Learning To Toot Your Own Horn: Preservice Teachers Integrating Music Into a Childhood Classroom

Abstract

This study investigated preservice teachers' perspectives of integrating music in their third year of a childhood teacher education program. Preservice teachers were enrolled in a multidisciplinary course in which they learned about integrating music and had opportunities to implement such knowledge into practical teaching. One hundred sixty preservice teachers in a childhood education program from an urban public university participated in the study. They wrote reflective journals every week and also filled out surveys at the beginning and the end of the multidisciplinary course. Quantitative and qualitative data of preservice teachers' perspectives and confidence in music and music teaching were analyzed before and after the course in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. The results indicated that the preservice teachers had positive attitudes toward incorporating music and had high expectations towards classroom teachers teaching with music. Upon completion of the multidisciplinary course, the preservice teachers' knowledge and confidence in incorporating musical concepts improved significantly; they also perceived themselves as more confident in teaching children in various age groups from pre-kindergarten to 5th grade. In addition, at the end of the course, they continued to hold positive attitudes toward incorporating music and high expectations to teach music in a classroom.