169 | Professional Growth Shouldn’t Have an End Date
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[00:00:00] Bryson Tarbet: You're listening to That Music Podcast with Bryson Tarbin, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind That Music Teacher and 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.
[00:00:23] Bryson Tarbet: Show notes and resources mentioned in this episode can be found at thatmusicteacher. com.
[00:00:35] Bryson Tarbet: Welcome back to That Music Podcast. I'm Bryson Tarbet and I am wonderfully excited to share something that is kind of one of those hills that I'm willing to die on, which is that professional growth shouldn't stop. We as teachers should continue to constantly gain new information. Um, and I am going to address some of these systemic issues that get in the way as music teachers or as teachers in general for some of them.
[00:00:58] Bryson Tarbet: Uh, but the reality is, [00:01:00] is, you know, Ann Molesky, which, by the way, if you don't know Ann, She's amazing. Um, but she, she, she once said that teaching is situate situational, time bound and ever changing. And when I first heard that, I was like, whoa, that isn't so entirely true. Um, especially thinking back to, you know, pre COVID versus post COVID, right?
[00:01:17] Bryson Tarbet: Times have changed. The students that are in our classrooms are different. And I think that it's also important to realize that what works today might not work tomorrow, or what worked here might not work there. Uh, and I think that's where it comes into, or us teachers. should try to be constantly growing in our craft.
[00:01:35] Bryson Tarbet: Now, before I talk about the growing in our craft, I want to be very clear and I acknowledge that there are systemic issues that are in the way. First of all, oftentimes teachers are incentivized to do the things that aren't necessarily music education related just so that you can renew your license, right?
[00:01:53] Bryson Tarbet: Um, and we'll be talking more about that in episode 171 next week, uh, about the difference between, you know, new knowledge and [00:02:00] Crossing things off the box because you need to. Uh, but there's also just prob things like, you know, not everybody can take the summer and do their Kodai levels. Um, now that I have a a child at home, I can't I, you know, I want to do my Orf levels, but it's gonna be a minute because I'm gonna have to figure out a child care situation, right?
[00:02:14] Bryson Tarbet: It's a lot different from when I was young and single. And I think that that's important for us to realize that there are systemic issues that get in the way. Also, just thinking about the fact that we as teachers are already doing so much, um, that adding something else to your already too full plate can be really tricky.
[00:02:28] Bryson Tarbet: Um, so I fully understand that. So if you are sitting there saying, I haven't taken a course in years and Bryson is over here telling me how bad of a teacher I am, I promise that is not the case. I promise that is not my intention. The reality is that as teachers, we need, we need to be growing and part of this is, you know, advocating for our districts to give us content specific professional development, which, let's be honest, is not something we get a lot.
[00:02:55] Bryson Tarbet: Um, and I think part of it is also being aware [00:03:00] of. of just what's out there. What I love about the online music education community is there is so much great stuff out there. If you typed into, you know, elementary music ideas into Pinterest, you could be there for hours. To do the same for YouTube or Google, you would be set for life.
[00:03:16] Bryson Tarbet: But the problem with that is there's just so much information out there, right? And you need some time to kind of sort through it. But I think that it's important for us as teachers to realize that we I don't have all the answers, but I also think it's important for us to realize that we do have some of the answers.
[00:03:33] Bryson Tarbet: One of my favorite things that I've seen out of, you know, running events like the Elementary Music Summit is that we all have something to share. I've had teachers that, you know, present that have been teaching for quite a while. We've had teachers who are presenting that haven't been teaching for quite some time.
[00:03:48] Bryson Tarbet: But the reality is, is every single one of us as teachers have kind of our sweet spots. Maybe you're really good at classroom management, or maybe you're really good at differentiating instruction, or maybe you are really good at doing folk [00:04:00] dances and sequencing that, right? We are all going to have strengths and weaknesses, and what what we should do as teachers is realize where we do have strengths and share that information, and then also realize where we have some areas to grow and seek out new information for that.
[00:04:14] Bryson Tarbet: So for instance, we'd love to have you at the elementary music summit, um, that music teacher. com slash summit, um, for free professional development for music teachers. Uh, but it could also be as, you know, working on a master's degree in music education or doing Kodai or Orff levels, um, or just going to a workshop, right.
[00:04:29] Bryson Tarbet: Going to these things, going to, uh, you're going to your state MEA, uh, convention and things like that. Seeking out new ideas for one, It's just really good because it helps us try new things. I don't know about you, but I always feel so much more energized when I come back from a conference, not only because I have all these new ideas, but because I was able to be around other people and that understand kind of what the reality is of music education and teaching at elementary music.
[00:04:56] Bryson Tarbet: Um, and kind of being on that music teacher Island. Right. Um, so [00:05:00] I think that I have a lot of feelings that I wanted to shout from the rooftop about the fact that, you know, Professional growth. It's important, it's not really a choice, but unfortunately it is. Unfortunately, you know, I think we all can at least think of one teacher that they are doing the same thing that they've been doing for 30 years.
[00:05:20] Bryson Tarbet: Um, and while that is by far not the reality of, of the majority of teachers who have been teaching for quite some time, um, there are some teachers for, for multiple reasons, a multitude of reasons, may have kind of stopped that professional growth. Um, And, you know, I've talked to teachers that are close to retirement and that are looking for new ideas or that are just like, Oh, my gosh, I, you know, I used to use this and it's just not working.
[00:05:43] Bryson Tarbet: Um, and I, I love that. I see people that are trying new things that are trying to reach new information. I want to share one of my favorite people. Um, this person who joined us. Um, for my Introduction to Kodai Pedagogy course at Vanderbilt College of Music a few years back. Um, [00:06:00] and she had just retired from like a long time teaching, um, in the band world and was going to be a, basically a field supervisor for an elementary music student teacher.
[00:06:10] Bryson Tarbet: And she took the course just to get an idea of, of, of some new ideas and some things to share. And I'll tell you what, she was one of my favorite people because she was so She was locked in. She was really working hard. She was trying all these new things and trying to get all this information. That mindset of professional growth is something I think we could all take into ourselves.
[00:06:31] Bryson Tarbet: Which is, when we have the chance to, to notice where we have a deficit, do something about it. And again, I know that there are oftentimes things that get in the way, so you might not be able to do it right away. But what can we do to make sure that we don't get stuck? What can we do to make sure that our teaching is situational, time bound, and never changing?
[00:06:53] Bryson Tarbet: Because the reality is, is whether we change or not, The school systems are changing, the students are changing, the world we live in is [00:07:00] changing. And I think that's something that we need to keep with us, and that's something that we need to do something about. Um, so whether you join us at the Elementary Music Summit or not, whether you go do your CODI, ORF, Gordon, MLT, Dow Crow's Levels, whatever, uh, what I, my, my challenge for you is to Do something to get new knowledge.
[00:07:20] Bryson Tarbet: Keep that professional growth going. Even if it's just reading a book or listening to an audio book when you're driving to school, listening to this podcast is a great example. I might be biased on that one, but I think it's important for us to realize that we, we do have a choice in whether our teaching is going to continue to grow and whether we're going to uplevel our teaching craft.
[00:07:43] Bryson Tarbet: We have a choice on whether our teaching today is going to be the same thing in the next 20 years. And I would argue that if your teaching is exactly the same 20 years from now, there are probably some things along the way that should have changed. [00:08:00] With that being said, I'm so glad that you decided to take some time out of your day and join me for this episode of that music podcast.
[00:08:07] Bryson Tarbet: I know it was a short one, but I think it's a really important thing to just get this conversation started. If you haven't left us a review on iTunes, we would be so happy if you were, or if you were to leave a comment on YouTube, if that's where you're watching, uh, regardless, I am so thankful that you're here.
[00:08:21] Bryson Tarbet: And in case no one's told you lately, thank you so much for making a difference in the lives of the students that you teach.
