214 | Engaging the Reluctant Learner: 5 Ways to Reach Unmotivated Music Students

We all know that student, the one who shows up to music because they have to, sits with arms crossed, and makes it very clear they’re not impressed. In this episode, Bryson digs into what’s really going on beneath that disengagement and why most “reluctant learners” aren’t trying to be difficult; they just haven’t found their way in yet. You’ll explore five common reluctant learner archetypes and practical ways to connect with each one. This episode will challenge you to look at engagement through a new lens and walk away with small, doable shifts that can help more students feel seen, valued, and genuinely connected to music class.

Episode Chapters:

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:48 The Pop-Culture Enthusiast
• 5:07 The Digital Native
• 6:40 The Silent Observer
• 8:26 The Cultural Disconnect
• 10:23 The Socially Distracted
• 11:39 Common Questions & Solutions
• 13:14 Takeaways
  
  

Links and Resources: 

• The Elementary Music Summit®
• Elementary Newbie Guide
• Disabilities Guide
• Steady Beat Survival Guide
• Join Elementary Music EDGE™

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 3:38 The Pop-Culture Enthusiast
• 5:57 The Digital Native
• 7:30 The Silent Observer
• 9:16 The Cultural Disconnect
• 11:13 The Socially Distracted
• 12:29 Common Questions & Solutions
• 14:04 Takeaways

Transcript

Bryson Tarbet: 0:50

I want you to think about that student that comes to class only because they have to. They might sit in the corner with their arms crossed, they're not having a great time, they're not engaged, and they might be a little bit of a jerk because of it. How can we engage that student? That's what we're gonna be talking about today.

: 1:13

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 guest 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. Show notes and resources mentioned in this episode. Can be found@thatmusicteacher.com.

Bryson Tarbet: 1:48

Welcome back to this week's episode of That Music podcast. Yeah, we're gonna talk about it. We're gonna talk about those, you know, the, you know, when you're looking at 'em, the, they might be, you know, sitting in the corner cross, they might be a grumpy gus and they're just there because they have to go to music. They might have, you know, they might be the ones that ask you, when am I ever gonna use this in real life? They might get under your skin. And yeah, there are some kids that, for whatever reason, they might enjoy being a little bit of a jerk. I would argue that most students just need a little bit of help feeling engaged, and that's what we're gonna be talking about today, is how we can really engage those students that might need a little bit of extra love, a little bit of extra support, a little bit of extra hooking and pulling into the realm so that they can understand what music can be, because it might not be what they think it's. Well, this really covers any grade. I think it really works best for upper elementary, middle school, and we're gonna be talking about five different learner archetypes to be able to kind of get in their head a little bit more, understand them a little bit more, see kind of what is going on, kind of what is, what's going on in their head. Right? And I think it's really important for us to, first of all, acknowledge when I say archetype, I do not mean stereotype. I want us to realize that both of these things can be used. Poorly, but we're gonna use them. We use an archetype in a way that is going to help students. We're not stereotyping, we're not putting them into boxes. We're trying to understand them more. So when we're saying this, we're not saying that they have to be in this box, or if they do this, then this, or you know, all these different things. We are just trying to give us another lens to look at the students that might not be super interested in what's going on so that we can understand a little bit better about how we can get them interested, how we can get them more involved, how we can get them thinking about music in a little bit of a different. So we're gonna talk about each of the five reluctant learner archetypes, and we're gonna talk about the challenge that they might have and a strategy that we can use to connect them to our classroom. So the first one we have is the pop culture enthusiast. Let's be honest, you probably think of one right off the top of your head. They're really highly engaged with popular culture and music. They view music class as being boring because they probably don't see the relevance of the methods. The traditional, you know, methods that music that they join, they don't understand how, what they already love and what is happening in our classrooms connect. So what can we do for this type of student or a student that might kind of fall into this archetype? First of all, we can just use more pop music. And I know that's a loaded question and I know a lot of, you're probably going, ah, Bryson, but da da da da. Hear me out. There's no reason that we shouldn't be using specific pop songs in our classrooms. There are so many ways that we can connect music that students already know to the content that we're doing. You know, if we're going, you know, very, very code eye of, you know, known to unknown. This is that. And I think that it can be, there are a lot, don't get me wrong, there's a lot of ways that that can make it a little bit difficult, especially if you're not really into that type of music yourself. But that doesn't mean we should stay away from it. So here's a strategy, or kind of, I want to give you for this, this type of architect, do something like a top hits music analysis. Tap into their interest by using popular songs to analyze elements that you're already working on. Have them, you know, pull out a piece of music and say, all right, we have a descending major scale here. Let's talk about how, what that would look like on our Bard instruments or, hey, we've been, you know, doing rah, that's a descending major scale. How are they the same? How are they different? What kind of vibes are they giving? Are there any ways that we can connect the two? The, this is really where bringing in music that they already know can be really helpful. Especially if you have specific students in mind. Figure out what kind of genres they like. Bring those in, having those goes out, break down its structure. Talk about the structure. Maybe have them create a composition that mirrors that structure and how it's the same, how things are different, how things are connected, even if they're not the same. This is all how you engage the pop culture enthusiast. The next archetype is the digital native. These students prefer to interact with music through technology. Think about it, YouTube, TikTok, different apps. You know, there's all different things that allow them to find engaging things to music. But they might, they probably find traditional instruction uninteresting or boring or again, they don't see how they're connected. So that to me sounds like a challenge. How can we get them to show that it is connected? How can we get understand that music production and you know, producing and these digital audio workstations and software is connected and can be connected to TAs and TTS and all these different things. So digital music production is a great one here. There are things like Chrome Music Lab, Google Creativity, um, that can allow you to, you know, use technology to add another level up. But you can also go really far and deep and use a digital audio workstation like soundtrack, GarageBand, use U Studio, whatever, to create your own beats. Have them create a backing track to a folk song that they already know, have them, you know, create different loops that show different moods of, I've even done where, you know, they're creating the sound effects for a sound effects and, and the music for a silent movie. Ways that they can see how this connects a little bit. And using this technology, get them, you know, using the apps on their Chromebooks, in, in their iPads, whatever, have them use that thing because they're gonna do it anyway. They're gonna be going home and make tiktoks anyway. So how can we use that to connect with what's going on in our classroom? And that is how you engage the digital data. The next archetype is the silent observer. This is a student that I had no idea existed in my classroom until COVID. These students, they might be quiet and reserved. They're probably gonna avoid group activities or performance. They might not like to sing. Um, they really don't have, you know, they might have some anxiety for performance, maybe a lack of confidence. And they, you, for me, before COVID, I just thought these students just didn't like music. I really did. I'm just like, all right, well, I'm doing my best. Then with COVID, you know, during, during the COVID and we couldn't sing, we couldn't do this, so I, we did a lot more of the responding to music and I saw these students light up using something like journaling and reflecting, asking these questions about, Hey, there's this piece of music that we just listened to. Let's talk about it. Let's really dive into this deep, having this reflection of, you know, how does this connect to your, you know, let's, let's pick a song that you think connects to your life. Tell me, how does this connect to your life? You know, I've even done it where I've had, you know, a musical of my life where they kind of create a playbill, you know, with a story arc of these different songs and how it's showing the different parts of their life, the different parts of their story, whether it's the story they've already have, or the story that they want to go to. This, I've seen this, these type of activities light up the silent observers in my classroom because they get to be musical. They just get to be creative listeners rather than creative. You know, performers or creative com composers, they get to, they get to really think about it and really kinda share that way. And the silent observer, I promise you, they're gonna be one of those students that might be engaged, but you might not know it because you're dealing with the students that are not engaged and are like throwing chairs, right? But these students, they're just there and they don't really want to be. So doing activities like this and being aware of this can be really helpful. Up next, we have the cultural disconnect. This really comes from the music that we're using in our classroom, not representing the lives that our students are living. And I think this is where it can be really hard to take some deep looks into how we're teaching and understanding that sometimes it is really disconnected from the students that are in front of us. Having, you know, the, the understanding and doing a deep dive into culturally responsive teaching, understanding who your students are in all the ways that, that word, you know, that, that, that phrase means is a huge great start. Um. But also you, you have to do more than just understand. You have to use that understanding to make changes. So maybe having more diverse genres, again, maybe bringing in more pop music can be culturally responsive teaching. Maybe you're bringing in music, um, that might be in a different language. That could be, it might not be depending on your students and depending on, you know, what you're bringing in. But basically showing different things. Having music from various traditions, understanding that music. You know, in, in a lot of cultures is very connected to the culture of it, not just the entertainment. And I think those are different ways that we can really start conversations of understanding that music can be music. Our music classes can be really disconnected from a student's cultural background and cultural in all the different ways that that could mean. So how can we first of all, understand who the students that are in front of us are? Understanding that background and then use that in a way that we are giving them windows into other lives, mirrors into the lives of their own, but then also giving them opportunities to, you know, take that and do something with it. And this is where if you have a student that might be feeling culturally disconnected, this type of, of conversation, these types of, of activities and, and changing things up a little bit can be really helpful. Our final archetype is the socially distracted. Yes. We're gonna talk about those students that are just really involved in the social drama of it all, and they want to talk, they want to, you know, be cool. They, they're really highly influenced by these peer dynamics. Sometimes they might see participating in music activities as uncool or avoid something that doesn't line with like the group's social values. So what can we do? First of all, I found that for whatever reason, especially the, the, you know, the upper elementary boys, having some sort of competition can be really helpful. Um, giving them something where it's not just a game, it's a game where there's a winner or a loser, or there's a game where, you know, you win points or lose points, or there's a challenge where we're doing things together that can be really way helpful to engage certain types of students, basically using that social nature to do something in a group. If they want to talk, great. Give 'em some more talk, but also give them some, you know, framework. Give the, give them a project with clear parameters of what needs done and you know, what, what does done look like and how can, how many different ways can we get there and what do we do That all those different conversations can be really helpful in making sure those students that want to be social can be social. While we're still working through musical goals, what I see as kind of a core in a lot of these archetypes. Is students wanting the outside world to connect more with what's going on in our classroom. So I know you're gonna have some questions because a lot of these examples in these archetypes could be solved by including more pop culture things. So you might say, I don't know what's popular. Cool. Ask your students. Maybe use a simple, uh, survey or a Google form or just have a little jar. Have your students teach you something by breaking down some of their favorite songs. If you wanna know what, what your students like, just ask them. Which brings us to our next question, which is how do I know if it's appropriate, valid question. First of all, Google it. Look at it. You know, is this appropriate? Would this be appropriate for fifth grade, whatever. Um, but also you could focus on instrumental versions of something clean or edited. Versions sometimes can be helpful, um, to avoid certain different things. I want you to choose songs for their musical elements whenever possible, not just which are the most popular, or, you know, what's, what's the most, what's the tending trending TikTok sound now? Um, because if it's not appropriate, don't use it. But I would argue that there sometimes are workarounds. And then here's the big one. How do I balance traditional music with modern? And I think really it comes down to blending the two and the way that works for you. Making sure that we're still teaching traditional music theory and music literacy, but using a lens of modern genres to supplement it and to support it whenever possible is really helpful in engaging all types of students, not just the five that we talked about. Once again, I want to be clear that I'm not saying we should put students in boxes or that they need to do X, y, Z in order to be successful. I want you to use these as lenses to think about students that might not be super engaged in your classroom to help you make some shifts in your curriculum. So it's not a one size fits all model, but it's really relevant and tailored to the students that are actively in front of you. It's not necessarily easy, but you can make some small changes to help things along the way. With that being said, thank you so much for joining us for this week's episode of That Music Podcast. I'll see you next time, and until then, please remember that you make a difference in the lives of the students that.