Effect of Focused Observation on Preservice Music Teachers’ Mention of Students

Abstract

Using Fuller and Bown’s (1975) teacher concerns model as a framework, we examined precursor strategies to Fuller and Bown’s Stage 3 (concern with student impact). We examined preservice music teachers’ focus on teaching videos to determine (a) if participants focused on teacher or student, (b) if prompts to notice students resulted in more comments about students, (c) if focus on students maintained without instructions, and (d) if results differed based on prior teaching experience with school-aged students. Preservice music teachers (N = 114) viewed videos of music classes/rehearsals, specifying “what you notice” (control, n = 54) or “what did the students do” (focused observation, n = 60). As a posttest transfer, participants viewed the pretest video again without instructions. There were significant posttest differences, indicating the extent to which instructions influenced participant focus and the effects of small amounts of teaching experience. Specifically, results showed that the inexperienced teachers with guided instructions responded more like experienced ones. Implications for teacher preparation were discussed.

Effects of Camera Placement on Undergraduates’ Peer Teaching Reflection

“…Sentences that focused only on the participant when in the peer teacher role were coded "teacher." These included observations of one's own words and actions and reflections on how they functioned in rehearsal (Killian & Liu, 2018;Powell, 2016). Any sentence that did not fit either category was marked "other."…”

“…Participants completed two self-assessments for each trial—one for each camera placement—yielding a total of four self-assessments per participant. The self-assessment prompt, adapted from Killian and Liu (2018), was a Word document template assigned through the course page of the university’s learning management system. It read: “Using your video recorded from the [tripod- or head-mounted] camera, write freely about what you observe.…”

“…Sentences coded as “student” included comments specifically describing students’ words or actions, reflections on their successes and failures, and reactions to their contributions in class (Killian & Liu, 2018; Powell, 2016). Sentences that focused on some combination of peer teacher and student were also coded “student,” reflecting our interpretation that the participant was thinking beyond themselves (Paul, 1998).…”

“…The value of reflecting on teaching seems clear, but how that reflection is prompted and executed varies. Killian and Liu (2018) found that guiding instructions had a substantial influence on preservice teachers’ focus on students. In their study, undergraduate students viewed curated video excerpts of experienced teachers.…”

“…Researchers have emphasized the need to get preservice music teachers more focused on student concerns during their peer teaching assignments (Killian & Liu, 2018;Powell, 2011Powell, , 2014. Duke and Prickett (1987) noted that observers' visual focus of attention affects their observations and judgments regarding student and teacher interactions, and suggested that observers who view the teacher from the back of the class may be missing key factors of students' contributions, responses, and facial expressions.…”