Mind Brain Education: CTTL Elementary Academy Day 1

For the past few years, we have explored and studied Mind Brain Education (MBE) through reading Neuroteach, written by Glenn Whitman and Dr. Ian Kellener, through various webinars and conferences, took online Neuroteach Global (NTG) courses, and participated in a four-day deep dive provided by The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL). The latter is one that I have not had the opportunity to take. Many of my colleagues, who have taken all of the above, had advised me that once I took the four-day intensive training, all of the other pieces of the training would fall into place. I hesitated on participating in the four-day course for two reasons: 1) It is a four-day course in the summer that makes it challenging for a working mother of school-aged children to attend. And 2) I felt that a focus on elementary MBE would be more applicable. When I learned that this summer the CTTL would provide online elementary-focused training, I jumped at the opportunity to attend.

Some Takeaways from Day 1 of MBE

After the morning session focused on the learning environment and student well-being, I began to immediately see how the four-day deep-dive in MBE would fill in the gaps of my studies. Some quick takeaways from day one as an elementary music educator:

• Cognition and emotion are Interdependent.

• When children feel safe, they learn better. I think about this alot, especially if music was the subject that made a child feel safe, gave them a sense of belonging, and their school took out the arts due to the pandemic. I am proud to say that most schools where I am located understood the importance of the arts and kept them offered and running all this past school year.

• Pleasant emotions are where we strive our learning environment to be, versus unpleasant emotions (like students feeling judged, they notice others progressing and they feel that they are not, the nonverbal body cues from teacher, etc). In music class, how do we correct a student who makes a mistake and plays a song incorrectly? Do we tell them how to correct it or do we give them opporunities for them to own the song and correct it themselves?

• “Promising Principle 1: Understand the link between emotion and cognition – dedicate time to activities that are shown to increase well-being, such as read alouds, singing, journaling, art, and movement.“

  • I love that singing is included in this!

• When students who don’t feel like they belong are questioning if they are safe, then their active, working memories and their executive functioning skills are attacked first.

From The Center for Transformative Teaching & Learning ©2020 https://www.thecttl.org/

• One of the best quotes to hear from your student is, “My teacher gets me”, not “my teacher likes me”. Though the latter is a nice feeling, the former means that the student understands why your music classroom is a place where they feel safe and will thrive.

Memory is the residue of thought – Prof. Dan Willingham

• Lessons – who is doing most of the thinking? Me or the students? Am I taking away of their memory being fully functional if I am doing most of the thinking?

• Learning happens when you think hard. So where in your lesson will your students think hard? And how do you get thinking hard at the top of your agenda? In music class, I attribute this to my youngest of students when I remember that when they are learning, I am not to sing with them. They need to have that independence as they learn to sing. When they have mastered a simple song, then I can sing with them.

• What does the research point for the cultivation of habits for lifelong learning?

  • Value – is it worth the student’s time to learn?

  • Expectancy – Can they do it?

  • Costs – What are their barriers when learning and how can they overcome them?

The latter is why we learn how students learn. No matter what subject you teach, having and understanding this knowledge will help your classroom be a learning environment for student well-being as well as helping students develop habits for achievement and lifelong learning.

Want to learn more?

I will continue blogging my thoughts on this deep-dive. However, the best place to begin is to check out https://www.thecttl.org/ and to read Neuroteach. Finally, if you can ever catch a session presented by Dr. Missy Strong about music and neuroplasticity, I would highly recommend attending it. I have attended a few of her sessions on this topic in the past, and it helps me to understand how students learn music from the youngest of ages.

Mind Brain Education CTTL Elementary Academy Day 2

The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL) continued its elementary academy for the second day, with us further diving into Mind Brain Education (MBE).

Mind Brain Education (MBE) Mythbusters

We started the day by deciding whether statements about the brain and how children learn were true or false. This was done in small breakout rooms and it was a lot of fun. Trying to discuss and determine each statement was challenging and surprising. The CTTL has a deck of 52 cards with statements (Photo source: https://schoolstore.saes.org/shop-cttl/face-the-mbe-facts-a-neuro-mythbuster-activity-card-set). Out of the 12 that we worked on, we had two where we determined were one way but were actually the other way. The two that surprised some of us were, “Adolescents are better at multitasking” (this is proven to be true) and “In the always-connected-to-technology world students are now growing up in, attention spans are getting shorter” (this is proven to be false). It is an interesting game to play with your colleagues as it leads to healthy debates and discussions about the statements.

Students tell us how they learn

One of the best parts of today was listening to a variety of students, ages 6-11, talk about how they learn best in their classrooms. Many of them, regardless of age, had concurred that these items were essential:

• They liked it when the teacher made learning fun (this was perceived as games or projects).

• Hands-on projects were a lot of fun (the two kindergarten twins liked art as well as math because they could make things with their hands).

• They did not like it when other children were loud in class as it distracted them and then, distracted the entire class.

• They liked breaks in their schedule.

• They liked knowing their schedule.

• They liked having time to get the work done.

What does this mean for elementary music educators?

If you are reading this as an elementary music educator, you are probably not surprised at all by this information. The elementary music classroom is a hands-on classroom, with a variety of learning styles used like movement, hands-on playing of instruments, singing, etc., it does have a routine and pacing, and it gives the students the opportunity to work as an individual, as well as an ensemble.

However, our biggest challenge this year was that what we knew the students needed (all listed above), is what we could not give them in the traditional sense due to the pandemic. Therefore, we adapted and I feel like we succeeded to the best of our abilities. The only way an elementary music educator could not succeed is if the school took the arts program out of the school due to the pandemic. If that happened, let’s hope that the arts are coming back because, as I heard from our students today, they crave a time where they can move, where they can work in a group, where they can have music in their day, where they can use their hands to produce something fun and cool, and music classes and the arts check all of those boxes.

Want to learn more about Mind Brain Education (MBE)?

I will continue blogging my thoughts on this deep-dive. However, the best place to begin is to check out https://www.thecttl.org/ and to read Neuroteach. Finally, if you can ever catch a session presented by Dr. Missy Strong about music and neuroplasticity, I would highly recommend attending it. I have attended a few of her sessions on this topic in the past, and it helps me to understand how students learn music from the youngest of ages.

Mind Brain Education CTTL Elementary Academy: Day 3

The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL) continued its elementary academy for the third day, with us further diving into Mind Brain Education (MBE).

Focus on Reading

Dan Willingham led an excellent deep-dive session titled “Everything Scientists Know About the Teaching of Reading.” This talk was divided into Decoding, Fluency, Comprehension, and Motivation. Dan spoke to how children learn to read and the myths about reading.

As an elementary music educator, I had the following takeaways:

• Aural language is observed everywhere in every culture. And, children learn it without any instructions. So, spoken language is a natural process.

  • If you replace “spoken language” in that sentence above with “singing”, I feel that we have read the research that it too, would be a natural process.

• Fluency develops through practice.

  • Again, there is a connection of singing and learning to read. And singing to a beat with patterns enhances the fluency.

• Teaching reading is not just a matter of teaching the mechanics of reading…background knowledge fuels comprehension so curriculum matters!

  • This was a very interesting statement and eye-opening one for me. It reminded me that the students needed a connection in order to comprehend what they are reading.

  • This can translate to bringing in more supportive reading activities into music class to reinforce and enhance the skill.

  • It also reminds me that music for my students is similar in the way that when they understand the song, and the lyrics they are singing or the show/movie the song comes from, they have a better connection to it. When my fourth graders study the Revolutionary War, and then we learn the educational version of “My Shot” from Hamilton, if I address the lyrics in a way that it relates to what they are learning in their classroom, it means something more to them. Plus, they perform it with a lot more feeling and heart.

• Consistency of the curriculum is key across schools because of student mobility.

  • For the music classroom, this means that how reading is being addressed and taught in the classroom, should be consistent in the music classroom.

Q and A about Reading

Dan ended the talk by answering questions that the teachers had about reading. There were some answers that made me stop and think more about the topic.

• When asked about ebooks versus textbooks for students (tech vs text), Dan felt that though the tactile cue of placing a bookmark into a book is meaningful to a child, having an ebook does not affect their comprehension.

• When asked about if learning to read at a young age is better than an older age, he states quite matter of factly that if your child learns to read at the age of six and another child learns to read at the age of seven, then your child will be reading one year longer than the other child. However, that will not affect them when they are 12 or 15 years old. Plus, it also means that they might have missed out on something at the age of six because they were focusing so much on learning to read at that moment.

• Finally, learning to read at an earlier age does have the benefit of the possibility of seeing a struggle that can be intervened sooner than later.

Want to learn more?

I will continue blogging my thoughts on this deep-dive. However, the best place to begin is to check out https://www.thecttl.org/ and to read Neuroteach. Finally, if you can ever catch a session presented by Dr. Missy Strong about music and neuroplasticity, I would highly recommend attending it. I have attended a few of her sessions on this topic in the past, and it helps me to understand how students learn music from the youngest of ages.

Mind Brain Education Elementary Academy: Day 4

The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL) continued its elementary academy for the fourth day, with us further diving into Mind Brain Education (MBE).

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Music-brain.jpg

Focus on Math

Source: https://www.researchgate.net/post/To-what-extend-a-musician-needs-to-know-mathematics-and-acoustics-Dose-mathematical-knowledge-discourages-his-her-pure-inspirations

Since yesterday’s focus was a deep dive into reading, it was a natural process to have today’s focus be on math. Our presenters explored research for instructional practices that improve outcomes in mathematics. They spoke to purposeful mathematics, meaning actively cultivating math through inquiry and applying mathematics in multiple settings. Plus, the teacher should also bring a supportive mindset to math. If the teacher struggled with math in school, be honest about it, but show how they overcame that mindset.

What Does this Mean for Music Educators?

Listening to the experts of math research, one can easily have the fixed mindset of, “this doesn’t apply to me and my subject.” However, just as we encourage our students to have a growth mindset, we too, should look at a math professional development topic and take what we can to apply to music. Here are some of my takeaways:

• Grappling and struggling are so important for the learning process.

• Find the “sweet spot“. This is where you can challenge a student, but they also have the tools to be able to overcome the challenge.

• Meaningful Integration: Christine Lewis, Lower School Teaching & Learning Specialist at Saint Andrew’s Episcopal School, spoke about how the PE teacher in her school has a strong knowledge of the math thresholds of each grade level so she can incorporate it into PE. This gives math context. This is a great opportunity for students to understand math and athletics. Making math meaningful and useful!

• Natural Integration: With that, music has a natural integration of many subjects. I have always felt that math and music are intertwined. When my kindergarteners are learning about patterns, I take that time to have the kindergartners learn about musical form. We move to it. We use tactile objects to visualize musical form. We then create music to a musical form where A is a rhythm pattern played on classroom instruments, B is a movement portion, and C is a simple sol, mi, la pattern. We put it together to create a Rondo form of ABACA.

• You can look at your music curriculum and the goals, SLOs, SGOs, TEKS, Core Arts Standards, etc, and you can quickly discover where other subject’s thresholds fit in. Bringing them into music does not take away from teaching music. Instead, it makes the students realize that school is not a day where they go to a room for math, a room for art, a room for music, etc., it a place where learning comes to life, and all of the subjects come together, throughout the school day.

Executive Function Skills

Source: https://modules.ilabs.uw.edu/module/early-music-experience/music-training-and-executive-function/

No matter what subject you teach, when you work with elementary students, you will be molding their executive function skills for years to come. Here are some takeaways from a great presentation by Adele Diamond, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia, where she is currently a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.

• Music Books: Storytelling is great for working memory. Think about how we read our musical stories or sing our songtales to our young learners.

• Songtales: Storytelling vs Story Reading (Read Alouds) – Storytelling is when we read with inflection, lots of eye contact, and not show the pictures on the page for too long. Story Reading is when we read the page and then show the picture. When we storytell, the vocabulary is recalled better and it improves the student’s attention and focus. When we sing songtales to our students, this research reminds us to not use visualizations of the songtale when we first sing it. Bring in the book or manipulatives after one or two times singing the songtale.

• Music Classroom Management with Young Students: Buddy Reading – Adele spoke to giving a picture of an ear to one of the buddies so that they know they are listening to the other buddy. After a while, the picture of the ear is no longer needed as they have learned to work together. With young students, many want to sing over the other student, or they want to tell a story, which can lead to a very loud and chaotic classroom. By placing a picture up of an ear to remind the students it is time to listen, or to use the traffic light so the students know when to listen and when to sing, or the puppet comes out (they listen) and when it hides (they sing), helps young students with their executive functioning skills.

• Classroom Decor with Various Grade Levels in One Room: Adele spoke to the room environment and though decorating our rooms for young learners can make it look nice and fun, if there are too many items on the wall that do not pertain to the lesson, then it becomes a great distraction. We, as music educators, have a challenge as we have a variety of age groups that we teach on one day and our room reflects that. How do we keep it less distracting? Adele suggested panels and moving items on the wall between classes. That is probably not feasible for many of us as we struggle with time in our schedule. Some other participants throughout the week suggested that specialists get a “pass” on this topic. There is a place in between for us where we can display items that we know will be addressed throughout the various age levels like solfege chart, rhythm values, singing posture, xylophone chart with removable bars, class expectations, ukulele fingering chart, recorder fingering chart, and more, while keeping our classroom organized with less distracting elements.

Conclusion

After four days, I now need to process it all. That is one of the reasons I blog daily at a conference. It helps me to process and to organize many of the ideas, theories, etc, that I learn throughout the conference. I loved the elementary focus of CTTL’s four-day deep dive. I learned a great deal and am looking at the school year with tremendous possibilities.

Want to learn more?

The best place to begin is to check out https://www.thecttl.org/ and to read Neuroteach. Finally, if you can ever catch a session presented by Dr. Missy Strong about music and neuroplasticity, I would highly recommend attending it. I have attended a few of her sessions on this topic in the past, and it helps me to understand how students learn music from the youngest of ages.