Get them off the bench...
We believe in getting kids off the bench and into the game. Not the kind of game you're thinking of. We use music games to get our students excited and ready to play. Most kids can't resist a good card game. We have games that teach finger patterns, note reading, rhythm patterns, key signatures etc.... When something that can be challenging to learn is put in a games form all of a sudden it's doable. We have yet to have a student tell us that they don't want to play a game. It's always the opposite. We hear things like, "Can we play that again next week?" and "My lesson's not over already, is it?", and "Just one more time.".
There isn't anything that gets a teacher stoked quicker then students asking for more. Learning music is all in how you present it. Our students drag themselves in after a long day at school and the last thing they want to do is sit still for a half hour. Change up the lesson order, include new stratagies to teach foundational skills, and get the kids off the bench for a game, and you have the ingredients for a lesson with the Wow factor.