​Radio Cremata, Associate Professor and Chairperson

Mission, Values, Goals, and Outcomes

MISSION STATEMENT:

Developing exemplary music educators who are committed to serving others for the betterment of self and society.

PROGRAM VALUES AND GOALS:

Diversity & Breadth

• Provide choice and flexibility to pursue multiple types of music education experiences
• Prepare students with an integrated experience of diversity, technology, and emerging practice

• Recruit and value students and faculty with diverse musical backgrounds

Leadership & Innovation

• Prepare students to advance the profession through innovative teaching practices
• Nurture critical and creative thinking

• Foster reflective practitioners who grow throughout their careers

Expansion & Engagement

• Facilitate and encourage students’ life-long and life-wide involvement in music teaching and learning
• Promote and support community music engagement

• Equip students with the knowledge and skills to advocate music for music’s sake

Musicianship & Pedagogy

• Develop exemplary teachers and musicians
• Inspire creative and contextualized teaching and assessing
• Further students’ understanding of child and adolescent development and learning

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Content Knowledge: The Bachelor of Music in Music Education graduate demonstrates a rich and thorough understanding of content and skill knowledge (processes of creating, performing, and describing), theories, and issues comprising the discipline (proficiency in performance/musicianship, conducting, and rehearsing), including an understanding of cognitive, physical, and social development.

Planning and Instruction/Implementation: The Bachelor of Music in Music Education graduate plans and implements effective, developmentally appropriate (intellectually, physically, socially, and psychologically) lessons and curricula based upon sound principles of content knowledge, skill development, and pedagogy. The graduate implements the National Standards in Music Education and uses appropriate materials and strategies to develop students’ critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.

Positive Learning Environment: The Bachelor of Music in Music Education graduate creates safe, healthy, dynamic, and motivational learning environments that encourage every student to meet standards, to develop independence, to become actively involved, and to trust, take risks, and collaborate.

Diversity: The Bachelor of Music in Music Education graduate demonstrates and celebrates a foundational knowledge of the unique nature, abilities, cultures, and characteristics of all learners, including literacy and second language acquisition, and is able to modify instruction so everyone can be successful. The graduate also believes that all students can and should have rich and diverse musical experiences and is committed to teach music in a diverse society to all people regardless of individual difference or ability.

Technology: The Bachelor of Music in Music Education graduate effectively utilizes technology to enhance students’ learning and professional growth.

Assessment: The Bachelor of Music in Music Education graduate develops and utilizes a variety of assessment approaches designed to evaluate student learning and performance, encourages student reflection and self-evaluation, provides feedback, and shapes future lesson planning and curricula.

Collaboration and Outreach: The Bachelor of Music in Music Education graduate fosters positive relationships and collaborates with a variety of target groups (e.g. students, colleagues, families, local community members, etc.) in order to promote and enhance partnerships within the learning environment.

Professional Development: The Bachelor of Music in Music Education graduate continually seeks to expand knowledge and improve effectiveness as a teacher, to make positive professional contributions, and to exhibit the professional disposition of an emerging teacher. The graduate reflects on teaching, students’ performance, and developments in the field to extend knowledge and refine a personal philosophy of music education

Bachelor of Music in Music Education

By fulfilling academic requirements for the New York initial teaching certificate, this program allows the prospective music teacher an opportunity to achieve vocal and instrumental certification for Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade (PreK-12) while developing performance and pedagogical skills.

The initial teaching certificate is valid for five years, during which time the master’s degree in music education or master’s degree in an approved related area must be attained in order to maintain teacher certification. In addition to the courses required for the undergraduate degree in music education, candidates must also attain a satisfactory level of performance on all New York State certification exams. A fingerprinting and background check of the student’s student conduct record is also required. 

During a student's pursuit of the Music Education or Music Education and Performance Degree, there are several transition points that must be met in order to continue in the degree. If a standard is not met, depending on the severity of the deficit, the student may be immediately dismissed or be put on probation. Students on probation have clearly articulated goals that must be met by the end of the next semester. These goals must be met before the student is allowed to continue in the program. If the probation goals are not met within the specified time limit, the student is subject to dismissal. Listed below are the transition points. More information will appear in the Music Education Handbook, and this material will also be discussed in the Introduction to Music Education course. In addition, related information can be found in the Education Program section of the catalog.

1. Admission to Professional Education (Prior to Junior Student Teaching)
2. Admission to Student Teaching (at the end of Junior Student Teaching and prior to Senior Student Teaching)
3. Completion of Student Teaching
4. Completion of Program

Senior Student Teaching

Senior Student Teaching: MUED 46912 represents the culminating experience in the music education curriculum.

Prerequisites for Senior Student Teaching

• A minimum cumulative GPA of 2.70
• C- or better in music theory courses MUTH 11100/MUTH 11200, MUTH 12300, and MUTH 22400
• C- or better in aural skills courses MUTH 12600, MUTH 22500, and MUTH 22600 (or the corresponding honors-level courses)
• C- or better in Music in Context courses MUTH 25300 and MUTH 25400
• A minimum cumulative average of C+ in Private Lessons
• C+ or better in all MUED and PFSM courses
• Successful completion of the EDUC workshops/seminars: EDUC 19210, EDUC 19230 and EDUC 19240
• Successful completion of the EDUC course sequence: EDUC 21010, EDUC 23900 and EDUC 34000

Students who fail to achieve the academic criteria listed must meet with the department chair to arrange the necessary remedial coursework.

Progression of Student Teacher Responsibilities

Senior student teaching is a culminating clinical experience for teacher candidates.  Over the course of the placement, you should assume increasing responsibilities until you are acting as the lead teacher.  As the placement progresses, it is appropriate for you to sometimes be left alone with students.  These independent teaching opportunities offer insight into your teacher identity and the ways in which P-12 students interact with you when your cooperating teacher is not present.  If possible, you and your cooperating teacher should discuss plans for independent teaching in advance so you are prepared to sustain a positive learning environment for the P-12 students. Independent teaching should always be for your benefit and the benefit of your students.  You should communicate with your Ithaca College supervisor if you have questions or concerns about the frequency or nature of your independent teaching.   

Commitment to Community  

Our commitment to the communities in which we place teacher candidates is a critical component of our teacher preparation programs.  In the student teaching experience, you are expected to engage with all members of the school community, both inside and outside of the classroom. You are encouraged to immerse yourself in the school community, including non-classroom duties (cafeteria duty, playground duty, faculty meetings, co-curricular activities, family conferences, etc.), as long as it is for your benefit and the benefit of the P-12 students. You should not be removed from your scheduled instructional responsibilities in order to supervise non-instructional activities.  If you have concerns about your non-instructional responsibilities, communicate with your Ithaca College supervisor. Appendix F offers examples of how community involvement might occur.    

Public School vs. Ithaca College Calendar

During the student teaching block, you follow the established schedule of the school district, not the schedule of the college. The result is that any vacations, holidays, and days off are those of the public schools; student teachers do not take days off from teaching during the college’s breaks. You are to be present at the teaching site ready to teach each day and not take any days off for personal reasons. There are no exceptions to this policy. Please note that the student teaching blocks are not identical to Ithaca’s academic blocks, as communicated at the beginning of application process for senior student teaching placement.  

General Responsibilities of Student Teachers  

It is important to keep in mind that the student teaching experience is key to your growth and development as a teacher candidate and also to your potential for employment as a teacher. As a student teacher, you will be constantly observed by students, colleagues, administrators, and your IC faculty. Virtually everything you do will be evaluated as indicating your abilities and potential as a teacher. In addition, you are a professional representing the institution that prepared you. Take a broad and careful view of all that you do during these all-important weeks.  

Throughout the senior student teaching experience, you are expected to conduct yourself as a full-time teacher, observing the professional rules of conduct of the teachers and administrators with whom you are working. You are their colleague, and you owe them and your students your full commitment and your very best work. If you are not able to be at school, you are to notify your cooperating teacher and supervisor immediately. You and your cooperating teacher and supervisor are to document the number of missed days which are not to extend beyond the number of permitted days allotted by the school policy. 

Recognizing the importance of outstanding musicianship to effective music teaching, student teachers are encouraged to continue practicing and making music during their student teaching – this is the essence of being a high-quality teacher-practitioner (music educator-musician). However, all senior student teachers are expected to make the student teaching experience their primary focus.   

• Report to school each day on time and fully prepared for the full school day. Assume responsibility for any extra duties or meetings you might have before school begins and/or after it ends. This means arriving no later than full-time teachers arrive and leaving no earlier than they leave. In general, you are expected to follow the schedule maintained by your Cooperating Teacher.  
• Familiarize yourself with and follow carefully all school policies. If the school district or school in which you are teaching has a faculty handbook, ask for a copy and read it thoroughly.  
• Adhere to the standards of professionalism for attire, demeanor, and dispositions established for teacher candidates by Ithaca College. If the school in which you are teaching has an established code of attendance, professional ethics or a dress code, you are expected to follow it.  
• A word to the wise: Whether you realize it or not, you will be carefully evaluated by your colleagues and your students on the way in which you dress. School administrators, teachers, students, and family members should be able to tell at a glance that you are a member of the school’s professional staff.  
• Early in your placement, discuss with your Cooperating Teacher a schedule for your gradual assumption of responsibilities. Provide a copy of your daily schedule to your College Supervisor as soon as you have it.  
• Always be prepared. Keep to the required schedule of submitting lesson plans for review by your Cooperating Teacher. Lesson plans should be thoughtful and thorough and detailed enough that a substitute teacher could follow them.   
• If you are ill and unable to teach, you must inform your Cooperating Teacher and College Supervisor in a timely fashion.  If you must be absent, please keep in mind that you are still responsible for lesson plans for the classes you will miss; that is, you must provide your Cooperating Teacher with the lesson plan(s) that you intended to teach on the day(s) of your absence.  
• Absences and tardies are strongly discouraged as they will diminish the experience you have. Making up such experiences are not quite possible outside of the allocated days and times you have been granted to teach. Any accommodations that may be granted to you may not fundamentally alter the requirements of the student teaching experience. If you need an accommodation, please request this during the placement process. If you are not able to be at school, you are to notify your Cooperating Teacher and College Supervisor immediately. You and your Cooperating Teacher and College Supervisor are to document the number of missed days which are not to extend beyond the number of permitted days allotted by the school policy. 
• Treat with confidentiality all information that comes to you about individual students. If you sense that a student is in crisis, inform your Cooperating Teacher. It is not your responsibility to become personally involved in these situations; it is your responsibility to ensure that the proper school personnel are notified. In all situations, you are required to respond as a reasonably prudent and careful person would under the circumstances involved.   
• Get actively involved with professional opportunities and extracurricular activities sponsored by the school.  Go to games, performances, dances, etc.  It means so much to your students to see you out of school, supporting their community and their co-curricular education.  
• Under no circumstances offer students rides in your car.  
• Student teaching is a full-time commitment regulated by NYSED requiring full days in public schools and additional hours spent in planning, grading, and after-school activities. As a result, you are not allowed to enroll in additional courses or to participate in musical ensembles, performances, or recitals. You are not permitted to serve as an accompanist or assistant in any on campus performances or lessons. Students violating this policy will be subject to a dispositions contract, lowering of grade by a minimum of one letter grade, removal from student teaching, delayed graduation, or removal from the MUED degree program.  
• We strongly recommend that you arrange not to work at any other job during student teaching. If you must have a paying job while you are student teaching, it must in no way interfere with your teaching responsibilities, including those that are an assumed, daily part of after-school hours, such as grading, planning, preparation, contacting parents and families, attending faculty meetings, etc. Assisting or accompanying at Ithaca College performances for pay is prohibited during student teaching. If you must work during the professional semester, please discuss your proposed hours and the nature of your work with your College Supervisor.  
• If a problem arises during the course of your student teaching, please immediately contact your College Supervisor, the Director of Senior Music Student Teaching Placement, or the Chair of the Music Education Department.  

Piano, Organ, and Guitar Majors in Music Education

Piano, organ, and guitar students normally receive instruction and experience in the vocal emphasis area. Piano, organ, and guitar majors who want to have a teaching experience in the instrumental area may elect the instrumental emphasis no later than during their sophomore year. They must have completed at least one full semester of coursework, be in good standing with the Department of Music Education and the School of Music, and must have performance capability on a wind, string, or percussion instrument equal to “outstanding level” on grade IV literature listed in the New York State School Music Association  (NYSSMA) manual. This is determined by an audition with a member of the instrumental music education department and the appropriate performance faculty member. The audition determines the amount of study necessary on that instrument. The program makes provision for four semesters of secondary instrument private lessons. Deficiencies may demand further study in private lessons, subject to the elective applied music fee. Membership is required in a major instrumental performing group (on the secondary instrument) each semester and in choral ensemble for two semesters. The student must follow the curriculum of music education-instrumental.

Pianists, guitarists, and organists who elect the instrumental emphasis will, in these programs, enroll for 2 credits of private instruction on the major instrument — piano, guitar, or organ. They have a weekly half-hour lesson, attend weekly repertoire class, and perform a jury at the end of the semester. Students may also audition for the four-and-a-half-year degree program. If accepted, the students have a weekly one-hour lesson, attend weekly repertoire class, and perform a jury at the end of the semester. Students in these programs must enroll for 1 credit of private instruction on the secondary instrument; they have a weekly half-hour lesson.

Credits earned in private lessons on the secondary instrument beyond the four semesters provided for in the program are subject to a private lesson fee in accordance with the schedule shown under the “Expenses” page in the catalog; they may be counted as music electives.

Senior Student Teaching

Complete information concerning prerequisite coursework, assignments, procedures and policies, and other information can be found in the Senior Student Teaching Handbook.

Majors

• Music Education Major — B.M. - This program combines an intensive study of music, focused on the student’s primary instrument, with a rigorous sequence of music education classes, including student teaching experiences in both the junior and the senior years. The degree allows the prospective music teacher an opportunity to achieve vocal and instrumental certification for pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade (PreK-12). Students must audition on their primary instrument before a faculty member(s), as well as interview with a faculty member of the Department of Music Education.
• Music Education and Performance Major - B.M. - (Nine semester program of study) — This single degree program combines intensive study on a student’s primary instrument, including two credits of recitals, with a rigorous sequence of music education classes, including student teaching experiences in both the junior and the senior years. The degree allows the prospective music teacher an opportunity to achieve vocal and instrumental certification for pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade (PreK-12). Students must interview with a faculty member of the Department of Music Education, and audition before a faculty member(s) and exhibit the potential to fulfill, with distinction, the recital obligations of the program. Current Music Education degree students interested in adding the Performance degree should arrange their audition through Music Admissions.