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Mentoring ‘Pre’ Pre-Service Teachers:

Mentoring ‘Pre’ Pre-Service Teachers:. Alan Brown Whitney Miller Joan Mitchell Dr. Lisa Scherff The University of Alabama. Lessons for teacher educators. Presented at National Council of Teachers of English 2009 Annual Convention November 20, 2009. Introduction. Overarching Questions.

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Mentoring ‘Pre’ Pre-Service Teachers:

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  1. Mentoring ‘Pre’ Pre-Service Teachers: Alan Brown Whitney Miller Joan Mitchell Dr. Lisa Scherff The University of Alabama Lessons for teacher educators Presented at National Council of Teachers of English 2009 Annual Convention November 20, 2009

  2. Introduction

  3. Overarching Questions • What if “pre” pre-service teachers, those not yet formally admitted into teacher education programs, had the networks of support from which pre-service teachers benefit? • In what ways can we promote constructive, collaborative relationships outside of the basic student/professor form of interaction?

  4. Motivations behind Online Mentoring • Online support networks provide beginning teachers with “social, emotional, practical, and professional support” (DeWert, et al., 2003, p. 319), a place to make connections (Romiszowski & Ravitz, 1997), deeper understandings of teaching and learning (Ferdig & Roehler, 2003-2004), and practice with collaborative reflection (Nicholson & Bond, 2003). • They create conversations, and thus a network of support, for undergraduates in order to help them become “self-actualized teachers (Alsup, 2006, p. 192) who will remain in the field of education for an extended period of time.

  5. Online Mentoring

  6. Wiki Snapshot

  7. Fuller & Brown’s (1975)Process of Becoming a Teacher

  8. Framework Pre-service Teacher → Teacher

  9. Whitney’s first experience:School (culture) Experiencing a foreign/new school environment • “Somewhat scary/freaky-outty… There was a fight when I came into my school this morning!... I stuck my head into the office… and the lady in the office was very nonchalant, like, Oh yeah, happens all the time…There were never fights at my high school…” • “I got to experience a school community very different than the one I grew up in (my school was pretty small, and my placement was at a large city high school).”

  10. Mentoring Opportunities Response to school environment concerns: • “I totally resonate with your ‘shock’ about the fight and everyone’s nonchalance about it! The same thing happened to me in my first school… It does give us a picture of what these kids are dealing with outside of our classrooms. For many of them, violence is typical rather than shocking.” - Joan • “I wouldn’t advise you jumping in the middle of a fight… Being a male and a coach, I became more responsible for doing so, but I have battle scars to show for it.” - Alan

  11. Whitney’s first experiences:Classroom (activity) Surprisingly engaged students • “I assumed that all of the students would be pretty unenthusiastic about [duet pantomime performances]… They seemed eager to have a ‘cool’ performance.” And un-engaged students • “One pair… was ‘reviewing their outline,’ but the vibe I got from them is that the boy in the pair didn’t want to be there, and the girl was too meek or embarrassed to push him to participate. So they spent 45 minutes… just sitting there…” Student behavior • “We had a few discipline problems yesterday, including a student that used an obscene gesture in his skit but could not understand why he was getting in trouble for it.”

  12. Mentoring Opportunities Response to issues with students… • “One of the biggest aspects of being a teacher is also being a counselor of sorts… The most effective teachers are the ones who reach their students on that personal level, understand their backgrounds, and simply show how much they care about them.” - Alan • “It is important to maintain the appropriate boundaries as well. This is especially important when it’s a female, since your actions could be misinterpreted. Your goal in these situations is to make the student feel valued (as you did) while still listening to your instincts if you begin to feel uncomfortable.” - Joan

  13. Whitney’s first experiences:Cooperating Teacher (performance) Alternative school students • “We talked a little bit about his frustration with the way the [alternative school] program is set up… since they are off-site, they never get to participate in any of the [classroom] activities [e.g. performances, improv].” Teaching styles in conflict • “My last day [will be] bittersweet, because I really like my first period class, but it is incredibly draining to be in Mr. K’s classroom. I’m hoping that maybe I’m just not there on the days that he does instruction… every day has either been performances, bookwork, or watching performances on tape… I know he’s got to do more than this… I hope…!!”

  14. Whitney’s first experiences: Cooperating Teacher (performance) Trying to create a dialogue • “I guess I’m mostly confused about why he would act that way, because the students’ performance on exams isn’t a bid to get attention or sympathy; it’s demonstrating that they don’t understand the topic, right?” I promise, I’m getting good stuff, too! • “I know it sounds like I’m being really critical of him, and I guess I am, but I really am taking a lot away from the placement. I just have a tendency to share only negative stuff and internalize the positive stuff more.”

  15. Mentoring Opportunities Response to frustrations with cooperating teacher… • “In terms of the class you’ve been observing, it sounds like some of the resources are good, but maybe the execution is lacking or ineffective. I hope this shows you the value of keeping your class moving at a brisk pace using many different strategies.” – Alan • “I remember feeling similar frustrations during my observations. One thing that you could do to use your time wisely and make sure you are getting something out of each class period is to journal to yourself about how you would handle the same situations.” - Joan

  16. Ms. Miller’s first experiences:Students (experience) What a rush! • “OMG!! I did my mini-lesson today – TWICE – and it was so awesome! It was so exciting to see these kids who are bored out of their skulls work REALLY hard on a really difficult topic because they WANTED to understand it! I mean, we did phonetic transcription with the IPA in a drama class, and I had almost 100% participation. It was so cool!” Correcting mistakes • “What y’all didn’t get to see… was how after… they tried to grapple with the worksheet for five or ten minutes, I actually ended up getting everyone’s attention and leading the whole group through the translation activity on the board… So I had to figure out how to explain it to them on the fly in a way that they could understand and also didn’t feel talked-down-to.”

  17. Ms. Miller’s first experiences:Students (experience) Getting a do-over “My placement teacher gave me feedback right after the lesson that I was able to incorporate in the lesson for third period… I trimmed down the background lesson… and focused more on walking them through the mechanics of translation before leading the whole class in the group translation.”

  18. Ms. Miller’s first experience:Online mentoring Where would I be without the Wiki? “The semester is winding down, so I just wanted to thank y’all for your help this semester. It has really been nice to have a ‘safe’ place to go with questions or concerns. I was very overwhelmed at the beginning of the semester… But I really think that once we got the Wiki going, it helped me a lot, because I didn’t feel so ‘alone.’”

  19. The Mentors’ Experiences • “It reminded me of my first fears and anxieties…and made me do a check on my own practices.” • “I really wish I would have had a mentor like this during my training.” • “As tenured teachers, we often take for granted…the everyday practice of teaching…[and] that we forget those moments that used to leave us speechless.” • “Students don’t want to write in journals anymore…it [the wiki] could be utilized as a reference tool.”

  20. The Mentors’ Experiences • “It brought to light the need to train early and often these potential teachers.” • “This allowed me to gain a different perspective for what pre-service teachers are now experiencing.” • “It reminded me how nervous and uncertain I was…” • “As an international doctoral candidate without teaching experience in American schools, the wiki…is a live window for me to see school education within a sociocultural context.”

  21. Trends from Online Mentoring

  22. Trends from Online Mentoring

  23. Implications for Practice and Program Design

  24. References Alsup, J. (2006). Teacher identity discourses: Negotiating personal and professional spaces. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. DeWert, M. H., Babinski, L. M., & Jones, B. D. (2003). Safe passages: Providing online support to beginning teachers. Journal of Teacher Education, 54(4), 311-320. Ferdig, R.E. and Roehler, L.R. (Winter 2003-2004). Student uptake in electronic discussions: Examining online discourse in literacy preservice classrooms. Journal of Research on Technology in Education 36(2), 119-136. Fuller, F. & Brown, O. (1975). Becoming a teacher. In Teacher Education (74th Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part 2). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Gold, Y. (1996). Beginning teacher support: Attrition, mentoring, and induction. In J. Sikula, T. J. Butterly & E. Guyton (Eds.), Handbook of research on teacher education (2nd ed., pp. 548-594). New York: Macmillan. Ingersoll, R. M. (2003). Is there really a teacher shortage? A report co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy and the Center for Policy Research in Education. Seattle: University of Washington Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy. Ingersoll, R. (2004). Four myths about America's teacher quality problem. In M. Smylie & D. Miretzky (Eds.), Developing the teacher workforce: The 103rd yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (pp. 1-33). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  25. References Johnson, S. M. (2004). Finders and keepers: Helping new teachers survive and thrive in our schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. McCann, T. M., & Johannessen, L. R. (2004). Why do new teachers cry? The Clearing House, 77, 138-145. Nicholson, S., & Bond, N. (2003). Collaborative reflection and professional community building: An analysis of preservice teachers’ use of an electronic discussion board. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education 11(2), 259-279. Romiszowski, A. J., & Ravitz, J. (1997). Computer-mediated communication. In Cr. R. Dilles & A. Romiszowksi (Eds.), Instructional developmental paradigms. (pp. 745-768). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications. Scherff, L., & Daria, M. Stories from novice teachers:This is induction?. Book under contract with University Press of America. Scherff, L., & Hahs-Vaughn, D. L. (2008). What we know about English language arts teachers: An analysis of the 1999-2000 SASS and 2000-2001 TFS databases. English Education, 40, 174-200. Smith, T. M., & Ingersoll, R. M. (2004). What are the effects of induction and mentoring on beginning teacher turnover? American Educational Research Journal, 41(3), 681-714. Veenman, S. (1984). Perceived problems of beginning teachers. Review of Educational Research, 54(2), 143-178.

  26. Contact Information • Alan Brown mabrown6@crimsom.ua.edu • Whitney Miller mille119@crimson.ua.edu • Joan Mitchell jfmitchell@crimson.ua.edu • Dr. Lisa Scherff lscherff@bamaed.ua.edu

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