180 | Interview with Leanna - HD 1080p
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[00:00:00] 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] Show notes and resources mentioned in this episode can be found at thatmusicteacher. com.
[00:00:35] Bryson Tarbet: Hello everyone and welcome back to That Music Podcast. I am super excited to talk about one of my favorite topics, which is movement, um, with and a really amazing person that I'm super excited to have on the podcast, Leanna O'Brien. Thank you so much for joining us today.
[00:00:50] Leanna O’Brien: Uh, thank you so much, Bryce, and I'm always so happy whenever we get to do anything.
[00:00:54] Leanna O’Brien: This is so exciting.
[00:00:55] Bryson Tarbet: Well, like I said, this is one of my favorite topics because I, [00:01:00] I think we can both agree that if there was more movement in education in general, things would be a much happier place for everyone involved. Uh, but we're going to share a little bit about what that looks like in the music classroom.
[00:01:11] Bryson Tarbet: Uh, but before we get too far in there, can you tell us a little bit about your background and what brought you here to where you are today? Um, especially when it comes to the Soaring Scarves Academy.
[00:01:21] Leanna O’Brien: Yes. Yes. Well, first of all, it's so great to just talk. To, um, it's sometimes nice to feel like you are preaching to the choir and finding those like minds where it's already so known how important movement is.
[00:01:35] Leanna O’Brien: And especially with education, especially with music education. But when I had just gotten out of college and no disrespect for my college at all, I had some amazing professors, but I still got out of college in the mindset where I was basically. A student teacher, the first year out, that's what it feels like.
[00:01:54] Leanna O’Brien: I'm sure we are all been that way. Uh, mainly crying every other week or so every [00:02:00] week. Uh, and that's just kind of the normal. And that was especially true with me when I started to try to introduce classical music into my elementary music classes, I got. Horrible pushback my first year with trying to introduce any sort of composer and not even just classical, but any composer, the conversations always ended up flat, uh, the engagement plummeted.
[00:02:29] Leanna O’Brien: And the question kept on going back to wait, he's dead. And, you know, having that wonderful spiral from there and like a absolute blockhead beginning teacher, I continued on that path until December of my first year and had to finally look at myself and go. Okay, it's time to shake things up. And the one who saved my class was Tchaikovsky.
[00:02:55] Leanna O’Brien: And Tchaikovsky really brought in those three [00:03:00] dances. March, uh, Tea Dance, and Russian, um, Russian Tea Dance, and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies. And those three were the first scarf dances that I ever brought into my classroom, and I ever made. Choreography specifically to bring those songs into my classroom and what I wanted to be a meaningful movement experience.
[00:03:22] Leanna O’Brien: And the response was, was it not? I would not say immediate. I would say the engagement was immediate. My own skills of bringing it in and not continuing a different sort of spiral based on not having high expectations and things like that is a different story, but the scarf dances itself, the seeing my students finally being able to move the encouraging my students to have an active experience in the classroom and everything was going great.
[00:03:51] Leanna O’Brien: And three years flew by and I added movement into almost. Every aspect of my class that I could until [00:04:00] COVID hit.
[00:04:00] Bryson Tarbet: And
[00:04:05] Leanna O’Brien: my school in particular, I was in an inner city in Providence. My kids did not have Chromebooks. My kids, many of them did not have wifi access at home. And just trying to be able to have any sort of music, um, became like this desperate need for me.
[00:04:22] Leanna O’Brien: And lucky for me, I think you've heard me talk about him before, but my amazing now husband, uh, Jevon Henry is a videographer. And he said, all right, let's film you. And I started filming, uh, full lessons and sending them out to families. And even if it was just watching on mom and dad's phone, right. And the response was incredible of these parents being like, Oh my goodness.
[00:04:48] Leanna O’Brien: Music is now our favorite time of the day. My kids are up and dancing. They know classical music. Like the, um, amount of joy that I got from that was astounding. And from there, it's kind of all just goes from there. We [00:05:00] ended up, uh. Having a bunch of other teachers who I was like, yeah, use these, use these, get these out to your kids.
[00:05:06] Leanna O’Brien: Um, and a lot of teachers being like, well, how do I, how do I do this myself? And then the Soaring Scarves Academy was born and me really stepping into that role of, well, let me teach you how to bring effective music into the elementary music classroom.
[00:05:22] Bryson Tarbet: I love that journey because I think it's very similar to my own where, you know, I never had this intention of doing this.
[00:05:28] Bryson Tarbet: It's just something that I saw there was a need and I kind of fell into it. So I love I love it. How often are, you know, when they bring guests on to the podcast in one way or another, our stories are very similar. Um, but I think it was really cool about what you said there is. Actually, let me take a step back.
[00:05:47] Bryson Tarbet: I will be the first one to tell you that for whatever reason and to this day I don't know why until I met you. I never wanted to do scarves I don't know if I just thought it was baby ish or I don't know. I don't know what it [00:06:00] was I don't know if it's just because I had never really seen it done. Um, but once you know you spoke at our summit a while back and I was like, okay, I like this idea.
[00:06:10] Bryson Tarbet: Like, I think it was like that day. I ordered new scarves. Um, so that I had enough scarves for my, my students and, you know, just starting to put it in there in a way where was getting them moving, especially moving with a prop. So it's not, it's not dancing. It's moving a scarf, you know, like, so they can kind of for some of those students that might not really enjoy, uh, other movement.
[00:06:27] Bryson Tarbet: It was really helpful. Um, yeah. So I don't know really where I'm going with that, but I just need to feel like I need to share that.
[00:06:34] Leanna O’Brien: Well, thank you for sharing it. Honestly, it was definitely a big question for me at the beginning, and I definitely didn't expect to kind of take scarf dancing and make it such a large part of not only my classroom structure, because you, if you've heard me talk before, anybody on here, I do it every day, every, for every start of every lesson, five, the first five to 10 minutes is a scarf dance.
[00:06:58] Leanna O’Brien: And I never [00:07:00] expected that to be my mantra. And especially I didn't expect my older kids to want to continue it. I mean, having, I thought, no, by the time we get to fourth grade, this is baby ish we're done. And having my fourth grade just look at me and be like, are we not? And I'm like, I wasn't planning on it.
[00:07:19] Leanna O’Brien: But no, it's, it's, it's really depends on, on how you use it. And I'm so glad to hear that I had that, you know, bit of a impact on your classroom. That's fantastic.
[00:07:29] Bryson Tarbet: So let's dive right in and let's, let's talk about the elephant in the room, which is why is movement important, especially in a general music classroom?
[00:07:39] Leanna O’Brien: So even though I definitely am somebody who stumbled into it. I realized just what I stumbled into from developing and from researching how much it actually matters and right now like if I bring up just a couple things that I have just from any, um, PD sessions that [00:08:00] I've done, uh, is. That movement, the second that you bring it into a classroom, um, and a study by the International Journal of Educational Research, even if it's just adding some movement with your hands along with concepts, saw a 20 percent higher retention rate compared to students who just learned passively, right?
[00:08:20] Leanna O’Brien: The Journal of Neuroscience Science found that movement helps solidify concepts by involving the multiple sentence, reinforcing the learning material in the brain in general. Movement, physical activity, it reduces stress, it helps to encode new material, it helps memory retention and development, and it helps to solidify these concepts by making them into an experience.
[00:08:44] Leanna O’Brien: And I think that's what a lot of times we're missing. In our lessons. It's not the material we're bringing in. It's not what we're trying to teach, but it's teaching in a way that we're talking. We're talking and we're not meeting students [00:09:00] where they need. And just the amount of research, the amount of data that has been proven, proven to show.
[00:09:07] Leanna O’Brien: That visual learning is 100 percent important. Auditory, 100%, writing, reading, yes, but in general, especially with our younger kids, we're talking kindergarten through third, fourth grade and preschool, right? If they're not moving. They're not experiencing, and if they're not experiencing, they're not making the codes in their brains to actually retain this, and this education.
[00:09:33] Leanna O’Brien: They're, they're passively learning instead of being involved in it. And what I found out even more that kind of just solidified this for me was all the teachers and my wonderful principals and everyone coming to me going, Your class is different. Why? And for the longest time, I wasn't able to answer that.
[00:09:52] Leanna O’Brien: I just went, yeah, no, I'm ha I'm having a great time again, just having stumbled into this, but I found out that 63 [00:10:00] percent of our students days. are spent, or 63 percent of their day in general, is spent sitting. And then we're confused when we have behavioral problems. When we have that lack of retention.
[00:10:14] Leanna O’Brien: When we have students who are confusing concepts, because vocabulary, especially with abstract concepts, just isn't solidified in their bodies. And that confusion leads to so much frustration. Um, that I, again, was just lucky enough to be like, Oh, I brought one movement in, let me put it in every aspect of my class.
[00:10:33] Leanna O’Brien: And see what comes from that.
[00:10:35] Bryson Tarbet: Yeah, I I think that I've also had a very similar kind of experience of you know It's different in here and it just feels different There's a different vibe and i'll be the first one to say that I think it's important to realize that as music teachers We do have a little bit more flexibility to to put that in there I'm, not saying that there isn't value in movement in you know a math or a reading class Uh, but the reality is is based on The content that we teach, [00:11:00] it's so inherently connected to movement.
[00:11:02] Bryson Tarbet: Um, especially when you think it's right there, it's that low hanging fruit, but like it's good fruit. It's, it's, there's a reason why it works. And I, I think that's something we, we think of it. Sometimes we think of it. As being too simple, just like I, I thought at one point, it's just this simple thing, but there's so much meat to it that really gets at intense core learning, even when it just looks like dancing or moving, and I think that's what sometimes can be really easy to forget.
[00:11:34] Leanna O’Brien: Oh, like again, just like, I know I'm preaching to the choir right now, but it is just so good to see the validity of the simple and, and not only just the simple, but the simple done over and over and over again. I have so many teachers are like, you do this every day. Doesn't it get boring? No, because I cater every class to whatever movement that I [00:12:00] know will help get them there.
[00:12:01] Leanna O’Brien: If I know I want to teach about dynamics, well then every single movement break will be leading my students to having those multiple musical experiences that by the time I finally introduce the vocabulary for dynamics. They now have an experience and they have memories surrounding that. Oh miss, isn't that like when we're jumping really big versus when we're tiptoeing really small?
[00:12:26] Leanna O’Brien: Like seeing those light bulbs is always a teacher's favorite thing. Like we all, we all know that we love those light bulbs. So we get a little bit of an adrenaline kick off of it. But seeing how much easier it can happen when our students are able to connect it to their bodies. And because that's just the way that they were meant to learn.
[00:12:47] Bryson Tarbet: Exactly. And I, when I kind of connect a thread here, uh, you know, I've talked before about how I use folk dancing a lot and play parties and things like that, particularly in that third and fourth grade is where I always did it. And [00:13:00] we would have to start off, you know, when I first started doing that, I started in third grade and fourth grade with third grade and fourth grade level things.
[00:13:07] Bryson Tarbet: And it was too big of a leap. Like it was just too, too much going from not moving to, to moving. And, and. I think you bring up a really good point earlier. You brought up a really good point earlier when you were talking about how you had older kids that had come to expect it and they were like, no, we, we want this.
[00:13:25] Bryson Tarbet: So I would love to flip that coin a little bit and talk about what if someone wants to incorporate some of the movement activities that we're talking about, but they haven't. Started young and grown them through it. Are there different things that you would do in an older class if they're, you know, just getting started?
[00:13:41] Bryson Tarbet: Would you just wait until they've gone all the way through? I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.
[00:13:46] Leanna O’Brien: My thought process is a lot of teachers are just going to be of the mindset that a student, by the time they reach a certain age. And again, usually it's around that third grade, fourth grade, maybe fifth grade that they don't need to move.[00:14:00]
[00:14:00] Leanna O’Brien: And again, studies and data. It's just not the case. If anything, it becomes a little bit more key to the behavior management of a class. We spend so much time managing a class because we're not meeting the kids movement needs. It takes up so much of our time. And it makes us so nervous to introduce something new.
[00:14:25] Leanna O’Brien: And I completely understand that. I had, um, especially the first two, three years of teaching when you're stumbling through everything else. I had a tough group of 5th graders. My 5th graders were like, everyone was like, Oh no, it's 5th grade. It's not, it's this group, right? And we all, we also all know that the multiple problems that come with that.
[00:14:46] Leanna O’Brien: I knew that at the end of the day, I had to get them moving. How could I do that in a way that was going to be accessible for these older kids? And what I found is I had to change the way I came at it. And I had to [00:15:00] change the way I spoke about it when kids reach a certain age where they're too cool for school.
[00:15:05] Leanna O’Brien: You cannot call it a game. You cannot call it, you know, Oh, we're going to do this activity. Absolutely not. It has to be a challenge. It has to be something that is going to drive the kids to where you almost. I don't want to call it gaslighting. But I do remember a couple times being like, Alright, listen guys, this is really hard, this is really advanced, I'm gonna go through it step by step, but honestly, if you can't do it, I understand, it's okay.
[00:15:33] Leanna O’Brien: And having that little flare in them, of all them being like, She thinks we can't do this! And having that be a spark. I think that if you start small, especially with older kids, of just giving their movement needs met first, before you incorporate more meaningful experiences. But even if it's just, you know, four corners, right?
[00:15:57] Leanna O’Brien: And, alright everyone, here's a sticky [00:16:00] note. I just put a question up on the board, write the answer, um, and then you're gonna place your sticky note, depending on your answer, on this corner, this corner, this corner, this corner. Again, around the room. Just having them meet. That expectation of we're going to do this with our bodies calm.
[00:16:18] Leanna O’Brien: We're going to do this with our, you know, having the building blocks of can you bring something in without seeing the spiral by being able to trust your students and by knowing by the time you get there and you have built those blocks that they're gonna want to do it. And especially with older kids, it is harder.
[00:16:38] Leanna O’Brien: It's so much easier with the youngers. If you ask a kid, uh, who's in kindergarten to show you how an elephant dances, right? Oh my goodness, the responses that you're going to get are going to be immediate and amazing. You ask somebody who's never really done that, who's in now, say, second grade, and that's around the age, second, third grade, where they're going to start looking around them first.
[00:16:59] Leanna O’Brien: to see, [00:17:00] well, what are my peers doing? Right? And if you ask a fifth grader, an eighth grader to do that, you're just going to get like, what do you mean an elephant? Right? Um, so I think it really does. You have to change how you go about it. You have to change the way that you speak about it. And especially if you're dealing with a class that, you know, is going to be reluctant.
[00:17:20] Leanna O’Brien: That you don't throw them under the bus, but you build up the blocks and see what they can handle and push it a little farther each and every time
[00:17:29] Bryson Tarbet: those are all really good points, especially the way you talk about it. I think that's something we don't think about a lot because when we hear about these new concepts or these new ideas, we're hearing about him in a setting like this, where we're educators that are talking about it amongst ourselves.
[00:17:44] Bryson Tarbet: But the reality is, is when I, you know, for instance, when I do play parties, I don't call it a play party first because. That's confusing at first. Eventually, we'll get into it because it's kind of interesting, but, you know, I think it's important for us to be aware of things like that. For instance, when I do any sort of movement, [00:18:00] hold hands is never in my vocabulary.
[00:18:02] Bryson Tarbet: Connect hands, connect the circle, things like that. It's the same thing. I want them to do. It's just, it's a little bit of a different ask, right? You're gonna get a little bit of a different response from your students, especially if you have those older students who are a little bit, um, a little bit more Standoffish about it.
[00:18:19] Bryson Tarbet: Um, and yeah, and I, and I think sometimes also you, you talked about, you know, looking around to see what everyone else is doing. Um, I, I, people ask a lot, like, how do you, how do you get the kids to do some of these things? And I always, now, part of it is just who my, how my personality is, is I always made myself the weirdest person in the room.
[00:18:39] Bryson Tarbet: So, you know, as long, as long as they weren't being as weird as Mr. Tarbit, at least there was somebody else being weird in the room. And that really worked for me. So if that works for you, feel free to take that. But like, if we were going to be making elephants, I would be being the most ridiculous elephant you'd have ever seen using full body motions, probably throwing out my back in the process.
[00:18:58] Bryson Tarbet: But, you know, and I [00:19:00] think that's something that we also need to consider is how we are showing up in that mix. Are we presenting it as something that's exciting, or are we presenting it as this thing that we're just waiting to go wrong?
[00:19:10] Leanna O’Brien: Yes, 100%. And now kind of on the opposite side though, can you, as the teacher, picture your most reluctant student, right?
[00:19:20] Leanna O’Brien: Doing the, whatever activity you're asking. Because I feel like sometimes we also go through it with like these rose colored glasses. Like if we're doing the opposite way and we're like, oh no, it'll work! And it might. If you build it up the right way first, but I'm like, everybody has like that one student in their brain where it's like, you know, that their peers are going to be looking to them, right?
[00:19:40] Leanna O’Brien: How can you put a pause on the negative response and instead foster the positive response? How can you get the response that you want while also understanding what it could be if you don't? represent it the right way.
[00:19:57] Bryson Tarbet: So let's talk about that. How, how do we do [00:20:00] that? Do you have any sort of specific examples or like concrete things you can walk us through?
[00:20:05] Leanna O’Brien: So I, I taught, um, K through eight and it's still teaching, um, middle schoolers. And whereas, uh, by the end of, um, these last now going on, oh my goodness. Oh my goodness, uh, uh, six years at the one school, uh, the little kids became so, I wouldn't say easy, but I would say easy to guess what is going to happen, right?
[00:20:32] Leanna O’Brien: With the older kids, it was more about, and everybody hates hearing this, but it's true, building the relationships and fostering the right classroom. Goals together and making them more a part of it and providing more Individual time that they can express their own challenges and things like that and I really feel like if you know that you have an activity that you want to bring into the classroom and you know It's going to be one where they're [00:21:00] going to be up and they're going to be moving Finding that one kid that you know might be hesitant and if you've already managed to build the relationship Which is already tough, but a lot of times they're looking to that student because that student has leadership qualities.
[00:21:20] Leanna O’Brien: And really being able to pull that student aside, which I always say, like, a lot of teachers are scared to talk one on one, especially at the beginning, to students. I think it's one of the most important things you can do to take, now, the role of, I see this teacher when she's talking to everybody else, right?
[00:21:38] Leanna O’Brien: And instead make it a, I'm talking to you, kind of relationship. And really looking at that student and going, I need you on this. I need you to support me on this because this is the goal we are trying to reach as a class. The other kids are going to look to you. Can I count on you? And really having, again, [00:22:00] those rose colored glasses can't be on when you're talking with older kids.
[00:22:03] Leanna O’Brien: How do you take those rose colored glasses off, understand what the consequences could be, and still foster that positive experience that you can have? Again, by, by the end of, um, My current fifth graders who then I graduated in eighth grade, but by that eighth grade, the difference of me knowing that I could trust my students to do the movement, the right way to meet them at their needs, knowing they needed to move, but knowing it had to be in the right way and to see them flourish.
[00:22:39] Leanna O’Brien: It's incredible. It may take more work, but I promise you, if you're instead moving. Instead of managing, it's such a simpler time.
[00:22:49] Bryson Tarbet: Yeah, and let's be honest, when you have that type of, you know, one on one conversation, it makes it very clear that the actions they're taking are having a bigger impact than what they might think.
[00:22:59] Bryson Tarbet: You know, they [00:23:00] might just, well, school is happening at me, but no, in this situation, like, you are involved, like, you are part of this, we, we need you on this, and I think it can be really, but also, like, On the same side, like, I see you, like, not in like, I see you, I'm watching you, but like, hey, I see, I see that what you're, I'm glad that you're here, I'm validating your experience and your existence, now let's do this thing.
[00:23:23] Leanna O’Brien: I see that you could have it. a positive impact on your peers. Like so many kids, they don't actually, they are the class clown because they want to be looked at or they're the ones shouting out because they want to be looked at. Can you instead be the kid that leads? It's, it's such a change. It's such a change.
[00:23:44] Leanna O’Brien: I was able to take my toughest kids and Again, having them in chorus where I was able to make the standards even higher, the expectations even higher, and then look at them and be like, you are my leader. This is your [00:24:00] group. If they look at you and see your slouching, what will I get? What will this group get?
[00:24:05] Leanna O’Brien: And giving that group mentality I think is also really important. I feel like especially for a tough bunch of kids, having a goal and a goal that you've created together, not in the, There's a lot of genuine experiences that we can have. And there's a lot of, well, let's make our classroom rules together and having them be kind of weaker experiences.
[00:24:28] Leanna O’Brien: I had ukuleles that we had just gotten in and I made those ukuleles seem like they were the most expensive, like they were the most precious, like they were, I will not allow this to be in your hand until you show me without a doubt that you are going to use this the right way. Here's what we're going to do.
[00:24:47] Leanna O’Brien: There's the goal at the top. The goal at the top is ukuleles. I wanted them to appreciate that. They had to start on boomwhackers. From boomwhackers, they then had to go to orphaned instruments. From orphaned, you know, and building that up. Making an experience so that [00:25:00] by the time that they got ukuleles, it mattered.
[00:25:03] Leanna O’Brien: There's so many experiences we give that don't matter. Can you have a goal that then you look at that kid and say, we're trying to reach this. Are you going to help us and then actually caring I feel like that's a lot of times we give out the participation awards and the this and the that and we don't give out the meaning we need to make it matter
[00:25:30] Bryson Tarbet: for sure so let's see if we can zoom in really practical because I love all this talk and I it's my favorite thing but I also know the reality is Okay.
[00:25:41] Bryson Tarbet: Maybe we have a teacher who's listening to say, all right, I'm sold. What do I do? Where do I start? Can you share a simple activity or a structure or, or something, whatever you would love to share, um, that a teacher can use to start incorporating movement, even if they're new to it.
[00:25:57] Leanna O’Brien: So as far as movement, [00:26:00] again, just knowing that it's important.
[00:26:03] Leanna O’Brien: If a teacher is sitting here listening and going, all right, I'm sold. Movement's important. Just getting it in there to start. Is where I feel like everyone needs to be. And that means going on YouTube and finding, even if it is just the brain breaks, even if it is just getting your students up and getting them moving, prepping them by going, here's my expectations.
[00:26:27] Leanna O’Brien: If you can't meet them, we cannot do things like this. Right. And making sure that their bodies are safe and making sure that this is again, building an experience where this is going to matter, but just. Starting, getting movement in, giving them a chance to get their wiggles out. Because any teacher that brings in some sort of movement, even if it's just watching a YouTube video and having them participate with it, they're going to see a change in their behavior management.
[00:26:56] Leanna O’Brien: They're going to see a change if they're doing it right. And then being able to [00:27:00] bring their students bodies down and having them then realize, okay, well now I have to be. And again, that, that's its own toughness. We can talk about that too, but just doing that alone behavior is going to be different. You got their wiggles out, right?
[00:27:17] Leanna O’Brien: Their engagement afterwards is going to be different. You got rid of the distractions right now. That's just how to get movement in. But what I'm really about is. to get a meaningful movement. We know movement is important, but like you said, music and movement go hand in hand. And so now once you get that in, once you've built some of the experiences, once you've built some of the expectations, now as a teacher, can you make it meaningful?
[00:27:48] Leanna O’Brien: Can you ask yourself, okay, um, let's say you're doing a lesson on tempo, right? You want to teach tempo. Now there's a couple of, there's so many different ways to do this, right? And [00:28:00] yet so many of us end up with that same chart. stuck up on the wall that says the word tempo at the top and has the pictures of the animals.
[00:28:09] Leanna O’Brien: And we all know which tempo chart I'm talking about. There's a cheetah at that chop and a turtle at the bottom. Right. And where again, that visual I think is great. I think it's, it's accessible to little kids. It's going to make sense. You know, what doesn't make sense? The word tempo, right? But if you instead go, all right, I want to teach about tempo and then.
[00:28:32] Leanna O’Brien: Weeks before you even incorporate that word. Can you bring in movement? Um, in the hall of the mountain King Edvard Grieg, right? It is this amazing experience for tempo. It starts so quietly. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. It's quiet. So you can also use it to talk about dynamics after, and the tempo increases, increases, increases, until the very end where you're [00:29:00] basically da da da da da da da da da da da da.
[00:29:02] Leanna O’Brien: It's a fantastic example of slow to fast. So even before incorporating that, can you now create some multiple movement experiences that are meaningful? A lot of Ms there, right? Um, but can you do that? Can you bring in a scarf dance from the scarf dance? Can you bring in, um, body percussion? Again, if you just go on YouTube right now and search, um, I don't think, you know what my scarf dance is on YouTube.
[00:29:31] Leanna O’Brien: Um, it's under one of my full. professional developments I have on YouTube. Um, it's under my music is movement routines and structure, which I have a whole professional development on it in there. I go through the entire scarf dance, right? So for anyone listening, if you want the scarf dance for that, literally on YouTube, uh, soaring scarves Academy, um, routines and structure it's in there.
[00:29:55] Leanna O’Brien: All right. So there's the scarf dance, but there's also, if you look on YouTube, somebody [00:30:00] does an amazing body percussion. Um, And it's, and already again, there's another experience where you can again, use it not to talk about tempo, but allow students to feel tempo, right? Then from there, can you bring in those multiple experiences?
[00:30:20] Leanna O’Brien: Can you bring in the visuals? Can you bring in the song? Can you do all this and then talk about tempo? And by the time you're talking about the word, now they have all these experience to go. I feel that. I feel the difference between da da and slow. I understand that. And then you've actually primed them to retain that information, right?
[00:30:44] Leanna O’Brien: You've primed them to now hold a special place, right? Telling stories. Um, Edward Grigg, it's a great one to talk about the movie Trolls. Movie Trolls uses Edward Grigg. Uh, in the Hall of the Mountain King. Can you now connect to trolls? Right? There's so many [00:31:00] different ways to go about Tempo. And yet, so many of us are going to use it as a time to lecture our students.
[00:31:05] Leanna O’Brien: For them to sit in front of us and go, this is what Tempo is. The definition That's not an experience. That's a lecture. And it's just not how our kids are going to learn.
[00:31:16] Bryson Tarbet: And I think it's a really good Reaffirmation of the fact of when we teach students a new concept, let them understand what it is first before we tell them what the name of it is, right?
[00:31:29] Bryson Tarbet: Thinking about language development, we don't understand the concept of a ball. And that, but until we under, you know, it's not that we learn the word first and then we like, Oh, no, it's the other way around. You're like, Hey, I want that thing. And then eventually we figure out. If I say the word ball, I get the ball.
[00:31:46] Bryson Tarbet: Right? It's the same kind of thing. We're making that connection in a way that is natural to the way that learning happens, which I think is really important. Um, so Leanna, we've, you've already shared like a bunch of wonderful tidbits, but I would love [00:32:00] to zoom in a little bit and talk about, um, the masterclass that you're going to be giving inside that music teacher community.
[00:32:06] Bryson Tarbet: Uh, what can participants expect to learn from your session?
[00:32:10] Leanna O’Brien: So basically, and I am, I am so very, very excited to be starting, um, the master class that's going to be just such a great time. Um, but what I'm really going to be bringing into it, and I'm trying to just find a little bit because I have, yes, I'm going to be doing a more in depth look about movement in the classroom, but specifically how to incorporate it starting The exact same day or the exact same now week that you have watched the masterclass.
[00:32:41] Leanna O’Brien: And I'm going to be bringing three lessons in, I'm going to be bringing three scarf dances, and I'm going to be bringing three movement breaks all to demonstrate key aspects of music and how to use it at its most effective, how to use movement at its most effective. And that really is. Some things that [00:33:00] I've only, again, just been continuing, continuing to research and develop and test like how to grab assessments and data in a way that is just through movement.
[00:33:11] Leanna O’Brien: And I'm really excited to continue talking, um, about that. It's easy, it's in a very fun way, and instead of your students sitting there going, We have a test! Gathering data in a way that is not stressful, same with singing. A lot of times you will have your students first introduction to singing as something stressful.
[00:33:32] Leanna O’Brien: Because again, maybe they're at that age where they're looking around going, Well, do I sound like everyone else? Or is everyone else singing as loud as I am? How to use movement to take the stress out. of singing, right? And also how to bring it into again, those routines and structures for the thing that every teacher struggles with, which is behavior managing and taking the management out of it.
[00:33:55] Leanna O’Brien: Cause if your behavior, if you're managing behavior, it means that you've already gotten to the [00:34:00] point where you have the behavior, how to prevent that entirely through movement, right? So that's what I want to be bringing in. Um, there's, I feel like. A lot. A lot, a lot to that. Um, so yeah, uh, I guess kind of what's, um, maybe I, I, a bit unique about that is after this session, uh, I'm not just going to be going, okay, one time, hi, and bye.
[00:34:30] Leanna O’Brien: Um, but these teachers. Whoever comes and is ready to learn, they're going to be getting those three lessons, three movement breaks, three, um, scarf dances, and a, um, five week course that is just all about how to really bring it into the classroom in small and easy to digest ways because this is a lot.
[00:34:51] Leanna O’Brien: Again, I've had now almost 10 years of Looking at how I can bring meaningful movement into my classroom at every step of the way [00:35:00] and how to make it more meaningful. And so yeah, that's 10 years worth of information can't really happen in one master class session. So, uh, I will be offering a five week course again.
[00:35:11] Leanna O’Brien: Everything's totally free, but just for any teacher who is going to be able to take these mini lessons and really try to bring them into their classroom in an effective way without feeling. Horribly overwhelmed. The great thing is we have access to so many resources in this day and age, right? And the bad thing is we have access to so many resources in this day and age.
[00:35:36] Leanna O’Brien: It can get 100 percent overwhelming, so trying to make this masterclass just as easy and seamless as possible is going to be my goal.
[00:35:48] Bryson Tarbet: For sure so we will put the link if you are not currently a member of that music teacher community where you can learn more About that in the show notes or description wherever you're watching or listening to this if you're listening in the future this [00:36:00] Recording will be living within our vault so you can still join and check out what?
[00:36:05] Bryson Tarbet: Leanna had to say. So Leanna, I know that we're going to have some people that are listening to this conversation and want to dive in so much deeper. So can you share where people can find you and learn more about what you do online?
[00:36:18] Leanna O’Brien: Yes, yes. Thank you so much for asking that, Bryson. Basically, Anytime that you search the Soaring Scarves Academy, I'm going to be up there.
[00:36:26] Leanna O’Brien: Uh, I have a private Facebook group that is music educators only. I am very proud of that Facebook group. We have some really amazing and talented teachers who Are wonderful to get into some good discussions, some tips and tricks. Um, even if it's just about what is the new TV show to watch, which apparently is Abbott Elementary.
[00:36:49] Leanna O’Brien: I was late to the game, but all of the teachers on that Facebook group made it known I should be watching this. Um, so. Can
[00:36:55] Bryson Tarbet: confirm. Alright,
[00:36:57] Leanna O’Brien: I'm just late. I gotta get on it. [00:37:00] Um, you can also find me on YouTube, uh, again, just by searching Serenite Scribes Academy. I have three, um, no, I just created a playlist of just some more professional development, um, sessions that I've done in the past.
[00:37:14] Leanna O’Brien: that are just, again, to bring movement in without making you feel like you're alone, because a lot of times, music educators, I feel like, can feel like you're on an island, um, just out here by yourself. And that's what's so great about that music teacher. You're never gonna be alone because you have so many people who are just trying to do exactly what you're doing, which is to bring movement and music and experiences.
[00:37:41] Leanna O’Brien: Into a classroom of some amazing kiddos. So I have, um, a couple hours worth actually of, um, professional development on YouTube. I also am on Tik TOK again, just through soaring scarves Academy. If that's more, if you want a bit of a laugh, I do some serious things on there, but [00:38:00] mostly it's just for the giggles.
[00:38:02] Leanna O’Brien: Uh, and yeah, so that's Facebook, YouTube. And again, I also have a blog on my own. Um, I own websites, so that's just soaring scarves academy. com.
[00:38:12] Bryson Tarbet: All right, well, we will be sure to put the links to those in the show notes as well Leanna Thank you so much so much for sharing your expertise with us today. We really appreciate it
[00:38:22] Leanna O’Brien: Thank you so much Bryson for having me
[00:38:25] Bryson Tarbet: of course, and if you are listening Thank you so much for joining us for another episode of that music podcast If you have not left us review wherever you are listening It would mean the world to us if you would go ahead and leave us a review to let us know what you want more Of what you want us to dive deeper into and in In case nobody has told you today, I want to remind you that you are making a difference in the lives of the students that you [00:39:00] teach.
