Supporting Teacher Mentors Through Training in Equitable Practice

• In Event: School-Based Preparatory and Retention Research Supporting Ambitious Pedagogies for High-Need Urban Schools

Abstract

Purpose
This paper reports on how equity-based mentor teacher training encourages the use of ambitious practices that connect to and guide theory for novice and expert educators.

Theoretical Framework
We view the theory to practice process as bi-directional. Theory provides preservice teachers (PST) a rationale for their practices and a structure to guide reflectivity during teaching. Practice informs emerging theoretical understandings and the development of professional ideologies guiding instructional decisions. Mediated learning through mentors represents a synergistic process, similar to design theory, resulting in greater impact and refinements tailored to the needs of the setting.

The mentor teacher training examined in this study involved training sessions using national professional learning guidelines and based on research by Feiman-Nemser (2003; 2001) and Lipton & Wellman (2003). The training focused on culturally responsive curriculum, classroom management, discipline content (science, math, literacy, ESOL) and the use backward design models for integrated instructional planning. Mentor teacher identity development occurred through reading and discussion of characteristics of good mentors, sensitivities to language use (Johnston, 2004), and strategies for conflict resolution (Deutsch, Mortan & Coleman, 2000).

Methods
The context of the mixed methods study is an alternative teacher certification program in a large southeastern urban university with a strong urban school partnership network targeting training and support specific to culturally and linguistically diverse urban schools. The teacher education program recruits and trains 20-30 PST each year through coursework and field experiences for K-5 certification with an English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) endorsement.

Data Sources
Individual questionnaires were collected from PST (n=49) and university supervisors (n=4) working with trained mentors in 2013 and 2014. Participant response instruments were also collected from mentors during training over the two years (n=50). Descriptive statistics, crosstabs, and Mann-Whitney U were employed to compare the two groups. Correlational analysis between rating of mentors by PST and supervisors are forthcoming. Mentor teachers also participated in focus groups conducted by members of the research team (2013, n=28; 2014, n=12). Transcripts were compared using line-by-line coding (Charmaz, 2010) and structural coding for second and third levels and network patterns (Saldaña, 2013).

Results
School mentor relationships with PST, expectations, and role identity (coach versus trainer) served various mediation functions. Relationships were important to the mentor teachers in order to have the “freedom” to adapt university-driven activities and to university faculty for creating a collaborative community and developing a shared vision. Mentor teachers reported a renewed passion for the profession through the eyes of the novice by offering them opportunities to learn equity-based practices.

Significance
Results suggest that the mentor teacher training was viewed as a critical component necessary for the implementation of culturally responsive practices. While mentor support typically centers on pedagogical practices, infusing culturally responsive pedagogies into decision-making and implementation of effective instruction requires support of what is and what should be in terms of equitable education (Falk, 2012). This is critical given that most mentor teachers have no professional development in culturally or linguistically responsive instructional practices (Lucas, Villegas, & Freedson-Gonzalez, 2008).

Authors

• Karen Davenport, Georgia State University

• Nancy Jo Schafer, Georgia State University

• Diane M. Truscott, Georgia State University

• R. Daniel Lane, Georgia State University