Good advice from Mick.

I wasn't surprised by the question about what kind of alternative school...Around here, an alternative school "the A school" is where all the discipline problems get sent. It's an alternative to dropping out of school. Usually the kids are quite savvy (street smart, or at least smart at disrupting a classroom) and any break in the routine is just an excuse for practicing the disrupting skills. These classrooms are extremely structured and usually supervised by someone retired from the military or police.

My only advice, besides Mick's "dialog" advice which he expressed more eloquently than I could, is...try to find out how many will be in your "audience." I taught adolescents hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital...never more than 6 at a time...you could interact individually with them. The support they had for each other in this situation was phenomenal. As Mick said, there is usually a leader (ham) who will gladly participate. I used a portable keyboard here, and usually you can "wing it" with a small group, let them participate, engage a dialog, show examples of music that expresses what you're talking about.

I've also taught a classroom of "inner city" demographic types, with some real discipline problems thrown in...and one of the keys here is to not try to move around too much. They are comfortable in a familiar room, but if they have to go to another room, can get out of hand. It takes a very experienced person to go outdoors with about 20 of these kids. And an even more experienced and familiar person to take them on a field trip.

The race/cultural questions are not out of bounds either. I witnessed a young, extorverted Japanese girl teaching a formal tea ceremony to a group of discipline problem kids. The roof was about to blow, and she was unaware of the connotations of things being said.

Years ago I attended a Job Corps concert. The Job Corps is a camp for teaching young drop outs job skills. After several kids noisily walked out of the concert, the ones who remained seemed to enjoy it. (But there is a stigma to "sucking up" amonst the peers...so you don't won't to show any kind of recognition publicly.)

Let us know how it goes.