UM Music Ed Student a First for New Statewide Partnership
Emma McMillan is the first UM music education student placed in the Montana Teacher Residency Program. The year-long classroom experience is helping her feel more prepared for her career. (UM photo by Ryan Brennecke)
By Austin Amestoy, UM News Service
MISSOULA – It’s “Hot Cross Buns” day in music class at Missoula’s Hellgate Elementary School. A dozen xylophones and glockenspiels sit in neat rows, waiting to be played.
“Do you guys remember what a ‘crossover bordun’ is?” asked University of Montana music education student Emma McMillan. The fourth graders nodded diligently. McMillan’s lesson stuck with them – they remembered how to cross their hands while playing a series of notes, no problem.
Thirty minutes later, McMillan had transformed her class into a veritable orchestra. They played the classic nursery rhyme in multiple parts without breaking a sweat.
While it might look like a regular student teaching gig, this job is different. McMillan is the first UM music education student placed as part of the Montana Teacher Residency Program. The cutting-edge partnership between the state, public universities and local school districts puts teachers-in-training in the classroom for an entire year instead of a couple of months. But the benefits don’t end there.
“I get a whole year of experience, I get a tuition grant, I get a housing stipend – why wouldn’t I do it?” McMillan said with a laugh.
McMillan grew up in Frenchtown, just down the road from Missoula. In high school, she attended the All-State Band Festival in Great Falls and remembers being dazzled by their director.
“It was one of the first times since elementary school I’d had a female conductor,” McMillan recalled. “I could tell she was right where she wanted to be. She was amazing, and it was a light bulb moment for me. I realized I wanted to do that, too.”
She chased that dream at UM, majoring in music education from the start. Going to school in Missoula meant she could keep close to family, but McMillan said she was especially drawn to the music program’s close-knit community and mentorship.
Becoming a music educator is no easy feat. It combines the rigors of instructional methods and classroom management with the complexities of teaching kids how to read music and play an instrument. And with more than two-dozen music education jobs sitting vacant across Montana, state lawmakers and higher-ed leaders recognized a need to help teachers-in-training bridge the gap from sitting in class to running their own.
The Montana Teacher Residency Program is one of those bridges. “Resident Teachers” like McMillan receive monthly living and housing stipends, one-on-one mentorship from their “Teacher Leader,” plus a grant that helps cover their tuition expenses.
“We hear it straight from our students: that financial burden being lifted is huge,” said Megan Bilant. She runs the UM Phyllis J. Washington College of Education’s clinical experiences. “Plus, that year of experience in the classroom makes our resident teachers more confident when it’s time for them to lead their own class.”
Over its first five years, the statewide initiative has more than doubled its number of resident teachers and participating K-12 districts. That includes a record 14 from UM this year, Bilant said.
As McMillan taught her fourth graders “Hot Cross Buns” on the xylophone, her teacher leader, Bethany White, helped lead a group of the students in some “body percussion” – think leg-pats and handclaps.
White said having McMillan around is a massive help. Just a couple months into the year, they’re already taking turns leading classes. White and McMillan debrief afterward on what went well and what to try differently next time.
White – who is a UM music education graduate herself – said a teaching residency could have helped her adjust to leading her first classroom when she started 11 years ago.
“I’m here every day doing the thing I am most passionate about, which is sharing music with students and helping them develop their skills,” White said. “I’m like, ‘This is the greatest job ever.’”
McMillan agrees.
“Music builds community,” McMillan said. “It’s about collaboration and teamwork and gives kids an outlet to learn and grow in a new way.”
She found that same community in UM’s Music Program and is eager to spread it to more Montana students after she completes her teacher residency and graduates next May.
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Contact: Austin Amestoy, marketing and communications manager, UM College of the Arts and Media, austin.amestoy@umt.edu, 406-690-2783.