A Longitudinal Study of Preservice Music Teacher Development

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the development of preservice music teachers' concerns using Fuller and Bown's model. Participants were 8 instrumental teachers who participated in the previous Berg and Miksza (2010) study. Data sources included goals essays, journals, a midterm growth plan, and teaching observation reports with accompanying lesson plans that were collected over a 1.5-year period. The participants expressed less concern for self-survival and more concern for making an impact on students as time progressed from their junior-level practicum experience to the end of student teaching. Concerns regarding basic competencies and professionalism ultimately gave way to specific contextual aspects of the participants' teaching placements and more nuanced instructional issues. Results indicated that the focus of the participants' concerns also was greatly affected by their teaching context. Implications for music teacher preparation as well as extensions of Fuller and Bown's model are discussed.

Concerns Expressed by Agricultural Education Preservice Teachers in a Twitter-Based Electronic Community of Practice

“…Self-adequacy concerns were the most common type of concern in the present study as well. Miksza and Berg (2013) indicated that preservice music teachers faced basic self-concerns such as balancing home-work life and discipline problems. It is also vital to recognize that preservice teachers may have different selfadequacy concerns depending on the teaching context (Miksza & Berg, 2013).…”

“…The teacher-concerns model (Fuller & Bown, 1975) has been used in teacher education research (Chan, 2004;Fritz & Miller, 2003;Miksza & Berg, 2013) to better understand preservice teachers' concerns. Fuller and Bown (1975) hypothesized that "teacher education programs could be improved if they were designed to meet preservice teachers' needs according to a trajectory of professional development" (Miksza & Berg, 2013, p. 45).…”

“…Many researchers have examined the concerns of beginning teachers (Fritz & Miller, 2003;Hillison, 1977;Miksza & Berg, 2013;Miller & Schied, 1984;Rolheiser & Hundey, 1995). These concerns can change over time (Claycomb & Petty, 1983;Garton & Chung, 1997).…”

“…Hillison (1977) found that preservice teachers had more concerns than first-year agricultural education teachers. Miksza and Berg (2013) found that preservice teachers were initially concerned with balancing work-home issues and personal evaluations, but these concerns were no longer apparent by the middle of the student teaching experience. In a study of agricultural education preservice teachers, Fritz and Miller (2003) found that self-adequacy concerns were the most frequently reported type of concern.…”

Influences of Teacher Delivery, Student Engagement, and Observation Focus on Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions of Teaching Effectiveness

“…The Fuller and Brown model (Fuller, 1969(Fuller, , 1974Fuller & Brown, 1975) provides a framework whereby preservice teachers gradually progress from being concerned with the self, to dealing with problem behaviors of students, and then to considering teacher impact through pupil learning. Berg and Miksza (2010) and Miksza and Berg (2013) examined the concerns of preservice music teachers and found that they were congruent with this model. Killian, Dye, and Wayman (2013) also found that the model fit for students before and after their student teaching across a 5-year period.…”