Behaviour Management

How we run the workshops.

Workshops are run for the duration of the school term from 12 to 14 weeks. Each lesson is to have no more than 5 students at a time and these lessons can be from 45 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes long. We are flexible on the times and the workshops can be designed around your schools timetable.

How will the students benefit from the workshops?

Students will work towards a Bronze, Silver and Gold Arts Award which is a recognised accreditation.
For an example the Bronze Arts Award is broken down in four sections :

• The Bronze Award is worth 6.3 School Performance points per student
• The Silver Award is worth 23 School Performance points per student

The DJ Workshops have been very successful and I have delivered programmes to schools for 8 years. I was offered the chance to work at a school, working with young people at risk of permanent exclusion, with a focus on Traveller children. I enjoyed it so much that I produced a structured programme of learning DJ'ing skills and offered it to schools.

The main idea behind DJ Workshops is engaging vulnerable and disenchanted students in a musical or art workshop that they enjoy and can feel successful in. The students I target are disaffected with learning and have very low self-esteem. At the start of their first session they have a negative view of their own ability and certainly don’t believe they have any musical talent. By the end of that session, they are achieving and developing a new skill. Their self-confidence improves as they start to feel successful.

Behaviour Management workshops using Music and the Arts

The Workshops have been running for 8 Years and have been a huge success in over 100 Schools. We have designed the workshops for students to get the very best experience in learning something that they enjoy, making them want to come back week after week.

How does it work?

The workshops are all hands on, with each student allocated to work on a different piece of equipment at one time, we like to call this their workstation, and this includes headphones and a small set of professional music tools to use on their own in. In the Graffiti Art workshops they can work on individual pieces to take home as well as working on a group piece of Art.  A normal group will have no more than 5 students at a time.

During the workshops, each student will take it in turns to have one-to-one tuition with the tutor at a designated workstation, whilst the remaining students are free to explore the other workstations on their own.

In the early stages of the workshops we have found that the students work better alone, as they become so immersed in the music. There is minimal interaction with the others in the group, proving that they are fully occupied and able to concentrate on their tasks. However, further into the course there are various tasks that must be undertaken in groups.

At the end of the course the students will have a Mix CD of their music with a cover they design themselves to keep, if the student has taken part in the Graffiti Art Workshop then they will take home the piece that they have worked on.I think that the workshops are one of the best things in my life and I wish I could be here all day on a Wednesday Mark

How we can help to monitor students’ behaviour

Rewarding students for positive behaviour is important, which is why we have designed the workshops to include a behaviour contract to be used during their school day and your daily programme making it simple and easy to work with.

Why this activity is important to me and the students/schools :

For Me:

I truly believe in the benefits of the workshops for these young people and I find this really rewarding and extremely enjoyable. Most of the students I work with are not used to feeling successful in school, which is something I can relate to from my own experience. Seeing their confidence grow and their self-esteem improve through music, is also something I can relate to.

I want to build on this successful program and help more schools and students. I enjoy the program from start to finish; getting to know and understand the students and helping them with their DJing. Many of the students I work with, I will have supported throughout their schooling and continue to monitor their progress after they have completed the course. I feel I have become an established part of the schools I work in and this continuity is important for the students.

For the students :

All our workshops have workstations so that every student is on a piece of equipment at one time so there is no waiting around. I have designed a program that all students of all abilities are able to undertake. My students are excited about their progress, which they can monitor and evaluate themselves with targets and self-assessment, in addition to the behaviour contract which some schools have adopted.  Most students have never completed a program to receive accreditation; this in itself is a positive. The students are really pleased when they pass and want to continue to higher awards because of the confidence they have gained. In most cases, achieving the awards positively changes the student’s behaviour in all aspects of their school life. The students have taken part in Youth Festivals where I have been asked to supply the DJ’s. Some of the students have taken part in DJ'ing for their School discos.

Schools :

All Schools have benefited from the program by gaining points from the Arts Awards. (Please see School Comments) to show the positive outcomes of the DJ Workshops program. I have built relationships with the staff from the schools in which we work together to support the learning of the students, both academic and emotional/social.

How this activity is likely to benefit the students, schools and the arts :

Benefits for the students :

The students that we work with and the students that have so far passed their bronze award are students with behaviour issues, Students lacking confidence, Traveller students and S.E.N Students.

The DJ Workshops offer an activity which, initially, students don’t believe they will be able to do themselves. With 8 years experience I have made the course accessible for all and can easily differentiate course materials, if the students have particular learning needs. I have taken DJ workshops to some special needs schools and even been a part of some school’s inclusion policy.

Some students decide to take music as a GCSE after completing the DJ course.

We have invited friends and family in to school for the demonstration  part of the Arts Award, this is when the students show what they have learnt, A lot of Head Teachers have been surprised of who’s parents have attended the school demonstration which can only benefit relationships between the school and parents that can be hard to reach.

The students that have taken part on the Bronze Arts Award have all been completely over the moon with what they have achieved. My program builds the Art Award Folders bit by bit. We finish the folders by laminating them so that the folders will last a long time. The reason for this is that this may be the only thing that they will ever achieve in their school life to be proud of. By laminating the folders they will be able to keep them forever. I feel that the students enjoy laminating their work as it shows their work to the best advantage.

Please see comments from students. Read comments here

Benefits for the schools :

The School will get the performance points if the student successfully passes the Award. 6.3  For the Bronze Award.

The school will see an improvement in the student’s behaviour that will reflect on the rest of their school life.

A lot of schools have award evenings and the school has enjoyed the hard to reach students that have passed their bronze Art Award to be able to take part.  I also attend these evenings and the families of the student who have passed their Bronze Award are so proud and sometimes it’s the only time they have been to the school for something positive.

The workshops are an incentive to promote positive behaviour in the days when students are not in their workshop. This will give teachers a great chance of a successful lesson without the students on the behaviour contract distracting the other students.

The Students are chosen by the school to take part. We are informed of the reasons, so that we can guide them in what’s necessary of them to be regularly admitted on the programme. The students are given a target the general one is for positive behaviour.

When the students first come to the workshop they are told all about the activity and how the course is structured and how we hope that they will show positive behaviour to be allowed to come each week. They are told that if they do not stick to the targets they will not be allowed to come the following week.

The students are shown the behaviour contract and the tutor will read it aloud, the students are asked if they have any questions so that they are prepared and understand what they need to do. We then show them the report card which they will carry around with them every day to be signed by their teachers.I have never been good at anything before, I found the course fun and easy to learn, I have my first ever qualification now and my family is proud of me Tara

How does the Report card work?

The students keep the card with them for the whole week. The card is designed around the schools day. The student will hand the card in at the start of the lesson. The teacher will mark the card a simple Yes or No for that lesson and sign it. The student needs to get as many Yes-marks as possible to show that they have behaved well to attend the next workshop.  The target number of Yes-marks needs to be achievable and clearly show a level of improvement.

The Head of Year finally marks the card Yes or No on the day of the workshop which allows the student to attend the workshop. If the card is marked 'No' the student still comes to see us and we find out from the student why they are not coming and what they can do to make sure that they are able to attend the next weeks workshop. We find by telling the student what they are going to miss in the current lesson really makes them think about their behaviour. We tell them that if they change their behaviour we will catch them up especially for the next week to give them an added incentive which usually works!

We tell them about the Arts Awards and show them a sample folder and talk about what they will do on the course.

The students sign the contracts, after which we give a demonstration of what we will be doing and the students get their first taste of the activity.

The Reward Chart.

For each group of students we will put their names on a reward chart, this works with the report cards. If the student card comes back positive they will get a star on that weeks chart. At the end of term students with a high number of stars or an improvement in behaviour will be entered in to a prize draw.

Prize Draw

The prize draw is at the end of each school term. We will have every students name and will picked out at random. If a student has shown a remarkable change then we have allocated the prize to this person in the past.

There is a prize each term for each of the three activities that we offer.

Prize samples :

• DJ Workshop. DJ in a box (whole DJ set up)
• Guitar Workshop. Junior Electric Guitar and Amp
• Graffiti  Art Workshop. £100 graffiti voucher to spend at the Grapatisum web site

We find that the prize draw really locks them in to what we are doing and gives them something to aim for. We find it a fantastic reward for good behaviour.
I have found that over 75% of the students that I have taught to be gifted at music or the arts which has given them a new interest that they can continue with.