kwilliams@lonestar.utsa.edu or rwatkins@lonestar.utsa.edu

The transition from pre-service teacher to in-service teacher may be described as professional and personal growth toward self-reliance. As the pre-service music methods student moves to the position of student teaching, there is inevitably a decline in the amount of attention from teachers and fellow students. Despite years of preparation to allay the uncertainty of this new role, student teachers may feel a sense of detachment or a loss of support. University student teacher supervisors who have also served as methods teachers may feel a similar sense of detachment. The methods classes have provided a variety of means to assess student thinking—class discussions, journals, reflective thinking on teaching, and development of teaching philosophies (Atterbury, 1994; Barry, 1996; Bean & Zulich, 1989; Gromko, 1995; Harwood, 1999; Stephens & Reimer, 1990). Electronic journal correspondence has been used as tool for reflective practice in methods classes (Bush, 1998). An assessment of student teacher thinking, however, may be more difficult. One strategy that could ease the transition from pre-service teacher to in-service teacher is the use of a password-protected electronic bulletin board that could be used exclusively by student teachers during internship and monitored without intervention by supervisors. Interaction among student teachers through written and uncensored communication could give students a sense of community, a means to make comments without retribution, afford a forum for announcements, and opportunities to both request and give advice.

The purpose of this study was to identify the professional, academic, and affective content of student teacher electronic bulletin board postings in order to provide more effective preparation of student teachers in the future. Research questions asked were:

• Was there a difference in the frequency that specific categories were identified in student teacher postings on the bulletin board?
• Was there a difference in the frequency that specific categories were identified in the postings of choral and instrumental subjects?

Subjects were a diverse group of four choral and four instrumental student teachers attending a mid-size university located in South Central Texas. Their ages, academic backgrounds, and socio-economic backgrounds were widely disparate. Over the semester, choral students—three females and one male—taught elementary general music and either middle school or high school choir. Instrumental students—two females and two males—taught both middle school and high school instrumental ensembles.

Before beginning the project, students were given instructions about technical aspects for posting messages on the password-protected World Wide Web bulletin board. Each subject previously had completed a course, required of all music students, in microcomputer applications in music. Although weekly postings were required of subjects, content of postings was not dictated by researchers; subjects were free to discuss any theme or topic, new or in response to previous postings. This detail in procedure differed from previous research that required student teachers to initiate new themes at periodic intervals (Freidus, 1996; Walls & Watkins, 1998). It was assumed that experiences during student teaching—not predetermined schedules for new postings—would determine the content of postings.

Student teachers posted, using an Internet browser, on the password protected WWWBoard (Wright, 1996). The WWWBoard allowed students to begin new topic threads or to respond to a previous posting.

Data were collected by extracting postings in chronological order. Messages were initially identified as Reponses, New, or Repost. Repost was used to indicate a repetition of a previous posting and, therefore, not subject to analysis.

Researchers used bulletin board postings from past semesters for classification training. For the investigation, each of the two researchers analyzed 50% of randomly selected postings to identify content categories; each categorized 20% of postings assigned to the other researcher. Agreement was determined by dividing the total number of agreements by the total number of agreements plus disagreements. Reliability calculated in this manner was .87.

A list of 27 categories adapted from a previous study (Walls & Watkins, 1998) was used to classify the content of the 121 postings and, subsequently, to identify a range of potential student teacher issues and concerns (Table 1).

Subjects posted 151 messages on the student teacher bulletin board, 30 of which were reposts attributed to two of the eight subjects. Identification of reposts reduced the number of viable postings to 121. Of the 121 bulletin board messages, new postings accounted for 63; responses accounted for 58.

The first research question asked if there was a difference in the frequency that specific categories were identified in the postings. In the postings, researchers identified 310 occurrences from the 27 categories. Results, as seen in Table 1, indicated a difference in the frequency that specific categories were identified in student teacher postings on the bulletin board.

Camaraderie occurred most often over the twelve weeks for a total number of 46 postings. Statements of well wishes and good luck preceded important deadlines or college supervisor observations. "Good luck on your observations and Teach Well!!!!" Reflection postings totaled 23 – half the number for Camaraderie – accounting for the second highest number of topics. "Overall, the last two weeks of high school were the BEST! I got to teach more, and I got to try some of my own discipline ‘rhetoric’ and ideas." Reporting, the third-ranked category, could be described as casual student remarks about events during student teaching. Much of the content of Reporting centered on verbal announcements that college supervisor observations of teaching went well. "I, too, survived my first observation and it was relatively painless." An argument possibly could be made for classification of these themes as Reflection; however, the casual tenor of the remarks was neither introspective nor analytical. Categories of Business and Request both ranked fourth, each with 15 postings. Business focused on deadlines for graduation, applications for teaching positions, and the state certification test. "Is everyone ready for graduation? Hope everyone has picked up their cap, gown, and tix [sic]." The category, Request, often dealt with pleas for suggestions in classroom management. "…yet I still wish they would stay on-task. Any suggestions are VERY, VERY, VERY welcome." All remaining categories except Clerical were represented, frequencies ranging from 14 to 1 in decreasing increments of one or two postings (Table 1).

The second research question asked if there was a difference in the frequency that specific categories were identified in the postings of choral and instrumental student teachers.

In 21 of the 27 categories, frequency differed by four or less (Table 2). Eight of the categories showed differences in frequency, ranging from 5 to 10. For six of those categories, instrumental subjects accounted for a higher frequency: Advice, Apprehension, Complaint, Contest, and Request. For two of the categories, Personal and Physical, choral subjects accounted for a higher frequency.

Messages relating to Camaraderie were identified twice as many times as any other category, a finding that seemed to indicate use of the bulletin board as an emotional support. One of the messages summarized a common thread, "It’s nice to know I’m not out here all alone." Some of the student teachers demonstrated Camaraderie more freely than others. The maximum frequency identified was 13; the minimum, 1.

The frequency of messages identified as Reflection was an indicator that at least some of the student teachers were willing not only to examine their teaching experiences but also to communicate their discoveries. Together, Reflection and Reporting approximated the frequency of postings identified as Camaraderie. Messages identified as Business pinpointed important deadlines and details of paperwork but also appeared to indicate consideration for peers. Requests for advice and favors, such as extra graduation tickets, could be interpreted as collegiality. Camaraderie, Reflection, Reporting, Business, and Request, accounting for 121 of the identified categories, seemed to address a common need—to share the experience of student teaching, in its many manifestations, with peers undergoing the same experience. One could argue that Camaraderie could have been a single broad category under which Reflection, Reporting, Business, and Requests were subsumed. Other identified categories may have been equally as important in the daily experiences of student teaching but did not take precedence in the postings.

Instrumental student teachers gave advice, requested help, expressed apprehension about teaching, made complaints about teaching situations, reported on music contests, and discussed performance techniques more often than the choral students. Choral student teachers discussed personal issues and physical conditions regarding health and fatigue more than the instrumental group. The small number of subjects precludes drawing inferences relating to differences in frequency of the identified categories in the postings of choral and instrumental students.

Recommendations for further research in this area include an analysis of postings in proximity to the beginning, midpoint, and ending of each student teacher placement. An analysis of this kind could help to show trends in the priorities, concerns, and developing professionalism of student teachers. Data collected over several semesters could provide information that is more conclusive.