Communicating with the University Supervisor

The university or college student teacher supervisor is most likely the only faculty member from the institution that you will communicate with during the course of the student teaching placement. They are your point-of-contact for anything regarding the student teacher or the student teaching process. If this is your first time hosting a student teacher from this institution, you should sit down and have a meeting with the university supervisor long before your student teacher arrives. Questions to ask the university supervisor in this first meeting are:

• What is their contact information?
• What is the process for communicating with the university supervisor?
• What forms are required to be completed during the course of student teaching?
• When are the forms due to the university supervisor and in what format?
• Is there a handbook for cooperating teachers?
• Will they provide a copy of the expectation sheet provided to student teachers?
• How often will the university supervisor observe the student and  how are the observations scheduled?
• At what point does the university supervisor want to be contacted where there is an issue with the student teacher?


It is also important at this meeting to ask to schedule a conference between the cooperating teacher, university supervisor, and student teacher. This allows all parties to clarify expectations before the student teaching experience gets into full swing.

Remember, the university supervisor has the same goal that you do.  You both want to see this pre-service teacher grow into a successful music educator. Maintain open lines of communication and when in doubt, call or email and talk it out.