bridget talks: elementary music

for mued790; elementary philosophy and ideas!!

[brig-talks-elementary]

hey! this blog is going to be entirely focused on my philosophy for elementary education! ill be presenting this for a grade for my elementary music teaching methods class, but any questions are highly encouraged! follow along on my journey!

[redwolf17]

🙃 Regular reminder that while Hozier has amazing love songs, he is ALSO very outspoken about his leftist politics, specifically anti-fascism, anti-racism, reproductive rights, Palestinian rights and more.

Take Me To Church and Foreigner’s God are scathing critiques of organized religion, specifically the Catholic Church and the colonization of Ireland.

Moment’s Silence is about oral sex but it’s ALSO about how that specific sexual act is often distorted to a show of power rather than that of love.

Nina Cried Power is an homage to various (mostly Black) civil rights activists from the US and Ireland and a call to follow their path.

Be criticizes anti-migrant policies and Trump and his ilk.

Jackboot Jump is about the global wave of fascism and about protest and resistance.

Swan Upon Leda is about reproductive rights and the violent colonial oppression of Ireland and Palestine.

Eat Your Young is about the ruinous way the 1%/capitalism and arms dealers prioritize short-term profit over everything else to the detriment of the youth/99%

Butchered Tongue is about Irish and other indigenous languages being suppressed and erased by imperial powers.

If any of the above surprised you, please, please delve deeper into Hozier’s music, you’re missing such an important part of his work.

[daisyofwaterdeep]

had a dream I went to a hozier concert and mr. hozier stopped singing and pointed to me in the crowd and asked me to go get him some extra crispy tofu and a blueberry shake for after the show and then the crowd passed his debit card to me and when I got it I could see his real legal name was Horace Bob-omb

[brig-talks-elementary]

something i’ve learned while teaching elementary and middle school flute lessons these past few weeks is that students will do Anything to not do class work, no matter how much they like the subject. my students constantly strike up conversation with me, which i of course will talk back. it can be hard sometimes to try and get them back on track with their train of thought to get off of the topic of their ski trip this weekend and get into lesson mode.

i think that something that i need to realize as an educator is that i am the one in charge when it comes to teaching. of course i am going to let my students discuss topics they’re excited or passionate about, because i don’t want to ‘rule with an iron fist’. theres no fun in not letting your students talk to you or others about what they are doing or enjoying recently. however, there is a time where i need to put my foot down to make sure work is done effectively and on time. and there is no need to do it in a rude way that makes students feel uncomfortable or unwelcome in your classroom. i know there are plenty of teachers that create little rhymes that help call students to attention and get the day started.

like i’ve mentioned before, have fun with your students! but don’t let them take over your class. you have the floor!

<3 bridget

[brig-talks-elementary]

my mother is a second grade teacher, and she has a lot of online resources that function really well in her classroom. one website she uses is teachers pay teachers, and i think this is a really good resource to use! other educators upload resources they make and use in their classrooms, which is helpful to know that students have tried them and they’ve worked!

Browse resources on Teachers Pay Teachers, a marketplace trusted by millions of teachers for original educational resources.

another resource i know is helpful is the NAfME website. this site has a lot of ideas, resources, and points to use in your classroom at any age. having NAfME as a constant resource to look to (especially for the music ed standards) is super helpful, and they give you many different aspects of education that may not have been though of from certain angles.

i think a good viewpoint to take when teaching your students is to always involve them. if i were to be teaching an elementary music class, i would focus on providing activities such as group songs or group ensembles. i think orff instruments are an amazing thing to involve your students in, and can provide a LOT of ground to cover educationally; hand-eye coordination, note recognition, pattern recognition, music reading, tempo, group performance, instrument care, and listening to each other. getting your students involved is the best way to have them understand what you’re teaching them, because they will remember the song that you teach them and continue to grow their abilities.

i think another way to engage students in activities without having them actively performing is videos and ‘conversations’ with your students about the topics. i was able to teach a little chunk of a lesson to a 4th grade class last year for my ed500 class, where the teacher played a video for students to watch about peter and the wolf, and i was able to go up and teach them about the flute and what the significance was in that piece. they then went on to do a very cute worksheet about each instrument and what it means in the piece. having this more low key option to present to students is especially good, especially as a sort of ‘break’ in their day and creates a less overstimulating class for those who would need that.

<3 bridget

[brig-talks-elementary]

i am a firm believer of making your classroom a space for everyone, regardless of the year you are teaching. this should be no different for your elementary students. although i am personally aiming to be a high school teacher, creating an environment where students feel appreciated, welcomed, and safe is a MUST when you are an educator.

there are a lot of laws and bills circulating in the united states right now that are hindering the things we can present and teach to our students, most of which are targeting the LGBTQ+ community and communities of color. especially in states like florida, where books with “sensitive content” are being banned and removed from classroom libraries and parts of history curriculum are being banned for no factual reason. these laws are being put in place to “protect our children”, but they are, in fact, doing the exact opposite. these sorts of laws lead to so much more harm to our children, leading to them feeling unsafe in these schools, bullying, and even suicide in some cases. this also leads to misinformation in many cases, because our curriculum has been so picked over with the intention of silencing these communities. as educators, it is our duty to give our students a full and well rounded education. these restrictions are unfair and cruel treatment of students who genuinely have not done anything to deserve this treatment. my classroom will always be a safe one for students of any background.

students with disabilities or neurodivergence are also a focus that are rarely paid attention to in our classroooms. there are a lot of stimuli in a music classroom, with music, instruments, voices, and general environment factors can be extremely overstimulating. keeping this in mind while planning your lessons and taking precautions for these students specifically is also important. disabled students may have more of a problem with certain activities, such as dancing or certain instruments. in that case, you should be prepared to alter your lesson plans to fit the needs of your students. giving them a different instrument to play in the ensemble, or altering your dancing to fit their needs. teachers should be ready to cater to their students, and the content of our lessons should be ready to be altered to make everything accessible for those who need it.

regardless of your student body, your environment in your classroom should be one that students feel safe and comfortable in, and can easily cater to the educational needs of all who come in.

<3 bridget

[brig-talks-elementary]

elementary aged students should be given the foundations of our music curriculum. like i’ve mentioned before, we are creating the next generation of musicians, whether they stick with it through school music programs, or branch off to do their own thing with what they’ve learned.

our job is to make them feel heard and seen in an educative sense. we should be changing our tactics and methods of teaching our material so that every student can effectively understand what we are trying to communicate. i think that having this aspect of education is crucial, especially at this age. there is less interactivity as you continue to get older, as lectures and readings take precedence in a lot of their common core classes. having fun is just as important as being practical about your teachings. if you’re not adding fun, interactive experiences to your curriculum, your students will not feel as tho they need to pay attention or contribute to the lesson. they’ll get bored, and regardless of if that is your intention, it would be your endgame.

have fun with your students! you’re there to teach them, and they’re there to learn, but that shouldnt preclude the fact that you can make their music learning experience entertaining.

<3 bridget

[brig-talks-elementary]

the most important part about elementary music teaching is that we are creating their foundation of music as a concept. we will be the first formal introduction to music in schools. obviously, these students will know what music is, but we are their intro to how music is made and how we can make it effectively ourselves!

music, as with any grade level, is definitely less rigorous in terms of course expectations. (or at least, it can be.) students aren't expected to remember their times tables by heart, or learn new facets of the english language. of course, music has its own hardships for our students, but they are approached differently beacause of the way our classes would be structured. these classes are meant to be both engaging and educational. something that has definitely stuck with me was this philosophy we discussed in my elementary music methodolgy class:

"tell me and i forget. show me and i remember. involve me and i understand."

i think this is absolutely crucial to teaching elementary-age students. they are so young, and their minds are incredibly impressionable. just talking at them will not get them to learn and understand what your end goal of what you're teaching them is. showing them adds the extra layer of audio and visual, but still leaves them without the aspect of physically understanding what is being taught. giving them the opportunity to physically enact what you are teaching them, whether it be through a song and dance, a music game, a fun worksheet, or performing on an instrument, you are having these students access multiple parts of the brain and help them conceptualize the lessons better.

<3 bridget