Beginning Music Teacher Mentor Practices

Abstract

The purpose of this inquiry was to examine the current reflections of 13 experienced teachers on their past perceptions of mentoring as documented by Conway (2003a). Participants read the 2003 study and examined all data collected in 1999-2000, including journals, two questionnaires, individual interviews, focus group interviews, mentor interviews, and principal interviews. They then wrote an e-mail reflection on that reading and participated in an individual interview regarding their current perceptions on mentoring beginning music teachers. I sought to understand whether findings represented in the 2003 study were perceived to be still relevant today. In addition, I sought to uncover additional insights regarding mentoring that these participants could offer. Findings are presented in the following categories: (a) mentoring can be valuable for the mentor; (b) disagreement regarding who should mentor; and (c) new teachers must be proactive in finding answers to questions. Themes consistent with the 2003 findings include (a) a lack of consistency in mentor programs and teacher perceptions of value, (b) curricular concerns, (c) music teachers need music mentors, and (d) time for mentor–mentee interaction. Connections are made to past research, and suggestions for future research and mentoring practice are provided.

Keywords

beginning teachers mentee mentoring program reflection

Research on beginning music teachers first appears in the music education literature in the mid-1990s and the early turn of the 2000s (Conway, 2001; Krueger, 1996; Smith, 1994); and the mentoring-specific line of inquiry has since been regularly explored by music education scholars and researchers (e.g., Baril, 2006; Benson, 2008; Blair, 2008; Haack, 2006; Jacobs, 2007, 2008; Mcllhagga, 2006; Smith, 2005; Stevanson, 2005; Weimer, 2010).

Benson (2008) provided an extensive literature review on the topic of mentoring and concluded that most music mentor programs are not as beneficial for new music teachers as they are for beginning teachers in other subject areas. She encouraged the profession to help new music teachers have regular access to music mentors who can help (p. 48). Weimer’s (2010) examination of mentoring programs in West Virginia provides a good overview of the mentoring literature. Weimer suggests that new music teachers (a) have unique needs, (b) share feelings of isolation, and (c) have specific ideas about what types of assistance they find most and least helpful. She concludes that the most effective mentoring programs match mentor by subject matter and grade, have clearly defined qualifications for choosing mentors, provide adequate training and stipends for mentors, and provide mentors time to leave their classes and observe their mentees in action (p. 22).¹ Although this music education literature provides some information about mentoring, there are still many unanswered questions on organizing, planning, matching, implementing, and evaluating mentor experiences for music teachers.

Moir, Barlin, Gless, and Miles (2009) support the notion that the educational landscape is changing and this change includes a continued focus on new teachers:

The educational landscape in the United States is shifting. As more politicians call for reform efforts that are proven to improve student outcomes, a discourse has developed about how policy makers and school district leaders can impact the single most critical school-related variable in a child’s education: the quality of the teacher. An awareness has emerged that a focus on new teachers represents powerful leverage for increasing teacher, and teaching quality throughout the system. (p. 1)

As more than10 years had passed since I first began studying the mentoring experiences of beginning music teachers (Conway, 2003a), I saw a unique opportunity to provide an update on music teacher mentoring by returning to the teachers who participated in the 2003 study. The thought was that since these teachers had participated in a study of mentoring years ago they might have unique insight into the changing educational landscape mentioned above on mentoring. As I still had all of the data (participant hard copy and e-mail journals, individual and focus group interviews/transcripts, mentor and principal interviews/transcripts, and two questionnaires²) that had been collected in 1999-2000, I was able to ask these teachers to reflect on their experiences of 10 years ago as well as offer reflections on the current educational landscape (Moir et al., 2009) in relation to mentoring.

Within general teacher education literature, there is a precedent for returning years later to first-year teacher experiences (Bullough & Baughman, 1997). Although Bullough and Baughman continued data collection throughout the 8 years of Baughman’s growth from beginning to experienced teacher and my study returned to teachers without formal data collection³ in between, the questions asked by Bullough and Baughman and the focus on teacher growth over time provided some suggestions for my work.

Purpose and Overview

The purpose of this inquiry was to examine the current reflections of 13 experienced teachers on their past perceptions of mentoring as documented in Conway (2003a). Participants read the 2003 study and examined all data collected in 1999-2000, including journals, two questionnaires, individual interviews, focus group interviews, mentor interviews, and principal interviews. They then wrote an e-mail reflection on that reading and participated in an individual interview about their current perceptions on mentoring beginning music teachers. I sought to understand whether findings represented in the 2003 study were perceived to be still relevant today. In addition, I sought to uncover additional insights into mentoring that these participants could offer.

Method

I began the Method section of the 2003 report with the following quote:

Researchers in professional domains such as education, nursing medicine, law, psychiatry, counseling, and psychology increasingly are becoming aware of the importance of interpretive models that place human situatedness central and are based on the belief that we can best understand human beings from the experiential reality of their life worlds. (Van Manen, 1998, p. xi, as cited in Conway, 2003a, p. 7)

I then suggested,

Researchers can best understand the mentor practices of beginning music teachers by examining the “life world” of the beginning music teacher . . . I interacted with these teachers for an extended time in an effort to be a part of their “human situatedness” and to understand their “experiential reality” in relation to mentor practices. (Conway, 2003a, p. 7)

For purposes of the study described now, the phenomenon examined continued to be mentoring, and this was examined from the reflections of participants on being a mentee 10 years ago as well as on serving as a mentor in recent years.

Participants

Participants for the current study included the same 13 teachers who had been starting their first full-time public school music teaching position in September of 1999 (7 names in boldface in Figure 1) and September of 2000 (6 names not in boldface in Figure 1) in school districts in mid-Michigan teaching contexts in 1999-2000 that included large/urban schools (2 participants), large/suburban schools (4 participants), medium/rural (2 participants), and small/rural (5 participants). At the time of the 1999-2000 data collection, there was a state mandate for all first-year teachers to be provided with a mentor by the district.

Figure 1.

Participants.

A 2010 profile of each of the 13 teachers including years in first position and current position appears in Figure 1. The participants are presented in the same order as they appeared in the 2003 article figure. Participants that show 11 years in first position were still teaching in the same position that they were in when they participated in 1999 or 2000. Allison, Mark, Brian, and James were in the second teaching position in the 11 years. Elle had only one teaching position for 9 years then completed a PhD and pursued a career in higher education. Tom was in two positions over the course of 4 years and then left the teaching field. Doug and Adam were in their third teaching position in the 11-year period. Joan taught in one district for 1 year, taught in the next for 6 more, and then completed a PhD and pursued a career in higher education. The figure also includes a field for whether the participant had recently worked as a cooperating teacher and/or a mentor teacher for a first-year teacher.

Data Sources and Procedures

Participant Hard Copy Reflections on Conway (2003a) Report and 1999-2000 Data

Twelve of the 13 of the participants completed the hard copy reflection. Tom did not write as he was no longer teaching. They read the Conway (2003a) report, as well as transcripts from 1999 and/or 2000 of interviews with the individual beginning teachers (themselves), their mentors, and their principals (approximately 20 single-spaced pages for each participant). They also read an e-mail log from 1999-2000 (page range from 2-20 single-spaced pages depending on the participant), journals they had kept in 1999-2000, and their individual responses on two questionnaires collected in 1999-2000. They then responded via e-mail to the following prompts: (a) “As you read the 2003 Journal of Research in Music Education what were your reactions? (to the article in general as well as to the specific information reported on you)? (b) “As you read the document I sent you in March with our 10-year old e-mail communication and interview data, what were your reactions to those data regarding your perceptions of mentoring?” A combined hard copy document with responses from all 12 participants who completed the email response resulted in 50 double-spaced pages of text with a range between 2 and 8 pages per participant.

Individual Interview

Each of the participants participated in a 30-minute individual interview in May or June 2010 that gave them the opportunity to discuss their hard copy reflections and overall responses as well as respond to additional prompts: (a) What would you say are your current views regarding the mentoring of beginning music teachers? (b) “With 10 years of teaching now behind you, what other information can you provide to the profession regarding the mentoring of beginning music teachers?” The eight teachers still working in Michigan were interviewed in person. The other four who were out of state were interviewed via telephone. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed.

Trustworthiness and Analysis

Although there were only two new data sets collected in 2010, it should be noted that both sets of data (hard copy reflections and individual interviews) occurred after participants spent considerable time in 2010 reading and reflecting on the 1999-2000 data. It should also be noted that participants completed a member check of the 1999-2000 transcripts and findings in 1999-2000 so they had had an opportunity to reflect on these data once before.

Two research assistants from the University of Michigan’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program and I completed two rounds of coding (one based on 2003 themes and then an open coding round) of the 2010 data separate from one another and then codes were compared by me. It should be noted that the two student researchers had not read the past literature on mentoring (beyond the 2003 study) but did receive instruction in how to approach the process of coding. This is important as knowing the extended past literature can sometimes negatively affect what a qualitative researcher examines in the coding process (Patton, 2002). Having two additional coders (in addition to the primary investigator who had read past literature) strengthened the trustworthiness of these findings. The three of us met several times to discuss the codes and consider any disagreements between our coding schemes. We worked to draw meaning from the data, and the findings represent the themes that in our interpretation of the data offer the most insight into mentoring.

Findings and Discussion

The first section of findings includes insights on mentoring that emerged from the 2010 data: (a) mentoring can be valuable for the mentor; (b) there is disagreement on who should mentor; and (c) new teachers must be proactive in finding answers to questions. A discussion of each theme in relation to the mentoring literature and recommendations for mentor practice are included with the presentation of each theme. The reader is reminded that 10 of these participants had recently worked as cooperating teachers for student teachers and 7 of these teachers had recently worked as mentors for beginning teachers. They brought those recent perspectives to these recommendations.

Mentoring Can Be Valuable for the Mentor

Teachers suggested that mentoring is valuable and important. Joan suggested,

Mentoring is very important, but doesn’t always occur within a formal mentor/mentee relationship . . . When it’s good, both people (or all people when it occurs in a group) will benefit from the interaction. . . . I have experienced mentoring relationships between my peers and I have felt mentored by my mentees as well.

Teachers also commented that being a mentor felt like a professional development activity and that they learned from the process. This concept of mentoring being valuable for the mentor has been documented by other music education studies. Robinson (2005) concluded his presentation of the experiences of veteran teachers in a teacher assessment program in Connecticut with the following: “Perhaps the opportunity to become involved with beginning teacher mentoring, induction, and assessment initiatives can be the means through which our more experienced colleagues can find the room to grow without leaving the classroom entirely” (p. 58). In Conway and Holcomb (2008), we also suggested that the act of mentoring was a valuable activity for the mentor: “Some of the data collected for this study suggest that mentoring may be a valuable professional development activity for the mentors” (p. 66).

There Is Disagreement on Who Should Mentor

Although none of the participants had had mentors 10 years ago who were retired teachers, there was discussion among participants on the use of retired teachers as mentors as well as discussion on who makes a good mentor. Toni suggested, “They need to still be in the business, and they need to want to be a mentor.” She went on to say,

I’ve discovered that most see [mentoring] as a burden, and that the bulk of teachers believe the first year of teaching weeds those that are strong enough to continue from those that aren’t. In some ways, they’re right, but for the most part new teachers need our support because it helps everybody. They have fresh ideas and are able to assist us as well. The stronger we can make the new teachers, the stronger the school community and culture of discipline are. (Interview)

Brian was not sure that retired teachers make good mentors:

So for a first year teacher to have this [retired] guy, you know . . . well the older people get the harder it is . . . some of those guys are fabulous . . . but the perception on the part of the 21-year-old is . . . “Whoa, who’s this guy who’s been out forever?” (Interview)

He suggested that music organizations might need to be more intentional about mentoring:

Maybe it boils down to opening or creating a mentor group and saying to directors “We need this many directors of these ages to be mentors. Who wants to sign up? We are going to send you a phone number and this is going to be the person that you mentor . . .” (Interview)

Elle (interview) was more positive toward retired teachers and suggested, “Maybe [retired teachers] are so far out from the experience now that they would still see that optimism.”

The issues associated with the use of retired teachers and who should mentor has been discussed in the literature (Conway, 2003b), but there is no conclusive recommendation on retired teachers or others. I think Toni really captures the essence of the issue when she suggests that a mentor must want to be a mentor.

New Teachers Must Be Proactive in Finding Answers to Questions

When I asked participants what advice they have after 10 years and after reflecting on mentoring, they overwhelmingly suggested that the new teacher must take some responsibility for their own learning. Penny said,

I think the one thing that beginning teachers should do is . . . and everybody should be encouraged to, even if your district doesn’t provide a mentor, you need to get on the phone . . . like you find people . . . you have to figure it out . . . I mean as a group, band directors were very happy to share. (Penny, interview)

Teri (hard copy response) said, “Prepare them for the fact that there is going to be stuff that they don’t know. And get them used to asking people for help.” Since 2003 I have incorporated a unit on mentoring into my capstone undergraduate courses, and although I have not studied the impact of a short unit on mentoring on the experiences of beginning teachers, I have had new teachers anecdotally support the notion that some “warning” about the need to be proactive in securing mentors and findings answers to questions has been useful.

Discussion

These three findings on mentoring mirror much of dialogue in general education about mentoring. Achinstein and Athanases (2006) provide extensive discussions of who should mentor, how to prepare mentors, and how mentoring is valued as a professional development experience for mentors. These issues have yet to be fully explored in music education.

The suggestion from the teacher participants in this study that new teachers need to be proactive in securing their own mentoring is also timely. In the concluding paragraph of his extensive examination of mentor and induction literature in general education, Strong (2009) suggests,

In short, we are not clear how effective induction is. The evidence is by no means overwhelming that induction and mentoring programs influence more than teachers’ sense of well-being and their rates of attrition, and it is very scant on the outcomes of student achievement and teacher practice . . . We can console ourselves with the knowledge that the evidence that does exist suggests to us that, where comprehensive programs are established and funded, excellent teachers will not quit before they finish their second year. (p. 103)

If general education is suggesting that formal programs do not seem to be helpful, it may be that music teachers may be best served by not relying exclusively on formalized programs as is suggested by the participant reflections in this study.

Findings Consistent With 2003 Report

Analysis revealed consistency between the new data in 2010 and 1999-2000 data. Themes consistent with the 2003 report include the following: (a) lack of consistency in mentor programs and teacher perceptions of value, (b) curricular concerns, (c) music teachers still need music mentors, and (d) time for mentor–mentee interaction.

Lack of Consistency in Mentor Programs and Teacher Perceptions of Value

The 2003 article discussed a lack of consistency in mentor programs in relation to the type of school (more affluent schools had better mentor programs), teaching responsibilities and classroom setting (beginning teacher needs changed in relation to type of music teaching), assignment of mentors (some assignments were not made carefully), and payment and training (more affluent schools pay and train mentors and less affluent schools did not). Responses from participants in 2010 continued to support the notion that some mentor programs work and others do not. Some are carefully designed and implemented and others are not. In reflecting on mentoring now in relation to 10 years ago in her district, Teri said,

Since then our district has cleaned up the mentoring and evaluation processes. It’s a lot more paperwork with a distinct procedure, but its effectiveness depends upon the willingness of the administrator in charge to be faithful to the process. It seems many times to be a “just sign the line and say we met” procedure, and that a lot of times new teachers are so overwhelmed with duties they just oblige. (Interview)

Adam suggested that there is less “need” for music teachers now and that may affect the importance of mentoring:

And with a glut of available teachers on the market, I could see why an administrator would not want to bend over backwards to help out a struggling new teacher. “Survival of the Fittest.” In my second job, I felt like it was easier for them to just turn the position over (again) than devote any more time and effort to my improvement. There was already a culture of consistent teacher turnover and it was a position that was not vital to the school or attracting students to the already successful private school. (Interview)

The 2003 study reported categories of mentor and mentee interactions including: administrative duties, classroom management, parent interactions, building and district policies, and personal issues. When Allison reflected on the categories from 2003, she said,

It seems to me that the key with this would be balance. If an administrator would think rationally, they would know that classroom management for a high school math teacher is going to be very different from a kindergarten teacher or middle school band director. Ideally, they would identify those sessions that everyone needed and which sessions should be broken down into subject areas. Frankly, I don’t know if I had had another elementary music teacher there to give me ideas about classroom management, I don’t know if I would have “heard” it or not. (Hard copy response)

Finally, Allison suggested in her hard copy response that the lack of consistency might be created by administrators. She believes that there are differences in perceptions on the matching of mentors and mentees:

I guess what I’m trying to say is that it seems like mentor relationships are assigned from the point of view of veteran teachers and administrators rather than new teachers. And so even if the assignment seems “educationally sound,” I don’t know that it takes into consideration the point of view of the new teacher. I just don’t think that this assignment is that high on the list of priorities for an administrator to think through all of the different perspectives to find the best-fit possible. By nature of being a new person coming in, the administrator does not know the first year teacher well enough to be able to even address all of these issues. I think the principals do the best they can at finding someone who’s great with kids and that would be open to helping out (maybe not in trying to assign me the custodian though!), but having good fit for the relationship may be just as important as subject area. (Hard copy response)

Allison’s comment above on being assigned to the building custodian was a reflection on her own mentor experience. The 2003 study included an extended narrative on her being assigned to the building custodian as her mentor.

In addition to supporting findings from Conway (2003a), the findings in this section also mirror findings from many of the music education mentor studies conducted between 2004 and 2010. All of the past music education mentor articles have suggested there is a lack of consistency in mentor program offerings and that music teacher perceptions of program value are mixed (Baril, 2006; Benson, 2008; Jacobs 2007, 2008; Mcllhagga, 2006; Stevanson, 2005). Alison’s comment in 2010 about administrators as well as her own mentee experience 10 years ago would suggest that continued examination of administrator and beginning teacher interactions might be helpful for understanding the experiences of beginning music teachers. Edgar (2012) considered administrator expectations of instrumental teachers specifically and also suggested a need for more research in this area.

Curricular Questions

The 2003 study suggested that the topic of “curricular questions” was largely absent in the 1999-2000 data:

Very few of the beginning teachers stated that they spoke to mentors about curricular issues…I am concerned that mere survival during the first year of teaching will not encourage the growth into reflective teaching practice that is so desperately needed in education. Beginning teachers need to be asking curricular questions and interacting with experienced music mentors in meaningful ways with regards to instruction. However, the current configuration of beginning music teacher positions makes this growth nearly impossible. (Conway, 2003a, p. 18)

In 2003, I suggested that the emergent finding that teachers do not consider curricular issues in the first year should encourage the profession to support teachers with a mentor so that they can be guided in recognizing the need for a curricular focus. In 2010 I examined this phenomena more closely. In the 2010 study, it became clear that teachers began asking curricular questions later than the beginning of the first year. Elle stated in her interview:

I talked with Bob [her mentor] everyday . . . But that [curriculum] normally did not come until I was more comfortable with the actual teaching. So I didn’t really start picking Bob’s brain until spring.

Brian said,

I kind of wish they would wait on the mentor program and just have somebody you can go to for general questions and start the mentor program the middle of your first year . . . or go to your second . . . and go years two and three . . . because there were things later that I had questions about that I felt really stupid going to people and saying this is my third year in and I have no idea . . . (Interview)

In thinking about how to address this problem in the profession, Elle suggested that music organizations might be able to offer assistance:

And I think if organized through ASTA [American String Teachers Association] or MSBOA [Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association], where you had like once a semester you got together, or a quarter, but then also you had a place where you could have each other’s contact info and all of that so you could talk over ideas with them. Just a group that meets periodically just to pick brains of new ideas. (Interview)

The notion that beginning teachers are in a sort of survival-only mode and proceed through stages of development beginning from a very teacher-focused to eventually a more student-focused approach is well documented in the seminal teacher identity and development literature (Fuller, 1969; Fuller & Brown, 1975). Within music education, Stevanson (2005)’s collective case study examined three elementary music teachers in a mentoring program through the lens of other frameworks—The Stages of Concern (Hord, Rutherford, Huling-Austin, & Hall, 1987), The Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow, 1970), and the Categories of Support (Merriam & Simpson, 2000). In her conclusions Stevanson (2005) expressed concern that mentor programs often focused on curricular issues for first-year teachers, and yet most of the first-year teacher concerns examined through these frameworks and described in her study centered more on personal issues. This finding mirrors my findings that curricular issues become more important after the first year. Finally, Elle and Brian (above) discussed the need for music organizations to be involved in mentoring, and this, too, is supported in past research (Conway, Krueger, Robinson, Haack, & Smith, 2002).

Music Teachers Still Need Music Mentors

Participants continued to support the 2003 notion that music teachers need support from other music teachers. Allison wrote, “In reading the 2003 paper, it brought back all of those memories of why I wanted a music mentor so desperately” (hard copy response). Mark said,

I certainly see the benefits of having a mentor for a new teacher. I wish that all teachers had a mentor in their content area, but I know that is not always feasible. Having had the choir teacher at my building be my mentor two years ago, who has 30 years of teaching experience, was the best situation for me. He was seasoned enough to quickly come up with a remedy or answer, yet poised enough to let me know when I needed to fix something. He was definitely a lifesaver. (Interview)

However, these more experienced teachers also saw the need for several types of mentors. Marie suggested,

Music teachers should have music teacher mentors, although this is not always possible. I have gotten so much help form another elementary teacher in my district who is about 15 years my senior. She was not my official mentor, but she was the person (and still is the person) who has helped me the most, with all aspects of the job. (Hard copy response)

Teri (interview) suggested, “I think I had one of the best possible mentoring situations. I had a music teacher to answer my questions, and I was able to get building answers from our secretaries.” In thinking about her own work as a mentor for a new music teacher who was new to music teaching, but not new to teaching, Elle (interview), reflecting on her own recent experience as a mentor, said, “He didn’t need mentoring in terms of the building administrative stuff. He needed mentoring in terms of how to work with larger groups, how to work with larger groups with noise makers in their hands.” James (hard copy response) said, “Give me feedback and suggestions as a teacher, not as the band director.” He was strongly in support of general mentors, and not necessarily music:

Classroom management, assessment and evaluations are things that every educator deals with. It should not matter what the content is . . . It would be so nice to have all of the mentoring with a music person, but I also have to think that this is dangerous. When all you talk to is people in your profession (or subject) how can you get a different point of view? How can you get a broad view? How can you learn from experienced, expert educators in other areas? (Hard copy response)

Joan (hard copy response) suggested a solution: “A solution might be to have multiple mentors: (1) building and district mentor, and (2) music teacher mentor.” Doug suggested a similar model:

I guess I see two separate categories of need for teacher training, maybe three. First, is specific to the school. How do you spend money? Facility Requests? Copying? Second and mostly importantly is how to become a better teacher. This person would need to be master teacher with a wealth of teaching experiences within the same content area. Lastly, would be someone to help with association matters (i.e., Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association). Someone to help with festivals, s/e, programming? One person could potentially fit into this mold, but maybe not. (Interview)

All of the past studies support the need for music mentors. Benson (2008) suggested:

New music teachers must have regular access to fellow musical colleagues to gain valuable insight, guidance, and advice, and school administrators must take all necessary steps to ensure that new music teachers perceive themselves as equal, vital members of the school’s instructional staff. (p. 48)

The finding that music teachers need music mentors points to the need for policy to recognize the unique needs of music teachers. This need for policy and the need for state music organizations to assist in policy development are also documented in the past literature (Jacobs, 2008).

Time for Mentor–Mentee Interaction

Participants continued to provide evidence for the need for mentors to be in the classroom of the mentee as part of the mentoring process. Trish (hard copy response) wrote, “I really think the biggest problem with the current mentor system, aside from the obvious inconsistencies, is the inability for most mentors to get into the classroom and actually watch the new teacher in action.” Reflecting in a more positive way, Mark said,

I found myself very lucky to have had my co-teacher be my mentor. It made for easy access to answers when I needed help. Also, my mentor was always there observing me teach, so he was able to see my growth and make sure that I corrected bad habits, or praise me when I was doing well. This was so important! I needed to know that what I was doing was acceptable, just as much as I needed to know what I was doing wrong. (Interview)

There was also discussion of the need for informal “time” for teachers to interact with other teachers. James wrote,

I still have never really had an official mentor, but I have strengthened my relationship with experienced teachers through PD days, through social events (golfing) and through conversations (lunchtime and staff meetings). Mentoring is something that should be casual and not forced. (Hard copy response)

Doug discussed time as well:

What I see is that no one has enough time. Mentors are always willing to help but don’t want to give up class time to observe mentees in the classroom. Mentees don’t want to give up time to observe master teachers or are too busy planning and teaching, the mentor experience is generally very surface level. (Interview)

The finding that mentors need to observe the mentees is well supported in the past literature (Benson, 2008; Jacobs, 2007, 2008; Mcllhagga, 2006; Stevanson, 2005;]Weimer, 2010).

Closing Thoughts and Recommendations

Mentoring of the beginning music teacher is still in need of attention from state music organizations and policymakers to ensure that music teachers receive consistent support from music mentors who are able to observe. It is suggested through research that this support be provided for longer than just the first year so that curricular issues that emerge in the second and third years may be addressed. However, no music studies have examined mentoring specifically in the second and third years. It has been shown that mentoring can be a valuable professional development activity for the mentor. It is still unclear in the literature just how mentoring is a professional development activity and how best to prepare mentors.

Experienced teachers in this study suggest that some responsibility for mentoring must be placed on the beginning teacher and that these teachers must be proactive in seeking support. Future researchers may study the teaching of that responsibility within student teaching or other preservice courses. Closer examinations of specific aspects of mentor and mentee relationships may provide the profession with more information about the preparation of mentors as well as the preparation of beginning teachers for the type of relationships that lead to successful beginning years of teaching. We know little about how gender, ethnicity, classroom context, and type of preservice preparation interact with mentoring experiences. The role of “same subject” (i.e., both mentor and mentee are elementary general music or middle school band) has yet to be clarified within “music-specific” mentoring. It is hoped that future researchers will explore these and other topics to offer the evidence on mentoring needed in order for policies and practices to be developed, implemented, funded, and continued.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

References

Achinstein

Athanases

S. Z.

(Ed.). (2006). Mentors in the making. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Baril

(2006). Life cycle of a music educator: The value of mentorship to a beginning secondary music educator within Edmonton public schools (Master’s thesis). Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: University of Alberta.

Benson

M. A.

(2008). Effective mentoring for new music teachers: An analysis of the mentor programs for new teachers as described in the literature. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 26(2), 42–49. doi:10.1177/8755123308317953

Blair

D. V.

(2008). Mentoring novice music teachers: Developing a community of practice. Research Studies in Music Education, 30, 99–117. doi:10.1177/1321103X08097502

Bullough

R. V.

Jr. Baughman

(1997). “ First year teacher” eight years later: An inquiry into teacher development. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Conway

C. M.

(2001). What has research told us about beginning music teachers? Journal of Music Teacher Education, 10(2), 14–22. doi:10.1177/10570837010100020104

Conway

C. M.

(2003a). An examination of district-sponsored beginning music teacher mentor practices. Journal of Research in Music Education, 51(1), 6–23. doi:10.2307/3345645

Conway

C. M.

(Ed.). (2003b). Great beginnings for music teachers: Mentoring and supporting new teachers. Reston, VA: Music Educators National Conference.

Conway

C. M.

Holcomb

(2008). Perceptions of experienced music teachers regarding their work as music mentors. Journal of Research in Music Education, 56(1), 55–67. doi:10.1177/0022429408323073

10.

Conway

C. M.

Krueger

Robinson

Haack

Smith

M. V.

(2002). Beginning music teacher mentor and induction policy: A cross-state perspective. Arts Education Policy Review, 104(2), 9–17. doi:10.1080/10632910209605998

11.

Edgar

(2012). Communication of expectations between principals and entry-year instrumental music teachers: Implications for music teacher assessment. Arts Education Policy Review, 113(4). doi:10.1080/10632913.2012.719426

12.

Fuller

(1969). Concerns of teachers: A developmental conceptualization. American Education Research Journal, 6, 207–226.

13.

Fuller

Brown

(1975). Becoming a teacher. In Ryan

(Ed.), Teacher education (74th Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Pt. 2, pp. 25-52). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

14.

Haack

(2006). Mentoring and professional development programs: Possibilities and pitfalls. Music Educators Journal, 92(4), 60–64. Retrieved from https://www-jstor-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/stable/3401114

15.

Hord

S. M.

Rutherford

W. L.

Huling-Austin

L. L.

Hall

G. E.

(1987). Taking charge of change. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

16.

Jacobs

(2007). A qualitative study of first-year high school band director and their mentors. Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 3271149)

17.

Jacobs

(2008). Constructing a model for the effective mentoring of music educators. Journal of Music Teacher Education, 17(2), 60–68. doi:10.1177/1057083708317645

18.

Krueger

P. J.

(1996). Becoming a music teacher: Challenges of the first year. Dialogue in Instrumental Music, 20(2), 88–104.

19.

Maslow

(1970). Motivation and personality (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Harper & Row.

20.

Merriam

Simpson

E. L.

(2000). A guide to research for educators and trainers of adults (2nd ed.). Malabar, FL: Krieger.

21.

Moir

Barlin

Gless

Miles

(2009). New teacher mentoring. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

22.

Mcllhagga

(2006). Factors that affect perceived mentor effectiveness and teacher retention among beginning secondary music educators in Michigan. Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 3225755)

23.

Patton

M. Q.

(2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

24.

Robinson

(2005). The impact of beginning music teacher assessment on the assessors: Notes from experienced teachers. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 164, 49–60. Retrieved from https://www-jstor-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/stable/40319259

25.

Smith

M. V.

(1994). The mentoring and professional development of new music educators: A descriptive study of a pilot program. Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 9501133)

26.

Smith

M. V.

(2005). Modern mentoring: Ancient lessons for today. Music Educators Journal, 92(2), 62–67. Retrieved from https://www-jstor-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/stable/3400199

27.

Stevanson

B. A.

(2005). A study of a pilot support program for first year elementary music teachers. Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 3172115)

28.

Strong

(2009). Effective teacher induction and mentoring: Assessing the evidence. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

29.

Weimer

K. R.

(2010). A survey of mentoring programs for novice K-12 music teachers in West Virginia public schools (Unpublished master’s thesis). Morgantown, West Virginia University.