University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

The BMus music education program provides four-year plans to help you stay on track to graduate and earn your teaching license within four years. 

During your junior and senior years, you’ll take part in school-based experiences, with full-time student teaching usually happening in the second semester of your senior year.

Check out the 4-year plans for the instrumental and vocal music BMus programs:

• Music Education: Instrumental and Classroom Music
• Music Education: Vocal and Classroom Music 

U of M’s teacher education program uses a co-teaching model, partnering with local schools to give you hands-on experience working with P-12 students from the very start. You’ll learn by doing alongside professional teachers who are active in the field.

Each semester includes classroom fieldwork, giving you at least 100 hours of real-world experience before your final student teaching experience of 500 hours or more. When you graduate, you’ll have strong academic knowledge and practical experience to confidently begin your teaching career.

Developing culturally responsive educators is central to teacher education programs at the U of M. Principles and practices of culturally responsive and anti-racist teaching are woven throughout the programs.

• You'll take an equity and human relations course focused on anti-racist and culturally responsive teaching.
• You'll learn strategies to support multilingual learners and build their academic language skills.
• In your special education foundations course, you’ll explore the concepts of ability, intersectionality, and equity, then practice using tools like universal design for learning and multi-tiered systems of support.

As a teacher candidate, you’ll get support from:

• Experienced teachers and supervisors who have extensive experience in PK–12 schools.
• Cooperating teachers and staff who work together to provide personalized mentoring.
• Regular meetings and classroom visits.
• Helpful feedback that lets you reflect, learn and grow.

At the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, supporting teacher candidates is a top priority. The teacher education program offers personalized guidance and uses feedback and data to keep improving.

• Program leaders work individually with each student to support their success.
• Surveys completed during and after the program gather feedback from candidates and supervisors.
• Data is reviewed yearly to find improvements and guide action plans.
• Candidate assessments and clinical experience data ensure students meet state standards and get quality field training.