MUED 403: Student Teaching Seminar—A Peer Review of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio

This course is taken during music education undergraduate students\u27 student teaching semester, which occurs after completion of all coursework in the Bachelor of Music Education degree. While students work full-time in elementary and secondary schools, they participate in on-campus seminars and workshops. These meetings include presentations and discussion sessions led by the instructor, area school district administrators, and UNL Career Services counselors. Sessions explore online and print resources for professional advancement in the field of music teaching. There are several assumptions made about college students, and more specifically undergraduate music education students. It is assumed, in general, that adolescents and college students use social networking adeptly and heavily. Further, student teachers used to a close network of friends through their degree (e.g., years of large ensemble and collaborative work, college activities, and general social interaction on a daily basis) are severed from such a setting and social network during full time internship. I have at least anecdotal evidence and occasional first-hand testimony of student teachers that this causes insecurity and other issues that negatively impact student teaching itself. It is also discussed and assumed that technology-based social networking (e.g., facebook, twitter) is not used for professional interaction, rather personal interaction, but could be harnessed in such a way to strengthen student teaching experiences. It was my hypothesis for this peer review inquiry that when encouraged to use social networking during student teaching, student teachers would increase their use for professional development purposes and thereby improve their student teaching experiences