Graduate Student Core Reflection Applications to Preservice Teaching

Regular reflection on teaching is necessary for not only preservice and inservice music teachers but also for music teacher educators. Although reflection is used to generate problem solutions, the impact of the person doing the reflection on these solutions is often not taken into account. Core reflection encourages teachers to consider professional and personal factors that affect their effectiveness and student learning. During the 2022–2023 academic year, three graduate students participated in a program designed to introduce and foster the application of core reflection to instrument methods course teaching. The program included a series of workshops and bi-weekly journaling. In this article, we present an overview of workshop content and journal prompts, as well as an analysis of experienced benefits and challenges of core reflection implementation. Recommendations for future implementation and implications for music teacher education are also provided.