Tips That Click

Tips That Click this month is devoted to helping supervising teachers plan and develop an outstanding internship for student teachers. It is crucial that an intern have a successful introduction to the profession and many positive experiences during the practicum will set the tone for the first few years.

Pat Stegall is presently on the faculty of the University of North Alabama, serving as the student teacher supervisor. He was the long-time director of the outstanding program at Muscle Shoals High School and has been a state officer in AMEA, ABA, and is the current president of Rho Chapter of Phi Beta Mu.

He has several useful suggestions for directors supervising student teachers or interns. “Everyone likes to have a student teacher in the fall semester. With the marching band and related activities, there is always too much to do and extra help is appreciated. In the spring semester, we often are very protective with time with our concert groups as we prepare for performance assessment. The student intern still needs to be part of this process and have involvementwith the ensembles to learn and receive feedback. Sending the intern off to remediate students without being observed does not provide quality information on how to improve instruction and must not be overused. The supervising teacher must devise a way to employ the intern in the instruction with all groups from the first day so that his/her role will expand in a logical manner rather than just turning things over to them after the performance assessment. I also would urge the director to find a separate work area for the intern. They will need to have a space to work on lesson plans and the many forms that must be turned in during this experience. There are usually a lot of forms and video that must be submitted online as well, so working in the same area as the supervising teacher will be awkward and cumbersome for everyone. Finally, I always stress the importance of orienting the intern to the world of the school outside the band room. Take the time to introduce them to the administrators and other teachers and give them the opportunity to see how the school operates. Much of the success in the first years of teaching will be influenced heavily by relationships and actions outside of the walls of the band room”.

Elva Kaye Lance has been Director of Bands at Mississippi State University since 2002 and is beginning her 25th year with that institution. Before teaching at MSU, she taught many years in the public school and still is involved as a university supervisor of student interns. She has some great advice on how directors can help student interns. “Develop a relationship with the student teaching intern prior to their arrival: Fall placement – involve them as a part of the preschool camp. Spring – invite them to a concert or a football game or just for a visit during the Fall semester so that they can get a sense of the program. This would also be a good time to ask the intern to complete an interest survey – showing their various interests and skills —Computer skills, art, recording, guard, writing for percussion ensemble, etc. so that you might give them some special assignment in a particular area of interest and expertise. This will often bring a new dimension to your program. Give them feedback throughout the day –not just when the formal assessment visits by the university supervisor occur. Have a “what went well this week” discussion every week. Offer them information about why you handled certain situations the way that you did. Ask them what they might do differently. (You might learn something.) Make sure that they are attending all afterschool and outside of school functions that are “part of the gig” for the other band staff.A very important thing that I can offer is to ask the supervising teacher to be positive about the profession (much easier some days than others). Don’t allow the student teaching intern to be the sounding board for your accumulated frustrations.”

Rho Chapter of Phi Beta Mu International Bandmaster Fraternity is committed to the improvement of bands and band instruction in this state. Comments on this column and ideas for future columns are welcome! Please email: pemin@mac.com