5 Tips for Student Teaching General Music

• Emma Melick
• Posted 2/21/22
• 0 comments

I recently completed my student teaching placement and decided to share some of my top tips with those who have yet to begin this journey.  

1 — Build Relationships

I recommend immediately building rapport with students. Instead of standing in the back of the room and observing your Cooperating Teacher (CT), join the class’s activities and participate along with students. This is one of the simplest ways to get involved in the first week of your placement.  

2 — Reinforce School Expectations

If you consistently interact with students, they might begin to view you as their friend.  Therefore, it is essential to familiarize yourself with the classroom and school expectations so you can intervene when students test limits. It may sound scary, but I promise at some point you will have to say “hands to yourself” or “walking feet,” so you might as well start as soon as you can.  

3 — Learn Student Names

Next is the task of learning every student’s name. I used two strategies. First, I studied the seating charts (it had pictures and was amazing)! The second strategy is to say goodbye to students by name as they leave the music room; you will soon know everyone’s name with enough repetition. Then once you start teaching, continue to use students’ names throughout the lesson.  

4 — Flexible Thinking

During my student teaching, I found that there were many times I needed to adjust my mindset both in my teaching and the expectations I had for the student’s performance. Instead of focusing on what was going wrong or could be improved, I frequently needed to flip my thinking to a growth mindset. 

It seems silly to have to remind yourself of this. However, as both students and teachers recover from the after-effects of the pandemic (online school, limited social interactions, and the emotional upheaval), it is essential to take students from where they are and celebrate the progress they make instead of comparing them to past years.  This is also true for your progress.  

Remember to be brave throughout your student teaching; the more you put yourself out there and try things, the more you can grow. Please take advantage of your cooperating teacher’s knowledge and advice. Finally, please pay attention to how they create a community in their classroom. 

5 — Survival Tactics

Finally, here are a few practical things to keep in mind:

• Don’t wear long sleeves or anything too hot — you will get sweaty FAST.
• Be cautious when choosing to wear skirts and dresses, as you may move around and sit on the floor a lot. Pick shoes that won’t hurt your feet. 
• Don’t be surprised when you are exhausted after the first week. Teaching for 8 hours straight will feel very different than your college class schedule. A solid sleep schedule will do you wonders. 
• Create a routine for after school, especially if you still have homework or edTPA to do. For me, this meant journaling about the day as soon as I walked in the door. This got me started on one of my assignments right away and kept me from getting on my phone or taking a nap to recuperate from the day. 

Good luck, and have fun, because teaching general music is a blast!