EDU 620: Mentoring New Teachers in the Music Classroom
An ONLINE Course 10/30/17 to 5/28/18
Call for information
Sue Barre, Instructor
Course Description: 4.5 CEUs
This course is for experienced music teachers who wish to mentor new music teachers. The course will teach best practices for teacher mentors and help them effectively coach new teachers in their first year in the music classroom. Participants will explore the essentials of instruction, curriculum, assessment and classroom management and reflective approaches to important challenges. Through the lens of research on effective mentoring, the course will provide extensive guidance on how mentors can understand the needs of new teachers, build strong relationships with them, and coach them through an ongoing process of improving their teaching practice. Regular observations with feedback and communication with the new teacher is expected. This online course is offered year-long during the school year with regular bi-weekly contact with the professor. Teacher mentors will earn 4.5 CEUs.
Materials Required:
The course will use two textbooks, supplemented by other reading and viewing materials specifically geared toward teaching in the music classroom. The main texts include:
Mentoring New Teachers Through Collaborative Teaching: Linking Teacher and Student Learning , Kathy Dunne and Susan Villani, West Ed Publishing, 2007.
Teaching on Solid Ground: Nuance, Challenge, and Technique for the Emerging Teacher, Dominic Belmonte, Corwin Publishing, 2006.
Additional reading, viewing and writing will be assigned.
Course Objectives:
Upon successful completion of this course, teacher mentors will demonstrate knowledge and competencies in the following areas of the study:
Participants will learn:
To provide meaningful support to new teachers
Best practices of effective teacher mentors based on research
To work collaboratively with a focus on student learning to heighten teacher effectiveness
To understand the needs of new teachers
To build strong relationship with new teachers
To help new teacher master classroom management
To understand and coach classroom nuances
To model techniques of exceptionally grounded teachers
To model reflective practice through keeping a process journal