YOUR MENTORS ARE FOR LIFE by Virginia Wayman Davis Editor’s Note: This article appears as one of a series written especially for Ala Breve by experts in the field of music education.
October is a time when the shine of the new school year has faded just enough to see the hard work underneath. As students of all ages turn their eyes upward toward a teacher, we teachers continue the age-old process of taking students under our wing. For many teachers and professors, becoming a mentor is one of the most satisfying parts of our academic journey. To give our time and attention, to watch a student try and succeed, and to know that our advice is at least occasionally heeded—these are the small victories that make a teacher proud. If you have been teaching more than a year or two, you may have even experienced that precious occasion of the student thank- you: an email, a small card, or best of all a visit that lets you know that you made a difference in another’s life.
The process of teacher-student mentoring is an important one. Researchers have shown that conscientious mentoring can make an enormous difference in a student’s success rate.1
Sonia Sotomayor,
Supreme Court Justice, spoke of the importance of mentors, saying, “… a role model in the flesh provides more than inspiration; his or her very existence is confirmation of possibilities one may have every reason to doubt, saying, 'Yes, someone like me can do this.”2
The term “mentoring” may mean different things to different people. Definitions range from, "Mentoring . . . is a process by which persons of superior rank, special achievements, and prestige instruct, counsel, guide, and facilitate the intellectual and/or career development of persons identified as protégés” to "someone in a position of power who looks out for you, or gives you advice, or brings your accomplishments to the attention of other people who have power….”4
Most
definitions, however, focus on the special relationship between an experienced and less-experienced person. Many researchers group the functions of a mentor into two broad categories: job and career benefits, and psychosocial benefits. Though much research has focused on benefits to the protégé, benefits abound for the mentor as well, including the development of a reliable subordinate and feeling that one is contributing to the profession by giving back.5
Because future music educators typically consider a career as a music teacher while still in high school,6
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ensemble teachers may be the first important mentors for fledgling music- teachers-in-the-making. High school students look to their band, orchestra, and choir directors as their first glimpses of a possible career path, allowing students to “try on” the identity and test the fit. Students in your ensembles are not just in the process of becoming musicians: many are ripe to develop their skills as a teacher. School music teachers can have an extremely positive influence as mentors at this crucial stage. Some suggestions from the research on how to mentor high school students towards a career in music education include the following:7
Show your love of music and love for teaching
Make playing in your ensemble a positive experience
Allow interested students the opportunity to teach whenever possible, such as conducting the warm-up, helping a peer or less- experienced student, or leading small group activities
Talking with students about the most rewarding aspects of music teaching
Discussing their musical, professional, and personal growth as music students and future teachers
Challenging the students musically
As students move into college majors, professors and student-teaching mentor teachers take on a more primary role as mentors.8
Undergraduate musicians
bound for music education careers often spend the first several years in college undergoing a process of re-socialization toward the idea of being a music teacher rather than a performer.9
To do this they
must reconcile what they’ve been told by their high school directors and private teachers with what they are now hearing from professors, constructing a new identity. Barriers to this new identity include perceptions of music education majors as “less than” their performance- major peers , social status being granted on the basis of musicianship above teaching ability.
Researchers have found that college faculty members can exert a strong positive influence on pre-service teachers decisions to pursue music education careers . Professors—in music education, theory/history, and applied music capacities—can assist in this journey in role socialization by providing opportunities for positive experiences in music teaching, encouraging students
to continue developing their musicianship, and developing strong mentor/mentee relationships with the pre-service teachers.
Once students make the transition to beginning teacher, the mentoring process remains important. Because music teachers may be the only ones of their “type” in the building, some music teachers may become isolated or feel misunderstood and unappreciated.11 Relying on the support of a mentor can make the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful first year.12
To combat the sense of isolation that new music teachers feel, experienced music teachers can offer their services as mentors: call up that new teacher, arrange to visit their classroom after school, take the person out to lunch or for coffee. Through formal and informal means, we music teachers can provide a support system that may be missing at the building level. The colleague-mentor process has also been found to greatly benefit from district-sponsored release time for mentors and new teachers to collaborate during seminars and workshops.13 Based on research with music teachers and mentors, Conway offered a list of general suggestions for mentors given by the teachers themselves:14
“Make it impossible to get blown off (don’t send an e-mail and give up)
Sometimes it is good to show them that it can be done with these kids? Ask to model with their kids
Find balance; know when to listen and when to help problem solve
Build trust—less threatening to talk about things like technology than changing your teaching
Sit together at lunch during seminars
Model that “We are all learners here”
E-mail mentees with three reflective questions each week
Mentor should develop awareness of mentee’s teaching environment
Look to what mentee can teach you/Empower them to do that
Provide encouragement; positive feedback
Have conversations rather than telling them what to do”
Professors and student-teaching mentors can also help fill this role: don’t wait for your former student to contact you—instead, reach out! Check in via social media or drop by as you travel to observe current student teachers if only
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