The Music Box

One of the best ways to get kids quiet in a classroom was given to me by someone else. In fact, most of the ideas I used in the classroom were not my original ideas. The Music Box idea was given to me by another teacher who had used the idea to get her class quiet during independent work time and transition time.

Most teachers, myself included, find themselves getting louder and louder telling their class to get quiet. The idea of the Music Box is to get your class to quiet down without even saying anything to them at all.

Here is the idea: buy a music box that will run for two to five minutes each time you wind it up. The box needs to have a lid or an easy way to stop it and start it. Then tell the class that when the music box is opened it will run until they are quiet. Give them some type of reward as a class that they can earn if the box does not run out each week.

Rewind it each week to begin the week. This works amazingly well. In fact, the first year I tried this idea I had a talkative student that came up to my desk to ask where I had bought the music box. He said that his mom needed one because she babysat and this could really keep the kids quiet when she needed them to play quietly.

I also used the music box to help my students behave in the library, music, chorus, band, the cafeteria, P.E., etc.. If my class misbehaved anywhere else in the building, I would open the music box and let it run for several seconds. If their behavior had been particularly bad, then I might actually let the box run out completely. My class would lose the reward for the week and then I would rewind the box and begin the next week early. So, if the box ran out early in the week then the class really had to be good to keep it from running out before the end of the next week.

The reward I used was to give them an extra game period during Friday afternoon. All of my classes loved the extra game period.

I used the music box to also reward good behavior. If anyone in my class received an unsolicited compliment from any adult in the building, I would wind the box up a little to add more time on it. They loved getting rewarded like that. They also liked it that more time could be added back when they thought they were being punished for something that only one or two students had been responsible for.

This idea really works and you have to stick with it. I would find myself not wanting to open the music box and I would go back to using my voice to get them quiet. My voice would get louder and louder to get them quiet and then I would be upset because I had to raise my voice. So, I would then realize my mistake and begin using the music box again. It would immediately start working when I would use it.

I taught sixth grade, and they never thought it was too babyish. It is probably the best idea I ever tried to help students with their behavior at school.