Student Teaching 101: Six Student Teaching Training Tips
Wendy Matthews
Your student teaching internship is scheduled for the next semester. Are you prepared? Be- coming a music educator is as exciting as run- ning your first 5K or marathon! Being anxious and concerned is normal. Your trepidation may stem from not knowing what to expect. How you are going to be perceived by the students? Can you handle classroom management and convey a large variety of concepts in a coherent set of steps? Just like a marathon, student teach- ing takes time, training, and perseverance—and will test your limits and endurance. This article will present six tips to help you train.
1. Have a Plan
Just like any athlete, before you start training for the big event you need to develop a strategy. Know what is expected from you during your internship. Be sure to know your due dates for lesson plans and written assignments or portfo- lios. Meet these deadlines early so that both the cooperating teacher and university supervisor can provide you quality feedback and help you succeed. Knowing expectations will help elimi- nate stress.
It is important to write comprehensive and thoughtful lesson plans, know your scores, and practice your teaching actions ahead of time. Be sure to budget lots of time to do this. Be prepared for anything and everything to hap- pen. You can do this by putting lots of details in your lesson plans and creating back-up plans B, C, and D. The point here is to supplement your primary lesson plan with additional plans in case something goes wrong. You may find you need to jettison your original plan partway through the lesson or you’re brilliant and you finish your lesson with time to spare. No mat- ter how prepared you think you are, you can be more prepared. A contingency plan is espe- cially important when using technology, or if such things as student assemblies, field trips, or even snow days limit your instructional time. Have a copy of every score for every ensemble and be prepared to teach the next few lessons if
your teacher is unexpectedly absent for illness or even jury duty. Be prepared for the unthink- able: fire drills, medical emergencies, and lock downs.
When planning, be sure to focus on teaching music through performance, not just the per- formance. The goal is to help students under- stand and connect with musical concepts and in turn help them develop a life-long connection with music. Incorporate many different learn- ing strategies into your teaching to accommo- date everyone, including those with learning or physical disabilities as well as students from different backgrounds. Not only is the ability to identify musical challenges, it is important to have workable solutions. This means don’t get caught up in your own teaching (what you will do or say) but focus on students’ concep- tual understanding and behaviors, and include adjustments needed to improve student learning in your plan.
Good lesson plans also lead to good classroom management, as classroom management is more about the design of learning experiences than it is about student behavior. Be clear in your goals and teaching actions as well as be aware of what is going on in all parts of the classroom at all times. To be effective, the students must per- ceive that you really know what is going on in the classroom. This will help you become more comfortable within your teaching episodes, give you the ability to make ‘real time’ adjustments, help ease stage fright, and shifts your focus from how you look as a teacher to engaging your students.
2. Listen to Your Coaches and Training Partners
You will need to be open to the student teach- ing experience and give yourself time to absorb all aspects of the experience. Let your supervi- sor know when you are struggling and when something goes well. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Be open to the feedback; ask what you did
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