Molly,
This fall will be my first year teaching Music Lingua. I have had all kinds of classes. Great ones where parents LOVE it and help you out and terrible ones where parents talk and talk while I’m having a lesson or they let their babies cry, scream or distract and do nothing. I also have had a super challenging class with 6 to 8 years old that pay no attention, make jokes, run, jump, wiggle on the floor and will not listen to me. Sometimes I rather have the older ones Mom’s in there to help instead of the young ones :). BUT no matter how challenging a class could be there are always BETTER days. I stick to the rules and I’m persistent. If they don’t listen or are being “silly” I ask them to sit in the back of the room and watch my class from there until their body is calm and their mind is focus. I encourage any positive attitude and try to have a game or a “surprise” activity to pick up the mood. Almost 100% of the time they come back to circle because they want to be part of the song or activity. Movement seems to help. If by the 2nd song I see no excitement or lots of wiggling I try to incorporate on the next song some kind of movement.
Hope your worries go away as the weeks go by!
Buena suerte!
Andrea 🙂