Powell High School each year welcomes student teachers to allow them to gain experience. As noted with the addition of Mr. Van Slyke in the choir classroom, there have been direct benefits to having a different teacher in the music department The practice of student teaching is a required step as education majors approach completion.

Joining a professional in a classroom helps the teacher in training prepare and overall undergo a realistic representation of what a certified teacher experiences.

“I wanted to student teach because it’s a part of my degree plan, and it’s the final step in getting my Bachelor’s in music education,” student teacher Mr. Maclin Wiley said. “I was also just really excited. It’s kind of the last step and I feel like I’ve come a long way. I’ve got to test out all of my knowledge that I have learned.”

Mr. Wiley is not the only party who has something to gain through this experience; middle school and high school band teacher Mr. John Fabela enjoys the newfound company.

“It’s always helpful to have two sets of eyes and ears. Mr. Wiley brought some ideas with him that I’ll probably continue to use after he is gone,” Fabela said. “Just being around someone that is excited about learning and teaching reminds me of my early days and that level of excitement, so it has been good for me.”

Looking at student teaching with a positive outlook and eagerness helps show the classes what needs to be improved and how well everything has gone so far.

“It definitely helps me know what I need to work on, and my strengths and weaknesses,” Wiley said. “It was genuinely really fun to work with everybody.”

Gaining relationships with the students in the classroom is key. From the looks of it, Mr. Wiley has not had any trouble with this.

“Mr. Wiley is a pretty cool guy. He is really good at playing the bass guitar, and we loved having him in our band,” senior Breckin Streeter said. “We loved having him around and he was pretty good at conducting. It took a little while to figure out some of our songs, but once he figured them out, he was really good at it.”

The student’s opinion is important, but the recommendation from the higher-ups is what is mainly focused on.

“When I was approached to see if I was willing to take on a student teacher, Mr. Wiley came very highly recommended from his former instructors at Northwest College and at the University of Wyoming,” Fabela said. “I was excited to meet him and to see if he was really that good, and he is.”

A big part of student teaching is being able to take control and handle a classroom. This can be done by helping out the head teacher and the students.

“He has given us all kind of a different perspective on some of the music, maybe something Mr. Fabela hadn’t,” Streeter said. “He would help us make it more musical perse and help us expand our knowledge in music…he was really good at finding things that made our music sound better.”

Ending their student interning with something worthwhile has proved to be effective. For Mr. Wiley, he concluded by conducting an entire band concert by himself.

“Really the time has gone by quick,” Wiley said. “I’ve only got about a week and a half left, and I’m going to miss you guys.”