Campbell, P. (2008). Musician & Teacher, an Orientation to Music Education. New York, NY: Norton.
Chapter 15 from Musician and Teacher concerns a teaching candidate's observations of teachers currently in the field. The chapter starts by defining "the field" as the work of teachers actively teaching students in schools for a job - not college students in the shelter of a university campus. Thus, when observing teaching and learning occuring in the field, prospective teachers shoud observe all of their surroundings within the school, as well as those having to do with teaching music, including the school engvironment and student population. Also suggested is the observation of many facets of the teacher's methods - including how they demonstrate musicianship, what kind of pedagogy they use, their conducting, rapport-building, professionalism, and, of couse, classroom management. It also provides an introduction to the busy schedules of many music teachers. The chapter was in the form of a comprehensive guide to teaching observations.
Several specifics in the chapter were particularly salient for me. Firstly, one of the suggested interview questions, "Do you teach music, or children, or both," seemed particularly intriguing. This question has the potential to open up diverse perspectives among different music teachers that could be valuable insights for me as a future educator. Another was a observation technique: observing one student at a time and using their behavior and percieved engagement as an indicator of the efficacy of the teacher's methods. It included observing students that are similar to you, different, in between, etc., in order to observe a diverse set of learning experiences. The chapter was informative of what I plan to look for during my own teaching observations.
Questions I would ask Ms. Campbell:
An etiquette question - should observing prospective educators join in classroom activities when they deem appropriate, or should visits remain strictly observational?
Is it common practice for intensive observation and extensive observation to occur simultaniously ie. observing at a different school every other week but the same school on the opposite, or is it best to do each separately?