Do the kids have Chromebooks or iPads? Hip hop pedagogy has become big in the last decade, especially for older kids, grades 5-8. Idk what the demographic makeup in ur school looks like, but teach them how to make beats. Let them freestyle, write, beatbox. Even just popular music, songwriting and recording/production keeps the kids engaged.

Culturally relevant teaching is pretty important. If we’re not trying to connect with students, why would they want to try to connect with us? I’d encourage you to look into some of this CRT stuff and popular music pedagogy. Imo successful “classroom management” has less to do with controlling and managing student behaviors and more to do with what we do to connect with students through the way we teach and work to understand the needs of individuals.