Teacher Involvement

I have had the blessing of being the Ward Primary Chorister over a ten year span in 4 different wards, and as a Stake Primary Music Leader I have visited the seven or eight ward primaries in our stake a couple different times. One of the things I have noticed in all this time is that when the teachers are involved and engaged, the children are usually better behaved because they are also involved and enagaged. As much as we would love for this teacher involvement, through attentiveness and singing, to be automatic, this is not the case in all wards or with every teacher in a ward. What can you do? Here are a few things that either worked well for me, or I have seen work well for other choristers:

• Prepare a songbook for each teacher at the beginning of the year with the words to each of the program songs for that year. This can give some teachers a litle more confidence as you teach the song to the children. This can also help the children learn the song as the teachers sing it with you while they are still being introduced to it. You can also just prepare the next month's song and work with the Secretary to place it in each class roll so the teachers are prepared. You can use this idea to your advantage in week 3 or 4 of the month by challenging the teachers to put the songbook away and sing the song from memory as the children listen...either from their chairs or as a group at the front of the primary room. The children will eat this up--they love to hear their teachers sing and "judge" them.
• Include the teachers in your games. You can have the teachers on one team and the children on another. You can have a special can with just the teachers names and then every once in awhile pick a teacher helper. You can select a teacher from the best singing class to wear a funny hat or complete a task in your singing time.
• You can have "children sing" and "teachers sing" signs that you use throughout a song or sing a song two times and let each group sing.
• You can highlight a different teacher each month as you sing their favorite song.
• You can let the teachers be the judge in different games or tasks the primary kids complete on Sunday.
• Ask the teachers to "oo" or "ahh" a melody while the kids sing the words. This way even the teachers who may not remember the words can partcipate. You can also switch the teacher's "part" with the children's "part" for a little fun.

That's all I can think of right now....what about you? What has been successful for you in this area?