Margaret H. Berg

An Investigation of Preservice Music Teacher Development and Concerns

The purpose of this study was to investigate the status and development of junior-level preservice music teachers’ concerns using Fuller and Bown’s teacher concerns model. Participants were 11 junior-level instrumental practicum students from a large American university. Data sources included a goals essay, lesson plans, teaching DVDs, self-evaluations of teaching, and a reflection on the original goals essay. Data were coded according to Fuller and Bown’s concerns categories (i.e., self, task, student impact). Analyses indicated that participants had a variety of concerns within each concern category specific to music education. Overall, there was an emphasis on task concerns, as participants appeared to be more concerned with pedagogical execution than with their personal characteristics or student impact. Rapport, content knowledge, and motivation were the most frequently coded self, task, and student impact concerns, respectively. Comparisons were also drawn between (a) written assignments to determine whether participants’ concerns changed in quantity or quality during the semester and (b) concerns identified in written assignments and concerns observed while teaching. Teaching DVDs were also analyzed for pivotal events contributing to the development of concerns. Four cases are presented representing varied developmental profiles that both support and challenge Fuller and Bown’s model.

Preservice Music Teacher Electronic Portfolios Integrating Reflection and Technology

Over the past decade, there has been a growing interest in the use of teaching portfolios inteacher education. Teacher educators have reported that the process of developing portfolios canhelp preservice teachers better understand the complexities of teaching, make connectionsbetween classroom learning and field experiences, and develop into flexible and reflectivepractitioners (Carroll, Potthoff, & Huber, 1996; Krause, 1996; McKinney, 1998). The research specific to electronic forms of portfolio development is just beginning to appear;however, there seems to be a great deal of promise in the digital format (McKinney, 1998;Milman, 1999; Polonoli, 2000). Many of the same benefits are reported with electronicportfolios as with the more traditional hard-copy format. Students reflect about themselves, theirwork as students, and their future in the teaching profession through their work in developingelectronic teaching portfolios (Milman, 1999; Polonoli, 2000). In addition, there are specificadvantages to using a digital format. McKinney (1998) reported that the “nonlinear nature ofmultimedia software allowed [students] to more easily show connections, and technologysupported the ability to personalize the way they showed their learning” (p. 94). Polonoli (2000)echoed McKinney’s findings and stated that the digital portfolio was a “unique vehicle” thatallowed students to express themselves and show what they could do. These early reports alsoindicate that the electronic medium can facilitate storage and makes it easier for students andfaculty to access the information (McKinney, 1998). One component of electronic portfolios thatDownloaded from jmt.sagepub.com

A Longitudinal Study of Preservice Music Teacher Development Application and Advancement of the Fuller and Bown Teacher-Concerns Model

The purpose of this study was to investigate the development of preservice music teachers’ concerns using Fuller and Bown’s model. Participants were 8 instrumental teachers who participated in the previous Berg and Miksza (2010) study. Data sources included goals essays, journals, a midterm growth plan, and teaching observation reports with accompanying lesson plans that were collected over a 1.5-year period. The participants expressed less concern for self-survival and more concern for making an impact on students as time progressed from their junior-level practicum experience to the end of student teaching. Concerns regarding basic competencies and professionalism ultimately gave way to specific contextual aspects of the participants’ teaching placements and more nuanced instructional issues. Results indicated that the focus of the participants’ concerns also was greatly affected by their teaching context. Implications for music teacher preparation as well as extensions of Fuller and Bown’s model are discussed.

An Investigation of Second-Career Music Teaching

Over the last decade, there has been a marked increase in the number of second-career teachers. According to Samuel M. Deitz, dean of the College of Education at Georgia State University, midcareer professionals switching fields are entering teaching at greater rates than traditional-aged college students (University of Cincinnati, 2000). There is limited research on second-career teachers, but no published research on second-career music teachers. Participants in this study were two second-career middle school music teachers who taught in metropolitan Denver, Colorado. Data were collected during the 2001–2002 academic year via interviews, monthly e-mail journals, and observations. The purpose of this study was to (1) describe the impact of prior work and life experiences, (2) identify challenges faced by the participants, and (3) identify the type of support given and utilized during the first or second year of teaching.

Transition from Student to Teacher: Frameworks for Understanding Preservice Music Teacher Development

Research on preservice music teacher development has the potential to inform music teacher preparation curricula in several significant ways and ultimately serve to enhance the profession at large. Investigations drawing from robust frameworks that theorize how preservice music teachers develop can help researchers clarify epistemological assumptions and terms, delimit research problems in a meaningful way, inform approaches for dealing with data, and aid in developing lines of research that are addressing problems in the field in a complementary manner. The goals of this article are to (a) discuss the value of a research framework and the several ways one can conceptualize a framework, (b) briefly present several frameworks for studying teacher development that have been generated in the context of general education, and (c) describe some unique aspects of music teaching and music teaching contexts that could inform theoretical frameworks of preservice music teacher development.

Student Teacher Video Cooperatives

16 How does a teacher become an exemplary teacher? What changes occur as a teacher moves from being a novice student teacher to an experienced veteran that students remember as greatly influencing their lives? Why is it that when we think about influential teachers in our lives, we remember one or two of them rather than ten or twelve? Assuming that the current structure of teacher education and schooling has an impact on creating exemplary teachers, could changes in teacher education, the structure of schools, and the way teachers are assessed have a positive effect on the development of more outstanding teachers? While we can observe general characteristics and quali ties of exemplary teachers, the factors that contribute to the development of a distinguished teacher are less clear. Recent developments in teacher assessment through teacher-constructed video portfolios, however, might make the

Mentoring for Mentors: The Music Mentor Plus Program.

The Music Mentor Plus program was designed to introduce mentoring strategies teachers can implement during supervision of student teachers and early field experience interns, while also fostering connections between field-based modeling and university methods course content. Throughout the 2015–2016 school year, seven music teachers and two university music education faculty members engaged in a series of live workshops and ongoing electronic communication. Participants joined in discussions and role-play activities and completed readings and reflection assignments. In this article, we present an outline of the program as well as reflections on the experience from the faculty leaders and participating teachers.

Fostering Effective and Enjoyable Practice

...simply increasing the amount of practice may not lead to improved performance skill or musicianship. The common teacher directive to ‘go home and practice’ glosses over the complex cognitive processes and variety of behaviors used to practice effectively. Moreover, given the busy and complicated lives that many children lead these days, teacher demands for greater amounts of practice that do not yield commensurate and tangible benefits (including a clear sense of progress or accomplishment) may lead students to expend less effort or withdraw from practicing altogether.2

Reflections on Research: Past, Present, and Future

This paper was presented upon receiving the Outstanding String Researcher Award at the 2017 National American String Teachers Association (ASTA) Conference in Pittsburgh. The author traces significant experiences and people who shaped her interest in conducting research, followed by a confessional tale of the affective experience of engaging in, and teaching others how to initially engage in, the research process. The author then invites readers to consider various questions we might explore in our collective future research, pointing to the connections between and vital roles of making music and doing research.