Elemental Conversations with Victoria Boler

Find the show notes here: https://victoriaboler.com/podcast/national-core-arts-standards-nyssa-brown 01:52 - Nyssa’s role in the 2014 standards, and what the National Standards are 07:38 - What is Literacy? 10:55 - What is a Concept? 15:33 - Enduring Understandings 24:22 - Concepts and Skills 33:25 - Sequencing Understanding 36:48 - What do I do with these standards? 46:10 - Should we teach the st...

01:44 - Nesting Concepts in Elementary General Music 10:10 - Areas of Balance through Tension 12:16 - Emphasizing Music 12:18 - Emphasizing the Child Over the Curriculum Document 15:07 - Emphasizing a Functional Classroom 17:51 - Possible Applications 18:59 - Transferrable Understanding 1: Ensemble 27:05 - Transferrable Understanding 2: Complement 34:07 - Where to Read More

Full Show notes: https://victoriaboler.com/elemental-conversations In this Conversation…. 00:00 - Intro 01:27 - About Aileen 04:05 - Benefits of centers 08:33 - Should we do one concept or more than one concept in our centers? 12:38 - Aileen’s “formula” for center categories 20:11 - Setting up for success 26:45 - Choices, classroom management, and assessment : What to think about and options for s...

Find the full show notes: victoriaboler.com/podcast/starting-from-scratch-in-2nd-and-3rd-grade-music Today we’re thinking through what it can look like to start at the beginning of the music sequence with our 2nd and 3rd grade musicians. It can sometimes feel like these students are overlooked with teaching materials intended for both Kindergarten / 1st grade, and older beginners. Let’s take a loo...

If your year is just starting and your voice is already feeling tired, I know you'll appreciate all the wisdom Dr. Caitlin Moore has to share about vocal health for music teachers! Over the summer Dr. Moore took time out of her day at Interlochen Summer Arts Camp to talk about vocal care, vocal fatigue, vocal mechanisms, and much more. Read about Dr. Moore and get in touch with her here: victoriab...

Metric counting…. notation-based…. beat based…. What is the deal with these counting systems? Where did they come from? And why takadimi? As we look into some elemental questions around takadimi, we see that most of us are starting from the same set of core values. The differences in our choices come down to how we answer a few elemental questions: 1. What is the role of the symbol in a sound-befo...

This is such a great conversation with my friend, Matthew Stensrud! We talk about structuring the first elementary general music experiences of the year through the lens of Responsive Classroom. Find Matthew’s bio and connect with him here: https://victoriaboler.com/podcast/responsive-classroom-for-the-beginning-of-the-music-year-matthew-stensrud In This Episode: 00:00 - Intro 01:35 - What is Resp...

Let’s think through some ways to set the tone for learning - both at the beginning of the lesson and at the beginning of the year. Additional Podcast Episodes: Opening the First Day of Music - An Elemental Conversation with Anne Mileski Classroom Management for Elementary General Music (Before the Sticker Charts) Lower Elementary Songs Engine Engine Feeling Fine, It’s Music Time Hey Betty Martin C...

Today I’m sharing an elemental conversation with the fabulous LeslieAnne Bird, all about setting up music room routines.  We talk about how to know it’s time to think or rethink routines, and we go over some very specific pain points a lot of us experience in class - things like getting students into the learning space and starting class, lining up at the end, and other things during the actu...

After the getting-to-know-you activities, after the name games, after the routines….. what’s next? How do we know where to start the year from a musical content perspective? How will we know what students remember? How can we review and make sure kids aren’t bored? What if we’re at a new campus and we don’t know what students have done? How do we take information from singing games in a way that’s...

Join in on this conversation with my friend, Dr. Amanda Hoke! We talk about starting music at a new campus, where to begin instruction, her favorite games for older beginners, and the interwoven tie between curricular sequences and student relationships. Throughout the conversation, Dr. Hoke maintains that building connection with students is a higher priority than any musical achievement we could...

If you find that you sit down to plan and suddenly feel the urge to do the laundry and organize your cabinets instead of working on a scope and sequence…. if you spend more time scrolling for ideas and inspiration than working on lessons… if you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the amount of resources you have for planning… or if you feel stuck and unable to make decisions because you’re waiting for in...

We know we “should” plan over the summer, but where do we start? Let’s consider some elemental questions to help us navigate the “should” of summer planning. This will be a unique approach for all of us, so starting with curious questions can serve us well. In this episode: 02:53 - How are you doing? 06:04 - Where are we coming from? 6:16 - Review last year 11:05 - Hopes and dreams for this year 1...

How might we approach a difficult conversation with a colleague? Let’s start by remembering that we are on the same team, and we’re both looking for ways to reach a student who is having a hard time. For our part, we can lead with empathy and imagination. When it’s time to talk we can actually start by listening. And then we can communicate directly and without apologizing. Here are the first few...

When students can play by ear, so many musical doors open up! It gives them freedom to play songs from other people just by hearing melodies in their heads, and equally important, it allows them to take the songs they have created in their heads and actualize them on an instrument. Today we’ll talk about what’s really happening when we play by ear, which is that we’re actually just listening and c...

How might we take one short, simple children’s folk song and extend it across multiple lessons? Let’s talk about some core questions that can frame some of these decisions, because the beauty of this topic is that we can all arrive at different correct answers, depending on how we answer these questions. We’ll look at some strategies for extending a song once we’ve answered our core questions, and...

Today we’re talking about one of the most common daily frustrations music teachers experience…… Students won’t stop talking! What can we do? The answer might not be the one we want to hear, but taking ownership for our own leadership of the classroom is actually the best place to start the conversation. 00:00 - Introduction 00:58 - Elemental Questions 01:23 - Two core truths about students talking...

Today I’m thrilled to be sharing this conversation with my friend, Danielle Larrick about teaching middle school and upper elementary general music. These grades can sometimes feel challenging to teach - our approach will look, feel, and sound very different from other grades we work with on a weekly basis. Students’ interests have shifted from their younger years, their social worlds are changing...

Let’s take a deep breath and make a plan. How might we approach a semester that has gone off the rails? What are some ways we might get back on track - and what does “on track” look like anyway? Find the full show notes here . - Let’s Connect:    Website  | Instagram  | YouTube   | Website | Planning Binder

I’m excited to share this conversation with Jessica Grant! Jessica brings wisdom and encouragement to educators as they face everyday challenges of teaching music. So often, the challenges of music pedagogy are not the things that weigh on teachers at the end of the day. Communication with colleagues, feeling overwhelmed by the workload, managing difficult student behaviors, and initiating convers...

Any ideas for teaching on a cart? I’m saddened by the lack of space to move and play instruments. I’m teaching on a cart this year. Any suggestions for easy-to-transport activities? Teaching on a cart with no space for movement - students are at desks ——— Let’s look at some strategies for teaching music on a cart. We’ll focus primarily on strategies for finding the right activities…. and we’ll sta...

This conversation is about using percussion instruments, but it’s much more about the mindset to use when approaching these experiences. Alicia spends a lot of time establishing the context in which these activities can take place, and creating the tone of the learning. One of the most valuable parts of the conversation to me was hearing Alicia talk about all the artistry and imagination that take...

As we wrap up the year, rhythmic building blocks can be a beautiful way too reinforce musical knowledge and skills, while offering lots of options for student choice. Whether rhythmic building blocks are a well-loved mechanism in your classroom already, or if you’ve never used them at all… I think you’ll enjoy this look into their (seemingly) infinite possibilities. Find the full show notes at htt...

The short answer: As often as we want, and as often as we see it serving students. But there’s a lot more to dive into! Here are some things to consider thinking about in answer to this important question.

It’s concert season. Let’s look at some options for taking a short piece and extended it for a concert setting. When it’s time to put on a program of short recorder pieces, how can we keep the presentation manageable, while filling out a program? - Find the full show notes at https://victoriaboler.com/elemental-conversations   Let’s Connect:  Website | Instagram | YouTube | Website | Pla...