Effective Practices for Mentoring Beginning Middle School Teachers: Mentor's Perspectives

In order to improve student achievement, school systems must provide new teachers with support to become effective teachers more quickly. Educators frequently use mentoring to support new teachers and reach the goals of improved classroom performance as well as teacher retention. The intention in this study was to provide insights into the mentoring of beginning teachers working in the middle grades. In this exploratory case study, three elements of a mentoring model deemed necessary for the implementation of effective mentoring for middle school teachers are presented. First, the mentor must forge a trusting relationship with the new teacher. Second, the mentor must support and guide the new teacher in creating a classroom environment that is supportive of learning. Third, the mentor must be able to support and guide the new teacher in instructional strategies appropriate to the content and context of the classroom. Furthermore, this research highlighted a need for mentors to receive ongoing training in classroom management, instructional practices, and relationship building in order to remain effective mentors. Without effective trained mentors programs will fail to meet their goals of improving instruction and retaining teachers past their induction year.     

E‐mentoring for social equity: review of research to inform program development

The advent of user‐friendly email programs and web browsers created possibilities for widespread use of e‐mentoring programs. In this review of the research, we presented the history of e‐mentoring programs and defined e‐mentoring and structured e‐mentoring programs, focusing on large‐scale e‐mentoring programs that addressed issues of social equity and educational advancement. The literature reviewed spanned from the mid‐1990s to the present and included journal articles, reports, and book chapters on implemented e‐mentoring programs. The literature indicates that e‐mentoring is not a panacea, neither is it an inexpensive alternative to face‐to‐face mentoring. E‐mentoring is an alternative mode that facilitates the expansion of mentoring opportunities. The research we reviewed supported that the benefits associated with e‐mentoring mirrored the benefits associated with mentoring: informational, psychosocial, and instrumental. In addition, research supports two additional benefits of e‐mentoring: the value of impartiality and inter‐organizational connections, which were facilitated by the use of electronic communications. Research conducted on the programmatic features associated with e‐mentoring programs identified training, coaching, and group e‐mentoring as features that enhanced participant involvement. Our goal in providing a review of the research at this stage in the development of e‐mentoring was to facilitate increased understanding of the current research to enhance future research and programs and to advance e‐mentoring as a field.     

Extending the apprenticeship of observation: how mentee experiences shape mentors

Although the importance of mentor teachers in clinical teacher preparation is well established, few researchers explore the social identity development of these individuals. Through our study we contribute to the body of research by exploring mentor teachers’ social identity development through the concept of Apprenticeship of Observation – specifically, how they felt their own mentoring experiences influenced their approaches to mentoring. The multi-case study includes findings about mentoring beliefs and practices during the laboratory school component of an Alternate Route to Licensure program. Incorporating semi-structured interviews and video analysis, the findings demonstrate how four mentor teachers’ prior experiences as mentees – including Alternate Route to Licensure, traditional teacher preparation programs, and inservice teaching – influenced their interactions with teacher candidates as mentors. Recommendations for practice and implications for future research are provided.     

Preparing teachers for professional learning: is there a future for teacher education in new teacher induction?

Today the quality of teachers is held to be increasingly important yet there continue to be doubts about whether teacher education programs graduate teachers ready to meet the challenges of their initial years of teaching. In some jurisdictions, other agencies (Ministries of Education, school districts, and private providers) are supplementing the work of teacher education through the introduction of new teacher induction programs which have become favoured policy initiatives to enhance new teacher transition, retention and quality. Evidence suggests that induction and mentoring increase teacher retention and ensure more effective socialisation of new teachers into the school culture. In spite of their growing popularity, the degree to which induction programs complement teacher education and/or impact new teacher professional learning remains unclear. In this paper the authors report a secondary analysis of data from an evaluation of the New Teacher Induction Program in Ontario, Canada to consider the implications for the future of teacher education by asking: What are the challenges facing new teachers? In what ways does the induction program support new teacher professional learning? What are the major implications for the future of teacher education?     

Arriving on a fast track: Perceptions of teachers from an alternative licensing program about their first four years in the classroom

Abstract

In a 4‐year study of new teachers who completed the MINT (Massachusetts Institute for New Teachers) alternative teacher‐licensing program, we found that this particular fast‐track model recruited a group of highly committed new teachers. However, these new teachers expressed dissatisfaction with the effectiveness of their teacher education program. Many of the teachers tended to use traditional teaching methods. Some regarded their professional development and mentoring experiences as insufficient. Some believed their potential for school leadership was not being fully realized. A similar set of perceptions were reported by a group of new teachers who had completed college‐based teacher preparation programs, although the college program‐prepared teachers tended to give higher ratings to their teacher preparation program and to use a wider variety of teaching strategies in the classroom.     

University alumni mentoring programs: a win-win?

Alumni-student mentoring programs have become commonplace at many universities, and yet, scholarly research has rarely explored the impact of these programs on participating students and alumni. To address this, we investigated three alumni mentoring programs at a large research-intensive university in Australia. Using a mixed methods approach (a web based survey and interviews), we sought both students' and mentors' perceptions of their alumni mentoring program and how their involvement may have impacted their perceptions of the university (n=197). The findings highlight that alumni mentoring programs provide distinct benefits to both students and alumni and may result in improved university engagement. Our results also indicate new revelations about alumni mentoring programs, including the challenges associated with mentoring postgraduate students and recommended best practice to ensure the success of alumni mentoring programs.     

Learning by mentoring: prospective teachers as mentors to children at‐risk 1

This survey‐based study examined the benefits of mentoring for 299 pre‐service teachers who voluntarily worked with children at‐risk in a nationwide Israeli mentoring project. Results revealed that mentoring taught prospective teachers about the world of children, increased their sensitivity to children at‐risk and to children as individuals, and improved their ability to cope with difficult situations. Mentoring was particularly beneficial for mentors majoring in special education, when viewed as a professional development opportunity, and when guidance was provided that aimed at connecting between academic studies and mentoring experiences. Unlike other field experiences in teacher training programs which emphasize classroom teaching, mentoring offers pre‐service teachers an opportunity to learn about the individual child and the social factors influencing his/her success in school.     

A Model for Recruiting and Retaining Teachers in Alaska's Rural K–12 Schools

The Alaska Statewide Mentor Project (ASMP) is a joint effort of the University of Alaska and the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development to address the persistently low teacher retention rates in the state, especially in rural districts that predominantly serve Alaska Native (AN) students. Over six years, teacher retention in rural districts, measured from year to year, has increased from an average of 67% to an average of 77% among new teachers who receive ASMP mentoring (Adams & Jordan, 2012). We conducted a midcareer teacher study to determine whether ASMP also affects long-term retention and, if so, to identify contributing factors. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach, we first calculated longitudinal retention rates and then interviewed midcareer teachers to identify factors supporting teacher efficacy connected to teacher retention. Interview data were coded using a framework from community psychology that employs a strengths-based perspective grounded, in this case, by the orienting concepts of “stress” and “coping.” The data produced a model of strengths contributing to teacher efficacy related to typical stressors in Alaska's public K–12 schools, a model that includes factors specific to teacher background, professionalism, socializing in the community, and being student-focused. In this paper, we compare and contrast these results to findings by others in northern rural remote areas in order to present practical implications for teacher recruitment, professional development, mentoring and support, and school environment.     

Teacher‐mentor to Teacher‐researcher

This paper focuses on the Primary PGCE at Keele University, which is now in its third year of a new course structure, fulfilling the requirements of the DFE circular 14/93. As the school‐based partnership has developed, teacher‐mentors have gained new understanding of both their role in teacher training and their relationship with Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This paper seeks to outline how the process of mentoring has developed teachers’ skills in a way which has promoted their understanding of, and interest in, school‐based research. Four key issues are explored in probing the link between mentoring and school‐based research: the difference between theory and practice; links between teacher‐mentors and HEI tutors, the process of reflective practice; teachers as knowledge constructors. These are examined in relation to the process of mentoring and to the way in which each contributes to developing mentors’ participation and interest in school‐based research.     

Virtual relationships and real benefits: using e‐mentoring to connect business students with practicing managers

This article reports the results of our study of electronic mentoring (e‐mentoring) in a population of business students. As career paths have become more fluid and less predictable, a growing number of educational and business organizations have implemented traditional and, more recently, e‐mentoring programs. But practice is ahead of evaluation when it comes to e‐mentoring. We attempted to fill this gap by looking more closely at strengths and weaknesses associated with this type of mentoring. Building on research in traditional mentoring and integrating literature in computer‐mediated communication, education and management, we developed a model of e‐mentoring’s antecedents and outcomes. We tested our hypotheses using a sample of business students (protégés) who were mentored by practicing managers. It was found that perceived similarity in terms of attitudes and values is positively related to effective e‐mentoring, while demographic similarity (gender, race) is not. Moreover, effective e‐mentoring may lead to protégés’ enhanced academic performance, professional network and job opportunities. We conclude with implications of our findings and a discussion of opportunities for future research.     

Mentoring Beginning Teachers: Findings from Contextual Supervision

This article examines the contextual supervision (CS) model that has been developed and applied in several practicum settings of teacher-education programs over the past ten years. The study synthesizes the research findings on the potential effectiveness of CS in assisting faculty supervisors and classroom cooperating teachers with the task of mentoring pre-service teachers to develop their instructional repertoire. The CS model is described, its rationale is presented, research results on its application are summarized, its strengths and limitations are identified, and implications of its usefulness as a mentoring tool to enhance teacher performance are drawn.     

Mentoring triad: an alternative mentoring model for preservice teacher education?

Within many preservice teacher education programs in Australia, mentoring is used as the overarching methodology for the professional placement. The professional placement is considered to be a key component of learning to teach, and typically a dyad mentoring model is utilized. However, it is reported that many preservice teachers experience a less than successful placement when a dyad model is used. This research explored an alternative mentoring model that placed two preservice teachers with a classroom teacher and investigated the mentoring that transpired. The research examined the interactions that occurred between the triad members, in particular those that took place between the two preservice teachers as peers. A theoretical framework that focused on a holistic mentoring model was utilized to frame the research and analyze the data. It was found that the use of a mentoring triad extended the scope of mentor support that can be provided to preservice teachers.     

I've Never Viewed Myself as a Researcher,but...

Many teacher education programs in the United States (US) face increasing demands to better prepare teachers for entry into and retention in urban schools. Through a US Department of Education grant, a university–school partnership was formed to develop a community‐based model of teacher preparation that placed pre‐service teachers in urban schools for a full year. Based on questionnaires and interviews with university teacher education faculty, and both pre‐service and novice classroom teachers who took their first jobs in urban schools, this research considers the common concerns and disparate roles that the three groups considered paramount in preparing new teachers for urban schools.     

Contexts of mentoring and opportunities for learning to teach: a comparative study of mentoring practice

Drawing on data from twenty-three US, UK, and Chinese mentor teachers, this study explores the relationship between contexts of mentoring and mentoring practice. It discusses learning opportunities created by mentoring in different contexts for novices to learn to teach. Through comparative analysis, it finds that mentoring practices show greater differences across programs and countries than within. This is the case even when mentors are practicing or moving toward practicing a kind of teaching as expected by education reformers. These differences are reflected in mentors’ beliefs about what novices need to learn, their interaction patterns and foci with novices. Three instructional contexts in each setting shape such differences: structure of school curriculum and assessment, organization of teaching and mentoring, and student population. These findings suggest that the reform-minded teaching practice that mentors developed does not necessarily guarantee the effective mentoring that supports teacher learning and teaching reform. Teacher educators should pay attention to the influences of instructional contexts on mentoring and the kinds of learning opportunities that mentoring creates for novice teachers in different contexts. When designing mentoring programs and arranging mentoring relationships, teacher educators need to consider how to restructure school contexts and help mentors learn how to mentor.     

Do alternative teacher education programs manage to attract different candidates and students?

During 2009, three alternative teacher retraining programs in English as a Foreign Language, mathematics and biology were launched for the first time in one of Israel’s largest teacher education colleges. The programs, which offered varied economic incentives to participants, were initiated by the state owing to shortages of teachers in these disciplines and the economic crisis in the hi-tech industry. After hundreds of candidates responded to the program’s advertisement, 90 candidates were accepted and enrolled following rigorous screening. The purpose of the research reported here was to examine the demographic, academic and occupational profiles of the candidates and students in each of the three programs in comparison with applicants and students in traditional teacher education retraining programs. The research population included a total of 611 candidates who had applied to all the teacher retraining programs offered in 2009. The study’s findings indicate that not only did the alternative programs make the teaching profession more accessible to potential candidates; they also attracted students with impressive demographic, academic and occupational profiles that varied considerably from the profiles of the students in the traditional programs. Longitudinal follow-up studies are needed to investigate the adjustment, success and retention rates of these new teachers in the educational system.     

A High Impact Practice that Works: Connecting Mentors From the Professional Community to Teacher Education Students

A high impact mentoring program at a community college connected professionals from the special education and early intervention fields with small groups of teacher education students. Two federal grants from U.S. Department of Education funded tuition scholarships and mentoring for 76 Special Education students and 78 Early Childhood Education/Early Intervention students in associate degree programs. The mentor programs consisted of individual monitoring by project staff, consistent contact with a mentor from the professional community and with other students in mentor groups, and structured monthly dinner meetings. Students who participated in the mentoring programs showed increased persistence and higher grade point average when compared with the general population of similar majors. Within each grant-funded population, students who showed low participation in the mentor programming presented lower retention rates and lower GPA than grant-funded students who took full advantage of the mentoring program.     

Book Reviews

What does it mean for a mentoring program to succeed? Most evaluations focus on participants' perceptions of success. Few studies employ an independent measure of the intended outcomes of the program, and fewer still examine both participant satisfaction and achievement. This article presents an example of how comparing data on perceived and achieved success can foster new insights into the trade‐offs inherent in program design and improvement. Based on an analysis of survey and interview data from an online mentoring program in which 17 history experts supported 108 high school students in historical research, it was found that mentees' satisfaction did not correlate with their achievement of intended program outcomes. Further analysis illuminated design trade‐offs between the aspects of the online mentoring program that supported perceived success and those that supported intended outcomes. The authors argue that examining such trade‐offs in other mentoring programs may facilitate their improvement over time.     

Adapting mentoring to individual differences in novice teacher learning: the mentor’s viewpoint

Being adaptive to the individual novice teacher is considered a condition for effective teacher mentoring. The aims of this study are therefore to explore (1) mentoring activities through which mentors intend to adapt to the individual novice teacher and (2) characteristics of adaptive mentors. Information was collected through on-site, post-mentoring conversation interviews with 18 mentors holding different mentoring conceptions, from different programs for Initial Teacher Education in the Netherlands. Four adaptive mentoring activities were identified: (1) aligning mutual expectations about the mentoring process, (2) attuning to the novices’ emotional state, (3) adapting the mentoring conversation to match the reflective capacity of the novice teacher, and (4) building tasks from simple to complex relative to the novices’ competence level. Adaptive mentors were (1) more likely to mention activities intended to support construction of personal practical knowledge and (2) less likely to mention activities intended to create a favourable context for novice teacher learning. Suggestions for using findings to enhance mentor adaptiveness are discussed.     

Software support for online mentoring programs: a research‐inspired design

This article provides an overview of Telementoring Orchestrator? (TMO), a new web‐based software tool designed to aid small or large organizations in supporting telementoring programs (also called online mentoring or e‐mentoring programs). In this report, we review the research that inspired the design of the software, and survey the major components of the system, explaining the rationale behind our design choices. Since software designers cannot avoid making assumptions about an application’s users and its uses, our goal is to explain the assumptions that TMO makes about telementoring programs and telementoring relationships, and how these relate to our own research and field experiences. We aim to help potential users understand the range of programs that TMO might help manage and study in its current form, and to help the prospective designers of similar systems understand other design choices that might be made. We conclude by setting an agenda for future work, including both feature extensions for the software itself, and new research that could be carried out with it.     

Collaborative Mentorship: A Mentoring Approach to Support and Sustain Teachers for Equity and Diversity

In this article, I propose collaborative mentorship (CM) as a mentoring approach to support and sustain teachers in diversity and equity education. CM is theorized as a mentoring relationship grounded in critical dialog between mentor and mentee. Drawing on research conducted in a culturally, racially, linguistically, and socially diverse secondary school in Southern Ontario, Canada, this article examines tensions teachers experience with equity and diversity and the knowledge base necessary for such a mentoring approach. As the schools become more diverse, it is vital that teachers seek out new approaches that respond to the changing social contexts. The findings of my research have implications for teacher professional development and teacher training in discovering new ways to support in diverse classrooms.