190 | Content-Specific PD - HD 1080p
===
[00:00:00] Bryson Tarbet: All professional development isn't the same, but let's be honest, I don't have to tell you that. You are listening to that music podcast with Bryson Tart, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind that music teacher in the elementary music summit. Each week, Bryson and his guests will dive into the reality of being an elementary music teacher and how music can truly be transformative in the lives of the students you serve.
[00:00:28] Bryson Tarbet: Show notes and resources mentioned in this episode can be found at that music teacher. Dot com.
[00:00:39] Bryson Tarbet: Hello and welcome back to that music podcast. Today we are gonna be talking, um, about all the bad PD that's out there. Um, and I, okay, I say bad. Yes, there is some truly just like bad professional development out there, but I think the vast majority of the professional development that we are getting as music teachers isn't [00:01:00] necessarily bad.
[00:01:01] Bryson Tarbet: It's just not for us. Um, you know, don't get me wrong, I think there's so much to be said about professional development that can be applied to many different content areas, grade levels, things like that. You know, trauma informed teaching that's super helpful. Um, in creating more accessible classrooms.
[00:01:17] Bryson Tarbet: Those are things that can be very overarching topics and, and you know, research the lines and things like that. But the reality is, is a lot of the time the professional development that we're getting. We are not even an afterthought. We're just kind of there. You know, we might be, you know, attending a session that is more about how a math teacher might do X, Y, Z, or even worse, hey, we have a brand new math curriculum.
[00:01:45] Bryson Tarbet: We're gonna learn how to teach it. And you're like, I don't teach math and I'm not a licensed math teacher. But here we are getting a CEU. Um, I have a lot that I can say about. Professional development in general, but I'm going to be a little tame today. Um, [00:02:00] and I wanna share about how we as elementary music leaders can advocate for content specific professional development.
[00:02:07] Bryson Tarbet: Um, 'cause I will say I've had some great administrators and what I love about my, my favorite part about them is that for the most part, if there was a professional development session that I was. Told to go to, you know, on a PD day or whatever, and I'm like, well, that has nothing to do with, with what I do.
[00:02:26] Bryson Tarbet: Um, and I found them something else that I could do instead. Vast majority of the time, if I said, Hey, this is what I found, it's going to help me do X, Y, z, it's directly applicable, applicable to my classroom because of, you know, yada, yada, yada. The vast majority of the time, they would say, cool, write, write up a little paragraph about what you just said.
[00:02:43] Bryson Tarbet: Send it to me in email and we're gonna be good to go. Um, I know that's not the case everywhere, but I think at the very least we can start these conversations so that when we are planning professional development or when our administration's planning professional development, they know that we're gonna be kind of a squeaky wheel at the very least, and they know that we're [00:03:00] wanting something more.
[00:03:01] Bryson Tarbet: The way I look at it, there's really three main reasons why content specific professional development matters, especially at the elementary music level. First of all, the reality of what we teach is just so specific and the. It's really hard and we, we get really good at, at it as, as music teachers and, and as arts educators in general of taking PD that's kind of this broader area and kinda shoving it into our, into the box of whatever our content area is.
[00:03:30] Bryson Tarbet: Um, but that's not best practice, right? Sometimes having someone specifically say, this is universal design for learning. This is the research behind it, and this is exactly what it can look like in an elementary music classroom. That is the easiest direct connection to what's going on in our classroom.
[00:03:46] Bryson Tarbet: So by having that skill growth that is really targeted as to, you know, what we as educators are, are looking for in the classroom or in even our administrators, what they wanna see more of in our classroom, that is going to be the [00:04:00] biggest, easiest connection between professional development and the reality of what's going on in our classrooms.
[00:04:06] Bryson Tarbet: Beyond that, I think it's really important for us to stay up to date, and I do not mean this in a rude way or a disrespectful way, but I think we all know music teachers or know of someone who knows music teacher who they are teaching the same way that they've been for 20 some years. And I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad.
[00:04:26] Bryson Tarbet: But I think it can be really easy to stay the way that we're teaching things and do it exactly the same, expecting those same results when the world around us is changing. I mean, just, just, just since Covid, everything is completely different, right? The way that our students are interacting with each other and with us and with music in general has really changed.
[00:04:45] Bryson Tarbet: Um, e even just within that one very quick year, a lot changed and I think that. If what you're doing is working and it really truly is serving the students in your classroom, then there really isn't a necessarily a need to completely throw [00:05:00] everything out and try something new. But I also think that a lot of the times it comes down to we don't know what else is out there.
[00:05:07] Bryson Tarbet: We're not getting any new ideas. We're not seeing some new, you know, new research, new trends, new ideas, and we're kind of getting stuck in a box that we really don't know the first step out of. Um. So I think that's a really important reason why professional development in general is important. Um, but getting something specific to elementary music can really help us up level our teaching, stay up to date with current practices and really increase the engagement.
[00:05:33] Bryson Tarbet: And that really brings me to my last reason why I think professional development should be content specific. Then it all comes down back to the students. Content specific professional development helps teachers make the most easiest connection from what is being taught to them, the new ideas, the new concepts, the new strata strategies, whatever, and how do we put it into practice to ensure that our students are engaged, they're able to access their curriculum, they're having fun and they're making music.
[00:05:59] Bryson Tarbet: All of this [00:06:00] comes together because content specific professional development is important. Now, I didn't wanna spend too long on that because. I feel like, you know, right? Like I'm, I'm quite literally preaching to the choir here. So let's get to the real meat of this episode, which is, what do we do about that?
[00:06:16] Bryson Tarbet: How do we get other people to understand why that's important? How do we advocate for content specific professional development? And the first thing I think you can do is look outward at what some of these bigger organizations are doing. So your, your, your state, MEA chapter, afme, whatever. Look at what they have to, to offer and to.
[00:06:35] Bryson Tarbet: To share and, and their stories about why. This type of professional learning is important and the impact that it has on classrooms. Um, so if you're, you're ever able to find a case study or, you know, talking about, uh, like we put out a lot of testimonials about the elementary music Summit and, you know, a lot of that is just to get people to understand how, how great it can be and how, you know, we, we obviously believe in, in the.
[00:06:59] Bryson Tarbet: The PD that's [00:07:00] happening there. But that can also be a really good opportunity to share with stakeholders in your community, your, you know, your administration, your principals, your, your people planning professional, develop development, and be like, Hey, look at like the, this, re this response. Look at how they've been able to take this new concept, put it into practice, and really try something new.
[00:07:19] Bryson Tarbet: This is what I love about, um, like the ortho echo and things like that, like the, the publications that a lot of these organization organizations put on is. They really kind of are turning to case studies when we use them in a little bit of a different way, right? Like a lot of times it's just getting the information out there for the teachers.
[00:07:34] Bryson Tarbet: But if you can kind of slip that into your administration, be like, look at this really cool program. Look at this really cool idea. Um, I. I need some more things to make that happen, uh, or to make things like that happen. I think that's a really cool way to, to use those bigger organizations to help advocate for the PD that we need.
[00:07:52] Bryson Tarbet: Honestly, I think the biggest thing that we can do as educators, I. Especially when talking to our building level administration is just start [00:08:00] being really brutally honest about the holes that we feel like we have in our professional learning. I've made it very clear from day one that I love teaching elementary music.
[00:08:09] Bryson Tarbet: I hyper fixated it. I did all the things. I listened to all the podcasts, but like the reality is, is in undergrad I took one class in four years to teach elementary methods and I. That I, I don't think administrators sometimes quite understand that. And I think that we can, we can find that balance of saying, I don't know what's going on to like, Hey, I, I know what I'm doing.
[00:08:31] Bryson Tarbet: I just feel like there's more out, I know that there's more out there. I know that there's more ideas. I know that there are students that I could be better serving. I know that there are ways that I can make my classroom more connected to the real world. And when you bring up those really specific examples, um.
[00:08:46] Bryson Tarbet: I think that is where we can make it really actionable for administration and it turns it from complaining that the PDs bad, which can sometimes be the perception to, I'm looking for something more. I'm really hungry for this new [00:09:00] idea, this new professional learning to be able to take it the next step to up level my teaching.
[00:09:04] Bryson Tarbet: And I'm just not really getting that. And I would love to have a conversation about how we can work together to find that. If you know anything about me, you know, that I lovingly refer to being an elementary music teacher as often being stuck on music Teacher Island. You know, we're often isolated. We're the only music teachers in our schools.
[00:09:20] Bryson Tarbet: Sometimes our only district, we're literally like shoved into the corner as far away from everywhere else as we can. Um, and I think that the real magic of professional development is when collaboration is. Is able to happen. And honestly, I don't think there are very many administrators that would argue with that.
[00:09:37] Bryson Tarbet: Um, think about all the PD of, you know, when you get the ELA teachers together to talk about, you know, aligning their, their curriculum and their standards and dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. That's all based on collaboration. And I think sometimes if we go in and say, Hey, I'm all for being a team player and being part of these conversations that are a little bit bigger than me or, you know, outside of my content area, but like.
[00:09:56] Bryson Tarbet: I also wanna have that for myself and for my classroom [00:10:00] and for my students. Like how can we collaborate with other music teachers? And that's what I love about just conference music, specific conferences in general. So, you know, state, MEA, the elementary Music Summit, anything that you have is, it gets people that are in the trenches in the classroom trying new things together to share what's working and what's not working.
[00:10:17] Bryson Tarbet: Um, but also it gives us that energy and that confidence to try something new. Um, because I think sometimes it can be really. It can be really easy to see something on Instagram or in, you know, one of those magazines that trade publications or whatever and think, oh, that, that's cool. But like not really having it broken down into like, what do I do?
[00:10:37] Bryson Tarbet: How do I put this into practice? Or like can be just being able to talk to a presenter and be like, Hey, like I'm really excited about this, but I have this reservation. What would you say to that? And I think when we're able to collaborate, that's when the magic. Happens. That's when we uplevel our education in general.
[00:10:53] Bryson Tarbet: And you know, that's, I, if you've never heard of the term, you know, a rising tide raises all ships. I think it's a really serious thing [00:11:00] and when we get together we can, you know, support each other where we need support. We can build others up when they need build up. We can show what's working and, and kind of shine a light on those things when they are.
[00:11:11] Bryson Tarbet: And I think that's where just the really cool stuff happens in professional development is when we're able to get together and collaborate with people that get it. And want to do more with it. All this to say professional development matters and it's more than just crossing off a box to renew your license every few years.
[00:11:29] Bryson Tarbet: It's more than just getting your district off your back when you have a PD day and making sure that you're working your contract hours. It really is a. Deciding how to uplevel your teaching, deciding how you are going to learn new practices to increase the engagement in your classroom, to make it more accessible to do X, Y, Z.
[00:11:45] Bryson Tarbet: And I think whenever we can relay that information to the stakeholders, our administrators, our community, um, I think that is where we can really come from a place of, I'm really not trying to complain, I'm just showing you how there's a disconnect [00:12:00] between what I'm being given. What I want to do with it, and I think that conversation is a great way to start of how can we make sure that professional development is as content specific as possible?
[00:12:14] Bryson Tarbet: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of That Music podcast. If you have not left us a review on iTunes, Spotify, wherever you're listening to, we would love for you to leave us a review, leave us a comment on YouTube. Um, and if you haven't joined the wait list for the 2025 Elementary Music Summit.
[00:12:28] Bryson Tarbet: We have five days of content specific professional development that can be free. Um, head on over to that music teacher.com/summit. We'll be sure to include that link in the show notes and video description as well. Uh, and with that being said, thank you so much for making a difference in lives. The students [00:13:00] that.
