Reflections of Beginning Music Teachers

Abstract

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.

Teaching Careers: Exploring Links Between Well-Being, Burnout, Self-Efficacy and Praxis Shock

“…This study examined the perceptions of music teachers specifically, as it has been consistently argued that the experiences of early career music teachers are characterized by practical challenges associated with teaching the discipline area (Krueger, 2001;Scheib, 2006;Ballantyne, 2007;Conway, 2012;Legette, 2013). This is implicated in the findings by Buonomo et al (2017), who argue that the contextual stressors provided by teaching roles which require extracurricular responsibilities and workload (like music teachers) are at greater risk of burnout.…”

Documenting praxis shock in early-career Australian music teachers: the impact of pre-service teacher education

“…Such continuing support should be designed to address the needs expressed by early-career Australian music teachers in this study, in particular the unique problems that these secondary school music teachers face (as argued above) and their need for discipline-specific induction and mentoring programs (as suggested by Conway, 2001;DeLorenzo, 1992;Krueger, 1999Krueger, , 2000Krueger, , 2001Yourn, 2000).…”

The Journey From Instrumental to Elementary General Music Education: How to Succeed in a New Specialization

“…Formal and informal mentors, such as colleagues, friends, and family members, have been identified by new teachers as meaningful resources and support systems (DeLorenzo, 1992; de Vries, 2000; Krueger, 2001; Roulston, Legette, & Trotman Womack, 2005) and may be beneficial when teaching outside of one’s specialization as well. If you are a new teacher, or new to a district, you may be assigned a mentor teacher.…”