Building Resilience: A Story From the Beginning Teacher Project

• In Event: 54.081 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: 54.081-1 - Division K Section 7

Abstract

The research outlined in this article focuses on how beginning teachers develop resilience in a high-needs rural school district. Based on the literature, the researchers define resilience as the ability to persevere and continue working in the face of acute and chronic challenges. The fifteen consenting beginning teachers demonstrate a representative sample of the larger population of beginning teachers in the district. The findings reveal that having the support of a mentor or veteran teacher acts as a catalyst for beginning teacher’s perceptions of acceptance into the larger collegial community of the school. In addition, feelings of contextual belonging are projected also onto the students and the communities with which the beginning teachers work.

Authors

• Brie Morettini, Rowan University

• Kathryn Luet, Rowan University