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e g e r '. ii.. Student teaching often provides prospective music educators with a guided teaching experience USH :hey can refer to throughout their professional careers. In the words of one teacher, I ten think back to my student teaching experience for strategies in my current teaching and class-: -.om . I had a great cooperating teacher who enabled me to problem-solve on my own.As student teachers enter the classroom and assume music teacher responsibilities for the first time, they observe and collaborate with experienced cooperating teachers, who share their classrooms, students, and expertise. During this formative period, cooperating teachers guide their student teachers through experiences that will shape their teaching styles, their interactions with students, their current and future curricular choices, and how they think about their own teaching. As such, a cooperating teacher may be a significant professional mentor. This article is the second in a series on mentoring (see the MEJ Mentoring Series sidebar), a role that can make a tremendous difference in a person's decision to make a long-term commitment to teaching in any field, particularly music. Currently, student teaching is an important part of most music teacher education programs in the United States. For many prospective music teachers, it is their first and niianl shaped .. b hmost independent experience in the teacher role. The 7ie in cotaitr wstudent-teaching experience brings new situations, expectations, and demands, some of which may clash ers __-~ ao iu a ft g u uwith previously held ideas of what being a teacher entails. Researchers suggest that the student-teaching tie, an . .e.. etexperience has a lasting effect on the perspectives and practices of beginning music teachers.2Research also shows that schools often have implicit expectations for student teachers that reinforce the established norms and values of the school. Music student teachers' perspectives about their work seem to be significantly shaped by characteristics, practices, and structures of the schools where they teach, someers are often influential in fostering inquiry about public schools, teaching practices, and the effects of these practices on students. Initial QuestionsHow do cooperating teachers help student teachers become effective in the music classroom and sensitive to their effect on students? How do cooperating teachers encourage music student teachers to reflect on and question their daily teaching practice, to examine effects of school and classroom practices on students, and to experiment and try out new ideas and innovations in the classroom? What practices and unique understandings do experienced music teachers bring to the process? How do cooperating teachers guide inquiry and professional growth in music student teachers, and what is the experience like for the cooperating teachers themselves?Through observations of and interviews with cooperating teachers whom student teachers perceived as competent mentors, I identified a number of strategies that ...

X. oday's teachers face a variety of major challenges on a daily basis, including large classes, students with special needs, and multicultural, multilingual student populations. New teachers sometimes mistake the uneasiness and panic they experience during their first few years in the classroom as an indication that they have chosen the wrong profession (Grissmer and Kirby, 1991). According to Arnold, Choy, & Bobbitt (1993), beginning teachers measure their expectations against the realities of their classrooms, and if they find that an adequate support system is not available, many new teachers will look elsewhere.Because the quality of many music programs depends on the continuity of their music teachers, music teacher attrition and turnover can create a serious problem for most schools. Phelps (1983) found that more than half of music teachers surveyed eventually intended to leave teaching. Why do new music teachers stay in the profession? Why do they leave? How could they be better enabled to stay? These are a few of the questions examined by this study.Current research indicates that the largest number of teacher departures occur during the first ten years of teaching (Karge, 1993). For the purposes of this study, the term "beginning teachers" refers to those who have been teaching for less than ten years. Huling-Austin (1987) suggests that there are a few characteristics in the first few years of teaching that most beginners share, including: (1) finding the first years exceptionally challenging, (2) experiencing fear, anxiety, isolation, and loneliness, (3) lacking significant collegial support, and (4) not being prepared for the transition into the role of teacher. Lortie (1975) emphasizes the usually brief duration of student teaching and the isolation of beginning teachers from their colleagues as significant factors that influence new teachers' problems. Darling-Hammond, Wise, and Klein (1999) assert

The concerns of new teachers equently overlap, and being aware of these issues may benefit veteran teachers who want to help.he first years of teaching are a significant time in the development of one's career, a time when it is important to share ideas with other new teachers and more experienced colleagues. New teachers require significant support to become effective implementors of all they need to know and do in their classrooms. Much research on new teacher development demonstrates that teachers learn best when they can build their own knowledge and curriculum, share ideas with colleagues, and apply these new learnings in their practice.1 Isolation from other music teachers and from resource people is a frequent problem for many beginning music teachers.2 New music teachers need to discuss their work, but they often lack access to resource people in music with whom to discuss their practice. It is crucial to have a support system during initial teaching experiences, one that includes exchanges with other music teachers and encourages professional development and dialogue between new and mentor teachers.With these thoughts in mind, I offer the following reflections of beginning music teachers as they voice insightful perspectives. These new Patti J. Krueger is professor in the School of Music at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. By discussing their practice with experienced mentors, beginning music teachers can find the support that By discussing their practice with experienced mentors, beginning music teachers can find the support that is vital to their success. teachers are in the process of developing many new skills that require feedback from more experienced teachers. The reflections are selected from twenty interviews of beginning music teachers conducted at the end of the first and second years of teaching. Questions about teacher preparation, curriculum development, rehearsal practice, challenges, discipline, mentorship needs, and professional growth are addressed clearly by these articulate new teachers.