Cieran - Teaching music to students with intellectual differences

Eggplnt (00:01.496)
Hey y'all, my name is Christina Sisson. In the past 20 years, I have taught music at all levels to all kinds of students. I have witnessed firsthand the kinds of challenges music teachers face in the classroom every day, and it is my hope to address some of those issues you care about most. Each week, we will be talking to teachers at all levels about what it's really like to teach today and having real conversations about equity, identity, and the systems we work in and the small victories that keep us going.

So pull up a chair, it's time for our weekly staff meeting. Let's talk about the things that matter. Today, I'm gonna be chatting with Cieran Sontag, music teacher at North Florida School of Special Education in Jacksonville, Florida. Cieran took a rather non-traditional route to becoming a music teacher and has found himself in a non-traditional environment where his unique experience has served him well. Welcome, Cieran.

Ciaran M Sontag (00:57.305)
Hey, Christina, thanks for having me.

Eggplnt (00:59.83)
It's so wonderful to have you today. I was wondering if you could start out by telling us a little bit about your experience and the school that you work at.

Ciaran M Sontag (01:07.545)
Sure thing. I am the music teacher at North Florida School of Special Education, like you said, in Jacksonville, Florida. And I'm in my 12th year now, which is crazy to even just say that. I started as a volunteer here. I had no interest or background or formal training to being a teacher. I was just looking to fill some volunteer hours. I needed 40 hours to graduate with an honors degree.

and I had found this school through a gig that I played with my band at the time. I was the front man and we played a 21st birthday party for a young adult with Down syndrome. And I had met the head of school and she and I, you know, we got along, we chatted, but nothing ever came of it. And I needed to fill these 40 hours in my, you you know how it is, you start college, your freshman year and you're...

you're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and you go and you get a bunch of volunteer hours right away and then you forget about it for like three and a half years. And so I was in my final semester and realized that if I wanted to graduate with honors, I needed these volunteer hours. So I just, I found the school, I thought about the school and I got involved with their talent show. And my background as a performer was perfect. And that year I ended up being on stage for many of the acts.

I actually learned the Wiggles for the first time. I had never really watched the Wiggles. I learned the Wiggles to play with some first graders and I played the song by the Wiggles and they danced and it was super fun and it was amazing. And I did those 30 hours and then I hosted a nonprofit organization kind of banquet for the graduating seniors where my band played and we gave out awards for the best dance moves. Honestly, it was just like,

It was a, it was kind of a magical place. I came in here and felt, I just kind of felt like I belonged. And I had never really worked in the special needs community. I had never really worked as a music teacher. I had never taken an education course, but I found this natural calling to spend more time there and to, and I just felt like I could be myself and I felt celebrated. felt like.

Ciaran M Sontag (03:29.869)
The students allowed me this freedom to just really be authentic and share my love of music. And I think that that's what led me to the following year after I graduated, I think I had a job waiting tables to get me through senior year. it was coming up to August and I was like, I gotta do something different. And I wrote an email to the head of school and I said, hey, I noticed you guys don't have a music program.

I want to come and teach music. And they said, you know, it's a little bit too, it's too late in the game. We're starting school next week. We can't like, we don't have it in the budget, but we'll send out a letter to parents and you could do afterschool music lessons. And so I started with, I think eight to 10 students and I was doing 30 minute lessons and I had some students in elementary from six years old all the way up to

young adults age 24, 25. And we were doing, it was really like therapeutic music lessons. And I just continued to work with the students and kind of learn this population. I work with students from age six up to at that time 22 and now up to 12th grade, so 18 years old with mild to moderate intellectual differences. So

just learning how to work with the students, learning how to be present with them and how to be patient with them through those after school lessons. And then we started a club, an after school club, and students came in and they all signed up and it was just like electric. Everybody loved it. And I met some of, literally some of my best friends to this day volunteering in that after school music club.

And then the following year we started the program up and it was I'm not I don't know if you're how your experience has been Starting up a program. It started just like three days a week and alternating schedules and and then Until it was fully developed. So it took a couple years to get it really off the ground and and now I have 25 classes a week. I've well I've been full-time for

Ciaran M Sontag (05:51.696)
almost a decade now, but just getting the program off the ground, I just saw this place that could really benefit from music. And I knew that I wanted to impact my community through music, and I saw this need that I could fill. I knew that I had the heart to fill that need, and so I just took a chance, and here I am 12 years later.

with my classroom. You can see behind me that was not here when I first started. We've gone through a full capital campaign. I was in a little portable. Now I have a classroom with ukuleles and drums and like all brand new equipment and things like that that have been invested into this program. So that is like...

That is kind of where I started and kind of where I am now. So, yeah.

Eggplnt (06:55.235)
So I'm curious like when you came in on the first day like what what kind of was your vision for this? What did you see it being and has that changed over time?

Ciaran M Sontag (07:04.943)
So, yeah, so my vision, I remember writing up like a syllabus or like a, you know, my goals, my goals for the students. And I came and I brought it to their academic director and it was like, students will be able to read notes on a treble clef, on a bass clef. And I had laid out these expectations that I thought was almost like requirements for entry of like a music program.

And when I got to her, she kind of like chuckled a little bit. She said, I have kids who aren't reading English. You can take a lot of this away. I think you're trying really hard and I love that, but maybe just focus on like, yeah, you're gonna teach music. You don't need to worry about this music literacy. And I think that that is the thing with academics. A lot of times, well.

things have to be a certain way. And then she kind of just gave me a perspective. like, we're working on functional math, functional language and reading skills with some of these kids. You're gonna have to set the expectation a little bit differently. And I mean, that was just because I hadn't ever worked with this population before. So I was going in blind. So that is one really funny story, but.

My first day, I was teaching music lessons and that went well. I got a couple little stories. I had a student who was six years old. He's in the youngest grade band. His mom signs him up for piano and I'm excited, he's excited. And when I started playing the piano, and I'm telling you back then, they had me in a broom closet.

And so I would go in after the school day was over and I would take my kids from their classrooms and we would go into this little closet. I mean, that was all I had. And I would set up the keyboard on a little table or I would have the guitar with the music stand. And so this little six year old comes in. He's so excited and he just starts playing the piano with his elbows. And I was like, my gosh, what am I doing? I have no idea what to do.

Ciaran M Sontag (09:30.682)
But through that, I started to learn redirection, behavior management strategies in a fun way. And not in so many words. I was just trying to get through 30 minutes and have him play some notes so that his mom would be like, this is good. Well, and crazy story, that same student, I love this because he's a Guinness World Record holder now.

for being like the youngest person with Down syndrome to run a triathlon or to compete in a triathlon. So that's like my claim to fame that I was his music teacher, his first piano teacher. So one more quick little story. So that was the lessons. And then we started doing the afterschool club, which is more like a traditional classroom setting. And I remember writing a lesson plan this week.

Eggplnt (10:07.795)
That's incredible. I love that.

Ciaran M Sontag (10:24.463)
really cool, I thought this really cool lesson plan about music all around us. And I had a video, it was like a little five minute video of this really cool, guy who established microphones on plants and he created a whole song on the sounds of nature and the plants.

I showed it to the class and then we went out into the garden because our school has a garden. So I wanted it to be unique. And we were exploring sounds and kind of doing like a found sound lesson. Right. And I'm like, I'm I'm thinking this is going great. And we get through all of the stuff that I had written out and I looked down at the clock and it had been like 10 minutes. And I'm like, I have an hour. I have an hour with these kids. What am I going to do? And I mean,

Eggplnt (11:15.958)
no.

Ciaran M Sontag (11:19.115)
I had, I really was intentional and planned this lesson. So, but the, the silver lining is that I, I was so nervous that day to go in there that I was just like strumming my guitar and singing, I love music. And I was like, all right, guys, this is what we're going to do. You repeat after me. And then one of the students, after I was singing, I love music, they were repeating it. It was kind of going nowhere. It was kind of just like, okay, at least we're having fun.

and he raised his hand and was like, I love my school. What about my school? Can we sing? I love my school. And that has like turned into our school's anthem. I love my school. North Florida school is where I wanna be. And the lyrics are, North Florida school is where I wanna be. That's where I can be, just who I wanna be. So this song has been like a thread.

We just sang it on the first day back to school assembly. We sing it with the whole school and it's been, you that was 13 years ago that this one student just said, can we just sing I Love My School? And then I turned it into this songwriting exercise and that was it. It was just me improvising and going like, I have 40 minutes to fill. What do I? And it was like, well, what do you love about your school? Let's sing it like, I love my friends.

You love your friends. I love my teachers. I was like, all right, the next verse is about friends and teachers. And so, you know, I think that when you're in a classroom, you can plan and you can over plan. But when you have a little, when you leave a little bit of room for the lesson to breathe, some magic can happen. Some really special things can happen there when you are flexible enough to, to, to.

Let the lid off a bit, I guess.

Eggplnt (13:14.07)
I'm curiously used, because that flexibility is so necessary no matter what you're teaching. How do you think that you have changed maybe as a teacher? guess you kind of came in empty and willing to do whatever. But how has that changed in working with students with these specific disabilities?

Ciaran M Sontag (13:38.556)
yeah, I mean, so I love that you said the word empty because like I was, I was a vessel. I was so just like, almost like a sponge willing to soak up anything. And, and I was eager to find mentors and find people who knew things. And I remember like going into my audition day or like interview, but it was like teaching a class and like staying up the night before with another teacher at the, art teacher at the school.

and drinking IPAs and writing my lesson plan and asking her for input. But just that feeling of being like, you know, I wasn't so full. There was space to fill the jar with different ideas and different, I could pull from so many different places. And really working, like you said, I work with students and there's been a little bit of a,

culture shift here in Jacksonville, I'm not sure around the country, but we're trying to get away from that word disability and really focus on the ability part of that. it's called the ABLE campaign, Connectable. It's called the Connectable campaign. And it's about really focusing on what are the abilities that these students have. And our school's mission statement is discovering and fostering each student's unique abilities within an engaged community. So it's finding

the able part of that word. And so we're really trying to shift the language from disability to, we use a lot of times intellectual differences or intellectual and developmental differences. It's a pretty easy switch. It maybe took me a little, couple of times when it was first rolling out, but for me, it's like, it's my first instinct now. So.

If you want to spread that too, it would be great just referring to our students, students in the special needs population, just using that terminology, intellectual and developmental differences. I think it is a bit more humanizing and making people feel that they are, they just have differences. I mean, if you look around the world, everybody is different, right? So, but anyway, going back to your question about, you

Eggplnt (15:51.278)
you

Ciaran M Sontag (15:58.416)
I knew nothing and I think people, there's a whole degree program on how to teach students in special needs or students with intellectual differences. I think that for me, my first priority and first instinct was like, how can I treat these students with dignity, with love? How can I?

build a culture in my classroom because this is my space. And so whenever someone walks through the door, it's like my responsibility that they feel loved, they feel welcome. I might get a little bit emotional as I'm talking about this because it's just such a big part of my identity is just not seeing someone based on their limitations.

but seeing them based on the potential and the possibility that they have. And music is just like the perfect place. It's the perfect vehicle for that because, you know, I mean, some people are super talented musicians and some people are not, but there's always a place in music for them, whether they're participating, enjoying. And I think that as a teacher,

Finding that role, you know, you have an idea of what, or maybe you have an expectation or an output that you have to meet, right? You have a performance that you have to get, and a music teacher, right? You have performances that are set, and you have expectations from your bosses, from your communities, you have these obligations. But you have an obligation to the students too, to find their place within whatever that...

requirement is that you have to fill is like finding a place that highlights what that student is best at and I think I'm pretty good at it. I have a lot of I have a good track record of just finding places where I can okay this student can play the boomwhackers for this part this student is great at keeping the beat I'm gonna put you on the drums. I think you especially

Ciaran M Sontag (18:23.095)
working with people with intellectual differences, I know that my choir will not be singing at Carnegie Hall, okay? But my choir will make a lot of people feel something. And I think that that's as important as a choir that sings the tightest harmonies. It's just music should make you feel something.

it should inspire you. And so I just, yeah, the flexibility comes when you can kind of let go of expectations and just really, I think that all musicians, you don't get into this field unless there's something that is bringing you joy from it. There's some kind of drive inside you that like you

can't not play music. You can't not make music. And then when you get to pass it on to others and see that spark, it's like, it inspires you even more. And I don't know, I'm probably just on some tangent right now, but I get really excited just talking about these ideas because, you know, we have such a big...

I want to say responsibility, but this big privilege to share this special thing, music, with so many people, not just the students in our classrooms, but then our entire community when our students get to perform. I think all, I don't know a single music teacher who's not expected to put on these performances and it can be really burdensome and it can feel really, there can be a lot of pressure and anxiety tied to it.

But man, when you see like an impact or a parent comes to you and they're like crying, I never thought my kid would be able to sing and you just like, or that they've been told no before. They've been told like, yo, you're not good enough to sing in this choir or something. And then I get to be the one who's like, everyone is welcome to be in my choir. I want you to be, I hate saying no. I want.

Ciaran M Sontag (20:49.068)
everyone to feel that joy, you know?

Eggplnt (20:52.058)
I love that. think, I love the idea of kind of meeting your students where they are and when you have a population of students who is outside of the mean, figuring that out, where are they and where can they go is a huge challenge. And I appreciate you bringing up the idea of the language that we use to describe our students. And I think that that's part of it in that.

if we're thinking of a student in terms of a disability as opposed to an ability, we're already kind of getting into a deficit mindset. What can't they do? And that thinking of them as just having a difference, well, okay, it's different. What's different about it? And what direction do we go for that difference is so like, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I guess before we wrap it up, I've kind of...

Ciaran M Sontag (21:26.541)
Yes.

Ciaran M Sontag (21:36.889)
Yeah, all of sudden it's exciting. they're different. How are they different? Yeah.

Eggplnt (21:47.05)
I want you to talk a little bit about just sort of how you come at music education, what your philosophy is. What is it when your students leave you that you want them to leave with?

Ciaran M Sontag (21:58.99)
Yeah, so early on I got this curriculum and I got a sample, like we didn't buy the curriculum, we got a sample from some conference or something and on the back of the textbook it said like, instilling a lifelong love of music and I love that and I do feel like every music teacher's job is to instill a lifelong love of music, right? But in my old age, I've been,

called on by a lot of younger people to kind of mentor them. And I've had like, I feel really, really honored and just even flattered that you've invited me to share my testimony here with you, my little story, because I hope that it inspires someone to want to make a difference in someone's life using music. But to some younger teachers, they've been coming to me and saying, how do you...

So I've had two emails in the last month or so, I guess all the teachers are going back to school and they're saying, my district has added a new class, I'm gonna be having a special needs choir, I'm gonna be working with the special ed department. And then another one was the same thing, I'm working with a special ed music class and I have no idea where to start. And they're like, I found you on YouTube, you seem like you know what you're doing, which already is a huge compliment because I.

I don't, but, and I just have responded and say, know, okay, first off, if you ask more specific questions, I can give you more specific answers, but like, here is my general philosophy in starting is like, when your students come in, my philosophy is the most important thing is that they feel loved and they feel like they're in a safe space, right?

Who's gonna make music? Who's gonna go out on a limb if they don't feel safe and comfortable in your classroom? you know, that for me is like, they should feel loved. They should feel like you care about them. And I think that that's not just music teachers. That's every teacher around the board. That's like, in my opinion, that's like number one priority. That's like entry level. You have to make your students feel like you care about them.

Ciaran M Sontag (24:22.275)
It would be even better if you really do care about them, but you have to at least make them feel like you love and care about them. And then second is like you said before, meet the students where they are and find their strengths. And then here's another thing for younger teachers I have now, because I'm at a private school, we don't have the strict requirements that a lot of state funded schools have.

I don't have a teaching certificate or degree. I have done some trainings and things like that, conferences, but no formal education and it's not required. It is maybe recommended, but not required. And so at our school, because we have a wide variety of resource classes, we do have some people who are not from that non-traditional background. And I think that that's kind of like our special sauce is that

We have people who are really passionate and that makes them really great teachers. And so some of the younger teachers have been coming to me this last week was our pre-planning and they were feeling a little bit overwhelmed at getting everything into Planbook and all of the lesson plans. And I just looked at them and I liked this. This was a new thing for me. It just happened in the moment. But I said, you know, I want you to just remember what's important. This, this.

You have the students, this is important. This is not important. Typing on a keyboard, is important, but this is the real thing, working with the students. That is why, you know, why are you doing this? Because I love writing lesson plans. No, no one ever said that. You're doing it because you love spending time with students and sharing what you're passionate about with them. So was like, you know, if you're ever feeling overwhelmed, just...

slam the laptop shut. If you know up here what you're going to do and you're going to, and as long as you remember that this is the important thing, is the relationships, it's the community that you build through your classes. And I'll never forget my first year coming in, like you said, as an untrained, non-traditional, I was a little, I was a singer in a reggae band. I just wanted to be like a famous singer.

Ciaran M Sontag (26:46.863)
And I came in and I was really eager and I worked really hard on my lesson plans. But my supervisor at the time, she called me in and she, you know, it was the first week and she just was checking in with me, hey, how are you feeling? And I was like, I feel good. I got these lessons. I got these activities. I'm ready to go. And she said, you know, if at any time you just feel like it's not going a certain way or you're having a hard time, just like,

Don't be afraid to put the guitar on and sing a song. Don't be afraid to go back to like your identity, what makes you you and what got you into this in the first place, you know? So I think that being, I have said before, I love my job because I get paid to just be myself with my students. I love music, so it makes.

I hope it makes me a great music teacher, but I really believe that if you're not passionate about what you're teaching, it's gonna come across. People are gonna know. And I just really feel like it all has to come from a place of real, authentic love. And I've said it a few times now, but yeah, when you're a music teacher,

you create a place where people can come together and create something. It's intangible. It's like you're creating something out of nothing and you're building foundations for people to explore and express themselves. And especially, you know, at a school for some kids who have challenges with speech issues and things like that, helping them develop that voice and find that voice.

That's a really, really special gift that you have.

Eggplnt (28:46.446)
That's really incredible. I guess before we disconnect and call it a day, I'm curious if you off the top of your head, and I'm just springing this on you, do you know of any, like if you're, if we've got a teacher who's getting an SLC class for the first time and they don't know what to do, what can they do to even just get a grip on how to do a class like that?

Ciaran M Sontag (29:12.527)
So I would say start with the basics. Just start with Do Re Mi and start with, you can see it behind me, my video tech teacher, he helped me set up the stream and he put that ta-ti-ti-ta. Start with ta-ti-ti-ta, start with Do Re Mi. If you're lucky enough to have some instruments, great. Put an instrument in someone's hand and see what they do.

and then go from there. You can really, if you're getting your SLC class for the first time, presume, here's a strategy that I was taught over the years is presuming competence, right? You presume that they can achieve what all your other students can. And then,

Maybe you have to adjust the bar here and there realistically, but go ahead, use that same choir lesson plan that you used with your high school choir, the choir that was going to state competitions. Go ahead and use that same lesson plan and see what happens. I think that you might be pleasantly surprised that maybe it might not sound quite as good, but like.

you will finish the class and feel like maybe the whole world has changed for someone, maybe it's you. So yeah, start with the basics and then presume competency. Try some of those activities that you've done with your typical classes and you never know. I think you just never know what could happen if you give someone the chance to rise to the expectations, you know?

Eggplnt (31:02.028)
you

Eggplnt (31:07.83)
I love that presuming competence because I think that's a big first step. Assume that your kids can be successful. But if you don't do that, you're not going to stand a chance. Yeah, I think that is probably one of the scariest things, especially for younger music teachers when they get that class that's a little bit outside the box. And I think that it's, I would hope that we're

Ciaran M Sontag (31:09.773)
Yeah.

Ciaran M Sontag (31:18.82)
Yeah.

Eggplnt (31:34.67)
telling them that it's OK for you to also be outside the box for those classes. We can.

Ciaran M Sontag (31:38.798)
Yeah. I will, if I could just say one more thing is that I didn't realize, and maybe this is covered when you get a master's of education. I didn't, I really didn't realize how much of my job was going to be behavior management. And I think that maybe, no, I definitely know it's not just special needs classes. All teachers have to do a lot of behavior management.

For my school is all students with intellectual differences and we do just a lot of behavior coaching and positive praise and pivot praise and redirecting and like you will learn a lot of strategies if you're open to it. But for those new teachers out there, just know that you are going to be a great parent one day because you're going to learn how to manage behaviors really, really well.

yeah.

Eggplnt (32:39.491)
Thanks. Thanks. Well, I thank you so much, Karen. Maybe we can come back and check in. I would love for you to be able to share what your kids are doing maybe in the future. But for now, we wish you the best this year with your students. And I thank you so much for coming on our show today.

Ciaran M Sontag (32:52.961)
Absolutely.

Ciaran M Sontag (33:01.177)
Yeah, thank you so much, Christina. It is so great to see you just creating this platform and like just connecting people, just building bridges and kind of hopefully someone hears this and feels like a heard or seen, you know, like, I'm not going through this alone because there are so many daily struggles that teachers, especially music teachers go through that

Sometimes you talk to someone and you go, I thought it was just me. So thank you for doing this and opening up this community. I will definitely check back with you. And if you're ever in the Jacksonville area, please stop by. We'd love to have you sit in on one of our music classes.

Eggplnt (33:48.544)
I would absolutely love that. Thank you so much, Karen. You have a good one.

Ciaran M Sontag (33:51.268)
All right, Christina, you too, God bless.