It's a interesting quirk of living on a school schedule...we have two years'-ends to go through! The end of the school year is a good time to reflect the past school year and make school year resolutions for next fall.
Not satisfied with your discipline results this year? Reflect on your policy and check for the following:
Does your policy click with what the rest of your building is doing? Obviously, teachers need individuality and flexibility, especially in an often-unstructured music setting, but veering too far off in either direction from the "norm" can confuse kids and possibly make them tune you out.
Did you follow your own policy? I've often fallen into the trap of not following the steps of my own consequences. There's nothing wrong with changing what's not working, but the kids need to know what to expect. If you don't adhere to the Canton standards of assertive discipline, the least you owe your students is a warning and a verbal mention to individuals of what will happen if certain behaviors continue. Then follow through! And, make sure you don't sock it to one student and let another off the hook too much.
Getting arguments from parents that their little angels are being treated terribly? Talk to the other teachers. See if certain kids have a history of not only negative behavior, but unsupportive parents, then document incidents. Make sure you're willing to back up the student's other teachers. When parent hears the same facts from several sources, they may or may not believe you, but you and the other teachers will have the documentation of each other in case things get too far and administration gets involved.
One of the teachers I work with knew someone that worked in the meat department of a grocery store that wanted to discard some plastic racks. They work great, and they're stackable. This would be a super place for instruments. Also, if you have hooks, you can purchase instrument bags for around $50. My principal had brought in a discarded counter with drawers for me. I use that for instruments, kids' recorders, and extra supplementary material.
For other great ideas on the topic of classroom discipline, check out Thomas Robertson's area on this topic.
Maybe you want to improve your organizational skills. Goodness, look at all the materials and supplies a music teacher has! And, many teachers don't have the plan or free time to keep things neat. We have octavos or other music, memos, mallets, instruments, puppets, and tons of other stuff lying around. Aarrgh! No wonder we can't get the custodian to clean our room!
Some suggestions:
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