Advice for Student Teachers

I suppose this isn’t specific to music educators, but I just thought I would give some advice to those of you who are getting ready to begin your professional journey. There are many things that you can do in your student teaching experience to help and/or harm your development as a future educator. Having been through a great student teaching experience myself, as well as observing student teachers in the professional and academic setting, I feel pretty well-qualified to make these comments. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Yes, you need to write out your plans. Yes, you need to practice in a mirror. Yes, you need to keep some sort of candid journal that you will actually use once you finish. Given all of these, here are a few things that might help you take the biggest step of your life…from pre-service teacher to music educator.

In no particular order:

1. Start early – you will have an official begin and end date according to your college’s calendar, which you should completely ignore. If possible, contact your coop and get in there 2 weeks ahead of time, and stay until school is not in session. Is this convenient? No. Does it say a lot about your professionalism and work ethic? More than you know.

2. Start early – try to beat your coop to work every day. Not only is it a fun game, but you’ll earn some serious teacher-cred. Bring coffee for him/her if you need points.

3. No job is too small – every mundane job should automatically become the greatest thing you’ve ever done. The best way to get bigger, more important jobs is to master the small ones. Get familiar with the copier.

4. Ask for, and take, critique – most practicing teachers are happy to offer constructive guidance. However, they will also stop giving such comments if you do not persist in requesting them.

5. Try something new – when you get the opportunity, try a lesson plan that does not follow the normal rehearsal routine. Do a guided listening activity, a group composition, or something that meets those dreaded National Standards 9 and 10. Be as creative as possible. You’ll notice that if you are committed to these kinds of class activities, your students will be as well. The rewards are infinite.

Last, but not least: listen to sage advice (from myself and others…mainly from others). Take heed of what has been learned by veteran teachers, then realize that you will invariably forget most of these wise words and be doomed to repeat the same history you spent so much time trying to avoid. It’s OK. We’ve all been there. If you keep ALL of your students as the primary focus, you will not fail. Many people throw around statistics about how few music education graduates are still teaching after 5 or 10 years. This is a natural phenomenon. Have a good sense of humor about all of it, and you’ll come to realize that teaching music is a great career…that some people are meant to do and some are not. Whether or not you choose to continue down the path will primarily depend on your experiences (good and bad) and how they shape you as a professional, but more importantly, as an individual.

Now get out there and rock the boat!