Researchers have shown that the teaching career proceeds in stages or phases and each stage is associated with differentiated professional needs (Berliner, 1994; Feiman-Nemser, 2001; Huberman, 1993; Steffy, Wolfe, Pasch, & Enz, 2000). Teachers in the second stage of their career, or those with four to 20 years of experience, are characterized by a stabilized identity and are ready to explore meaningful ways to reflect upon their teaching practices. Collaborative professional development promotes reflection amongst educators, yet music teachers specifically are isolated and have little
opportunity to connect with one another. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of four second-stage music teachers in a Collaborative Teacher Group (CTG). I was a second-stage teacher in the midst of career stagnation. I had grown disillusioned with my teaching practices, and I was disconnected from colleagues. I enlisted three other second-stage music teachers to join me in the CTG, and we met over the course of three months to engage in structured conversations. Using The Life Cycle of the Career Teacher (Steffy, et al., 2000) as a conceptual framework and narrative inquiry as the research approach, I sought to determine (a) how the participants described their experiences in the CTG; (b) how the participants connected their experiences in the CTG to their teaching practices; and (c) how the participants related their experiences in the CTG to their career stage. What I did not foresee was that our CTG meetings would coincide with the COVID-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020. The necessary shift to remote instruction and virtual CTG meetings spurred a new research dimension related to the efficacy of online interactions. As the participants and I navigated an unprecedented disruption in our teaching practices, we sought to understand our experiences within the safety of our CTG community. I analyzed transcripts of our meetings and coded the conversations thematically. I then distilled salient passages into eight conversational vignettes. Findings show that second-stage teachers experience career-stage confusion during an educational crisis and need collaborative professional learning opportunities to avoid withdrawal. The participants and I found that a CTG fosters a cycle of reflection, renewal, and growth, and can serve as a powerful form of professional development. Although meeting virtually did not allow for nuances of conversation and warmth of human interaction, we found it served as an adequate means to an end. School and district leaders should create opportunities for teacher group collaboration with an eye towards providing second-stage music teachers professional learning experiences that are relevant to their improvement efforts.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/44433 |
| Date | 13 May 2022 |
| Creators | Manspeaker, Willow Serene |
| Contributors | Stanley, Ann Marie |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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