Mentoring in the Midst of teachHOUSTON: The Pandemic Chapter

• In Event: Mentoring in Teacher Induction Programs: Helping Beginner Teachers to Teach

Abstract

teachHOUSTON is a university-based secondary STEM teacher preparation program that addresses the critical need for highly qualified STEM teachers in Texas and across the USA. STEM teachers are prepared through early and on-going field-based teaching experiences and rigorous research-based instruction that integrates content and pedagogy provided by faculty members who have extensive teaching experience in public schools. teachHOUSTON serves Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States, along with its satellite communities. Inquiry-based learning, student centered instruction, and culturally responsive pedagogy are its distinguishing features. teachHOUSTON, a replication of the UTeach program launched at the University of Texas at Austin, addresses Greater Houston’s teacher attrition rate, particularly where secondary content area teachers (i.e., mathematics, science) are concerned. This is a pressing issue in the US and around the world. Hence, it is important to unpack how teachHOUSTON is successfully attracting, preparing, mentoring and retaining secondary science teachers in a challenging urban environment (Craig, Evans, Bott, et al., 2017).

teachHOUSTON began with 14 students in 2007 and now serves approximately 350 students. The students are 33% Hispanic, 30% Asian, 25% white, 8% Black and African American, along with Others. teachHOUSTON students teach in school districts around Greater Houston (Craig, Evans & Stokes, under review) (Figure 1).

All of the program’s alumni, as well as the current students and faculty, are involved in informal and formal mentoring in layered ways (Crisp & Cruz, 2009; Umbach & Wawrzynski, 2005). The students work with master and mentor teachers in early and ongoing field-based experiences; attend workshops/conferences; participate in internships on-/off-campus; belong to professional associations; attend sessions for their parents and themselves; and interact with formative and summative grant evaluators. During student teaching, preservice teachers meet with faculty, apprentice teaching supervisors, and district cooperating teachers to design student-centered, engaging instruction appropriate for everyone, which reflect a positive climate for learning, equity, and excellence. As the definitions and characterizations of mentoring are wide ranging (Campbell & Campbell, 1997; Freeman, 1999; Watson, 1999), so too are the enactments of mentoring lived within teachhouston. The development of these mentoring relationships along with the efforts of maintaining them, underscore the enduring and dynamic (Friday, Friday, & Green, 2004) nature of mentoring.

teachhouston’s layered mentoring as an ongoing discursive practice (Orland-Barak, 2012) cultivated via knowledge community interactions (Craig, 2007; Curtis et al., 2013) during the pandemic, which affected both the Spring term and Summer activities of 2020 as all instruction, interactions and informal learning activities took place online. Exemplars involving summer school programs (Mariam Manuel), student meetings online (Donna Stokes), ongoing student mentoring (Leah McAlister-Shields), support of faculty and team leads (Paige Evans) and formative (Gayle Curtis) and summative (Cheryl Craig) evaluation processes will be spotlighted. Tensions and complexities concerning mentoring against a backdrop of school-university partnerships will also be discussed (Chan, 2015; Chan & Clarke, 2014), with the profound effect of COVID-19 and social unrest held closely in mind.

Authors

• Cheryl J. Craig, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Paige Evans, University of Houston

• Donna W Stokes, University of Houston

• Leah McAlister-Shields

• Gayle A. Curtis, University of Houston

• Mariam Manuel, University of Houston