NAfME collegiate advisor
Pre-Service Teachers and the Joy of Teaching
Tobin Shucha, WMEA State Chair, NAfME Collegiate Advisor
One of the first questions I ask of students in my In- troduction to Music Education class is: why do you want to teach music? Of course, there are no right or wrong answers, but I use
the exercise to talk about the realities of teaching music, and to get students think- ing about which motivations to teach can actually pay off, and which can lead to disappointment and burnout.
Most readers of this publication already know this, but teaching music carries a unique set of possible benefits and draw- backs. In my experience, students entering their training as pre-service music teachers are sometimes aware of only some of these. Often, they are focused on the benefits that they could perceive while they were still high school students; possibly even more often, I hear from students that their band/choir/orchestra director1
from high
school warned them of only (or mostly) the drawbacks.
Both of these can lead to a misunder- standing of what the profession can offer. Focusing on rewards like student adula- tion or community attention will leave a young teacher sorely disappointed when they learn that, in fact, not every student will love them as their music teacher, and that community attention is not always as positive as it appeared during the applause at the concerts. This is especially true when these are the goals of the teacher! Likewise, focusing on performance (and especially on ratings or trophies) as the product of teach- ing can lead to disappointment and burnout.
On the other hand, advising students to avoid going into music education, or only doing it if they can’t imagine being happy in any other career (I love my job, but I can easily imagine being happy in other careers, too), does a disservice to students who might be very satisfied and successful as a music teacher, only to be scared away by well-intentioned mentors. So, what
“…the best thing that we can do for our students who are considering a
career in music education is to have honest
conversations about what is great and what is hard in teaching music.”
SHOULD we tell potential music educa- tors when they ask about pursuing a career teaching music?
I think that the best thing that we can do for our students who are considering a career in music education is to have hon- est conversations about what is great and what is hard in teaching music. Yes, there are hard parts… lots of them. I don’t need
16
January 2023
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