Integrating Social-Emotional Learning Into Our “New Normal” Teaching Elementary General Music

Abstract

As social-emotional learning (SEL) initiatives are being adopted by many states and school districts, many music teachers have been actively and successfully integrating SEL into their elementary general music curriculum. Whether teaching in person or remotely music educators can create an environment conducive to SEL by practicing mindfulness, building relationships with and between students, encouraging family music engagement, and engaging in inclusive music activities. In this column, you will find resources and ideas about SEL, discover how it looks and functions in the music classroom (virtual or not), and hear from music educators who currently incorporate SEL in their teaching.

Keywords

arts integration children’s literature interdisciplinary music instruction music integration remote teaching social-emotional learning

Without a doubt we are entering a new era of music teaching. Some of you may be starting your school year virtually, some with a limited number of masked students allowed in your classroom, and some of you may now be teaching from a cart and leaving your classroom behind. What has not changed with the onset of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are the increasingly diverse multicultural and multilingual student populations from diverse social and economic backgrounds. Are we up to the task of teaching music to our students in this new reality? Of course! There are tools and methods at our disposal that can help us provide a foundation for safe and positive learning, offer motivation for engaging students in music learning, promote positive behavior, and aid students to perform well academically. Social-emotional learning (SEL) is one of those tools. In this column, you will find resources and ideas on the implementation of SEL, discover how it looks in the music classroom—virtual or not—and hear from music educators who currently incorporate SEL in their teaching.

A Brief Background on Social-Emotional Learning

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)—an organization dedicated to the promotion of SEL—defines SEL as follows:

The process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions (casel.org).

The five core SEL competencies identified by CASEL are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decisionmaking. CASEL advocates for SEL practices and strategies and their integration into all facets of the learning environment, including across grade levels and content areas. According to the 2018 CASEL State Scan, all 50 states have preschool SEL competencies or standards, 18 states have developed K–12 SEL competencies or standards, and 21 states have developed tools and resources to support the implementation of SEL.

The increased interest in SEL and the inclusion of competencies or standards in the K–12 curriculum is not without criticism. Some fear that the improper implementation of SEL may result in conversations, practices, and curricula that are exclusive rather than inclusive (Kaler-Jones, 2020). Therefore, it is essential that core components of SEL are clearly defined and that SEL intervention is culturally sensitive (Edgar, 2017).

Despite this criticism, many find the integration of SEL to be extremely beneficial to students. According to Frey et al. (2019),

Anyone who carefully follows the research on social and emotional learning is wise to avoid making too many definitive claims about its effect. However, one thing we do believe definitively is that classroom learning always includes cognitive, social, and emotional aspects. (p. 4)

One elementary general music teacher recently shared an example of how integrating SEL in their music classroom has improved student social awareness and fostered positive relationship skills:

One of my third-grade classes was struggling with creating a helpful, safe space and using kind words. To help alleviate the problems we were having, I decided to emphasize our school-wide initiative on character building during music class. After a couple of months integrating activities and discussion surrounding social awareness, I witnessed a magical interaction between my struggling third-grade class and one of their classmates with special needs. One day, Lily was struggling with the fact that she had to leave music class early to get to lunch. She was visibly upset and was refusing to leave with her aide. The class remained patient through the disruption as the aide and I worked to get the situation under control. Suddenly and unexpectedly, Lily wandered over to a student on the front row, tapped his shoulder, and said “I want to stay with you.” I noticed by his expression how surprised he was by her forwardness and immediately walked over prepared to intervene. However, before I could do or say anything he jumped up with a huge smile on his face, grabbed her hand, and said “I’ll walk you to lunch. Is that okay?” The whole class watched silently as Lily, her classmate, and the aide walked peacefully out of the music room. I went to the whiteboard and pulled some of the laminated kindness statements we had been using and had a brief discussion with the class about what we just witnessed. I even got a little choked up at how insightful these third graders were and how powerful the lesson on kind acts became. When the little boy returned to the classroom a few minutes later, his classmates erupted in a standing ovation and praised him for being such a nice friend to Lily. (Personal communication, August 4, 2020)

Integrating SEL Into the Elementary Music Curriculum

Music-making activities naturally nurture the development of the whole child by encouraging students to collaborate, self-regulate, show empathy toward others, and engage in critical thinking and problem-solving. Varner (2019) notes that both music education and SEL education share complementary objectives, such as helping to develop self-awareness and social awareness, promoting responsible decisionmaking skills, fostering self-management skills, and encouraging positive relationships skills. Music educators who employ SEL might agree with Varner that the music classroom is a natural place to align and reinforce SEL competencies: “The general music teacher is in a unique position to produce social, emotional, and academic results by aligning curricular offerings and consistently integrating SEL” (Varner, 2019, p. 74). As students engage in music-making activities, working in tandem with their peers, they have the opportunity to participate in something larger than themselves. Music-making activities that foster SEL skill development include playing singing games, performing and learning about music from other cultures, studying musicians and their music, engaging in folk dancing and creative movement, and participating in various music ensembles.

As SEL initiatives are increasingly adopted by states and school districts, many music teachers have been actively and successfully integrating SEL into their elementary general music curriculum. However, the changes due to COVID-19 are prompting music teachers to rethink their music curriculum and identify new ways to promote SEL (Donovan, 2020). A fellow music teacher shared a little about their experience integrating SEL during the unexpected transition to teaching remotely:

When our school district transitioned to remote learning due to the COVID-19 shutdown, we had some serious concerns about how this would affect our students emotionally. During the first week of remote teaching, we were in “lesson plan survival mode” and were just trying to convert our specialty lessons to fit an online platform. After the dust settled and we were able to take a breath, our specialties team began brainstorming ways we could strengthen our students’ social and emotional well-being. This was difficult to assess and implement through a digital platform, but we got creative. We focused our lessons on teaching our students tools for well-being like yoga, breathing, listening to calming music, taking virtual field trips, creating art to express emotions and enjoying read-alongs. We even added brief (1–2 minute) intro videos of ourselves demonstrating ways that we as teachers strengthen ourselves socially and emotionally, like reading in a hammock or playing music with our families. We also added silly contests that the students would vote on (e.g., should your teachers do the chicken dance or dress up in a funny costume), which provided a good laugh for both students and teachers alike. When our school administration organized a drive-in movie as an end-of-year activity, we heard from hundreds of families how much they enjoyed our lessons and that their children benefited from the connections we tried to make. (Personal communication, August 9, 2020)

The phrase “Maslow before Bloom” has been popping up more frequently in educational blogs and articles since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many educators feel it is essential to prioritize physiological, safety, and relationship needs of our students during these times of uncertainty before expecting them to learn educational content (Doucet, 2020; Handelman, 2020). Cranston (2020) emphasizes the need for teachers to focus on environment over method. Students need learning environments where they feel safe and where they feel supported both socially and emotionally. Whether teaching in person or remotely, music educators can create an environment conducive to SEL by practicing mindfulness, building relationships with and between students, encouraging family music engagement, and engaging in inclusive music activities.

Mindfulness

Our students need opportunities to recognize and regulate their emotions. Cranston (2020) encourages the incorporation of daily mindful moments where students can check in with themselves and take notice of their emotions and how they might be affecting their behavior. Another elementary music colleague recently shared an example of how they integrate a quick mindful moment before and after music class:

I have a sign on the classroom door with five emojis depicting various emotions. I explain to the students that music has this amazing ability to change your emotions. I encourage them to recognize and share how they are feeling before class and invite them to tap an emoji on the sign as they enter the classroom. When class is over, I invite them to take notice of their emotions and whether or not they have changed since the beginning of class. It is a great activity for them, but also a good way for me to gauge their emotional state so I can figure out how best to connect with them. (Personal communication, August 11, 2020)

Mindful moments do not have to be long, just a few minutes where students can calm their busy thoughts and expand their awareness. Mindfulness activities typically include taking a few minutes to notice breathing, thoughts, senses, feelings, emotions, and bodily sensations in the present moment. As students become more self-aware, they will experience greater success employing appropriate self-management and interpersonal skills, such as maintaining attentiveness, regulating emotions, making safer choices, and being more aware of others’ emotions (Marcelli-Sargent, 2020).

Mindful moments are easy to integrate into music class routines and activities, whether in person or through the computer screen. For instance,

Incorporate mindfulness activities, such as one of the mindful breathing activities from the book Alphabreaths: The ABC’s of Mindful Breathing (Willard & Rechtschaffen, 2019) into a vocal warm-up before singing.

Prepare students for a music listening activity actively by engaging them in mindful active listening. For instance, invite them to use their “big bat ears” and close their eyes and listen for their breath as they relax before having them listen for the sounds in the room (Marcelli-Sargent, 2020). Help them focus by asking questions such as “How many different sounds do you hear?” “Can you hear sounds made by people?” “Can you hear sounds of air moving?”

Engage students in identifying their feelings before listening to a piece of music and then invite them to identify the emotion they felt as they listened to the piece. Use the emotions your students identified as they listened to prompt a discussion about the elements of music or historical context. The book The ABC’s of My Feelings and Music (Edgar & Edgar, 2020) offers music listening suggestions for various emotions with discussion prompts.

Use mindful movement activities such as “Mindful Jungle Movement” from 50 Mindfulness Activities for Kindness, Focus and Calm (Stewart & Braun, 2017) to focus on the purposeful movement of different parts of the body in preparation for a creative movement activity.

Encourage positive thoughts by introducing a new affirmation at the beginning of class each week, such as “I grow braver and stronger every day,” and invite the class to say it when they leave. You may also consider music exploration of the affirmation: clap the rhythm, add body percussion, set it to a melody, use multiple affirmations to create a larger piece, and so on.

Building Relationships

Relationship building is a core element of SEL that takes a variety of shapes and forms: student to teacher, student to student, and student to community. It is possible to create and cultivate relationships with our elementary students through a computer screen or behind a mask. Using trust, value, and respect as a lens through which we choose our music activities, lessons, and objectives can help “relationship building” stay intentional and effective. The same factors in establishing relationships are in play whether we are face-to-face or in the virtual realm—we need to be a little more creative on how to build trust, value, and respect.

For many of us, technology provides, the only connection we have to our students at the beginning of this school year. It is essential, and yet has, ironically, also gotten in the way of our ability to connect on a human level. As a result, it is often harder to understand each other. To build community relationships in his classroom, one elementary music educator shares the following:

At the start of each school year my instructional focus may appear simple: folk song games. However, these song game gems provide just the right combination of experience I am seeking in order to establish and nurture a classroom community. They involve lots of movement and singing and unfold with an intention of attention to student-centered learning. These song game experiences support student choice and empower us to be together in community. (Harkins, 2019, p. 8)

How does one foster this human connection in the COVID era? We need to continue integrating movement, singing, attention to student-centered learning, and student choice. Some examples of how to initiate and incorporate folk song dances and song games include the following:

Set the stage with a story (e.g., personal narrative about the topic, read a short poem, or children’s book).

Integrate the song into the story.

Ask students questions to engage their curiosity and imagination (e.g., How did the sailor get sick? What should be put in our soup?).

Provide students the space to make choices within the music activity. For example, leave parts of the activity/dance open-ended to allow students to make choices about what they should do (e.g., Should we tap our heads or our shoulders? How does this animal move?).

Use props (e.g., stuffed animals, Legos, small toys) to mimic what the students would be doing if they were together. Have them create their own classroom with their own props to mimic the dance.

Choose movements in the dance or song game that are conducive to small spaces or not needing to touch or hold hands.

Song games can be especially meaningful at the beginning of the school year. There are a number of name games and “getting to know you” songs that can launch the relationships between the students and the teacher that will have a lasting impact throughout the school year (see Supplemental Material, available online). Using the first song games of the year to weave in expectations for the learning community is possible by playing a bit, and then pausing briefly here and there to ask, “How did we work together? How were we respectful, responsible, and ready to learn? How did we act with integrity? How did you feel?” It will be powerful to hear your students describe what they are experiencing during these song games, and you will learn so much about them.

Family Engagement

Many of our students may be home at the beginning of their school year. Bringing family members into our virtual music classroom not only reinforces the bonds between student and family, but can reinforce the concepts of SEL without the teacher’s physical presence.

Efforts to actively involve family members may heighten musical experiences in school-based settings, especially with young children. Accounting for the variety that music learning is experienced, including both formal and informal settings, provides a rich resource for investigating the collective and individual construction of musical culture. (Custodero & Johnson-Green, 2003, p. 112)

Understandably there will be situations where students will not be able to engage with family members (e.g., the parents are working, siblings are doing their own school work, the child is cared for by a nonrelative), but music engagement does not need to be limited to family members or to a certain time of day.

There is not a right or wrong way to include family members into your music classroom. However, there are a few considerations you might want to take into account. First, is to get to know your children and their families. You may be teaching up to 500 students, there are a number of things you can do to learn more about how a child’s family lives and to help children feel comfortable about sharing their backgrounds with you and with their classmates (e.g., invite children to bring in photos of themselves, family members, family activities, and special events).

A second consideration is how to make students comfortable with having family members participate. One way to do this is by planning family-related group discussions. Picking a topic, ideally one that emerges from a child’s experiences or comments, is a great way for students to feel more at ease as they bring their family members to class, play music games with them, or teach them something they learned from class. A final consideration is your choice of song and music activities. There are so many song games and folk songs that are designed to work interactively (e.g., The Old Gray Cat, Ye Toop Daram, Bate Bate, Old Lady Goose, Rig-a-Jig-Jig). Having the student and family members work as partners lessens the pain of not having the class meet in person or not being able to touch.

Note that not every game needs to be interactive. Your students can be together in spirit and song by watching, clapping hands, tapping toes, swaying, playing kitchen instruments, singing along, and simply smiling. Certain activities could take place after the music lesson, such as an interview assignment where each student asks family members for a story about the music of their childhood or what music was popular when they were that student’s age. Again, there is no right or wrong way to do this, but the reward for having family members welcomed into the classroom fosters the SEL competencies of self-awareness and social awareness, responsible decisionmaking skills, and positive relationships skills.

Inclusive Music Practices

Music activities that provide students with opportunities to learn about the social, cultural, and historical contexts of the music they are studying can foster the development of social awareness and interpersonal skills. By selecting a variety of music from around the world we can help promote multicultural awareness on both a local and global scale (Varner, 2019). According to Varner (2019),

By selecting intentionally and carefully, the general music teacher can use folk songs to build student perspective. By helping students to better understand the perspective of another person, the general music teacher can help develop social awareness, increase empathy, and allow students to identify more openly with those of diverse backgrounds and cultures. (p. 76)

Music-making activities that are centered on songs and stories from various cultures can help children build empathy as they discover the similarities and differences that exist among themselves, their community, and the world at large. Some activities might include the following:

Learning, comparing, and contrasting different greeting songs, lullabies, and singing games from around the world. Examples include greeting songs such as Hao Peng You (China) and Bonjour, Mes Amis (France) and lullabies like Senua de Dende (Ghana) and Oi Dana (Poland). Clapping games such as Bim Bam (Serbia/United States) and Jan Ken Pon Yo (Japan) from the books Sing a Song, Play a Game (Pfitzner, 2019), and Hands to Hands: Hand Clapping Songs and Games From Around the World (Pfitzner, 2015) work well for social distancing or online instruction (see Supplemental Material, available online).

Exploring a particular culture in greater depth by experiencing both folk songs and folk tales from a particular culture and taking time to discuss cultural customs and beliefs. For instance, teach the Maori Titi Torea song E Papa Wairi with accompanying stick game (Ti raka) and then explore the folk tale Maui Tames the Sun as a sound story (see Supplemental Material, available online).

Many families have songs from their culture of origin that have been shared across generations. Your students could be tasked with making an ethnomusicological collection of songs that their families traditionally sing and could then share those songs with their music class. These songs can be collected as recordings, notated arrangements, or sung live for the class and can be accompanied by a narrative of how the songs became important to the family.

Using children’s literature to build awareness of self and others while also engaging students in cooperative, creative, music-making activities (Durairaj, 2016). For example, explore similarities and differences between two children from different cultures using the book “Same, Same but Different” by Kostecki-Shaw (2011). Perform the repeated refrain as you read the story and then use the refrain to engage your students in a call-and-response drumming activity to celebrate similarities and differences among classmates (see Supplemental Material, available online).

Use children’s picture books of songs to explore the meaning of songs as well as their historical, cultural, and social significance, such as How Sweet the Sound: The Story of Amazing Grace (Weatherford, 2018), My Country ‘Tis of Thee: How One Song Reveals the History of Civil Rights (Murphy, 2014), or Lift Every Voice and Sing: A Celebration of the African American National Anthem (Johnson, 2019).

Finally, reading children’s picture book biographies of musicians in combination with music-listening activities can help provide historical, social, and cultural context for the music. Picture book biographies also aid students in gaining a better understanding of a composer or musician’s intention, culture, and frame of reference. Studying the lives of musicians like Miriam Makeba by reading the book Mama Africa: How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope With Her Song (Erskine, 2017) can lead to rich discussions of her character (e.g., bravery, leadership, compassion, perseverance) as well as how music can be used to spread messages and influence others (see Supplemental Material, available online).

Moving Forward With Integrating SEL

Berman et al. (2018) remind us that, “Learning is not a passive activity. How we teach is as instructive as what we teach” (p. 13). In terms of SEL, we are going to make more of an impact on our students if we are modeling SEL skills and authentically integrating them into our instruction authentically. Fostering meaningful SEL classroom environments, whether in person or online, means taking care of ourselves—similar to how we are instructed on an airplane to first put on our mask before assisting others. Michael Funk, Director of the Expanded Learning Division of the California Department of Education, shares his 3-L challenge for teachers: learn, lead, and love. He encourages teachers to learn about themselves, to lead with compassion and empathy, and create conditions for love to grow (cited in Cranston, 2020). We are all currently learning many new things, including, for example, new teaching platforms, and learning how to record music lessons for YouTube, new forms of compassionate leading such as making connections through a screen or through a mask, and new conditions that we will have to navigate this school year for love to grow. Though daunting, it is all possible. Remember, you are not alone in this. We have always been aware of our need for collaboration, but more than ever we see teachers leaning on each other. Find teacher communities locally and online, engage with chat boards, find professional development activities that give you fresh ideas on how and what to teach within COVID parameters. When we feel strong, we will be able to empower our students to be the best version of themselves.

Supplemental Material

Supplemental_Material_GMT – Supplemental material for Integrating Social-Emotional Learning Into Our “New Normal” Teaching Elementary General Music

Supplemental material, Supplemental_Material_GMT for Integrating Social-Emotional Learning Into Our “New Normal” Teaching Elementary General Music by Taryn Raschdorf, Brittany Nixon May and Amie Searcy in General Music Today

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Brittany Nixon May

Supplemental Material

Supplemental material for this article is available online.

Author Biographies

Taryn Raschdorf is an assistant professor of Music Education at Old Dominion University, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in elementary and secondary choral music education and serves as the advisor for ODU’s collegiate NAfME chapter. Prior to her appointment at Old Dominion University, Dr. Raschdorf taught elementary general music in Virginia and Colorado for 15 years.

Brittany Nixon May is an associate professor at Brigham Young University, where teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music education. Prior to her appointment at BYU, she taught elementary general music, band, choir, and guitar in New York and Washington, DC. Dr. May currently serves as the arts integration columnist for General Music Today.

Amie Searcy is an elementary music teacher at Rocky Mountain Elementary School. She is also an adjunct instructor at Utah Valley University where she teaches elementary music methods.

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Supplementary Material

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