I teach dancing classes - mostly older dcs and adults but I've recently started a class for 5-6 year olds. There are 6 of them in the group, all girls.
These kids have been at school a while, so I thought they would be used to group situations, waiting, listening and following simple instructions. Ha! I can't seem to "control" them at all.
The first week they were running everywhere, not listening and refusing to cooperate. I'm used to being jolly and thought I was good at encouraging reluctant dancers. I realised they were probably over-excited for their first lesson and incorporated more structure the second week. I used lots more strategies such as reward stickers and sitting on their own "spot" until called for their turn. Marginally better but still mostly behaviour management and little actual dancing.
Since then I've been firm about waiting, not wandering off, no stickers unless they listen etc, but have had 2 girls in tears asking for Mummy and it's still chaos!
Am I expecting too much or do I have a particularly challenging group? What can I do?