
- For your own sanity, make sure that people realize that the cafeteria will be *your* teaching space for the time being, and that you need to have priority over it. I had one instance where the half-day kindergartners met with their parents to have lunch so they could practice going through the lunch line. This happened right in the middle of my class time with other students. It made teaching impossible, and I was very upset.
Also, make sure that the floor is cleaned adequately and has enough time to dry before you start teaching. I frequently had this problem, and it got quite annoying.