Understanding Mentoring Practices in a Professional Development School Partnership

This study examined the practices of four mentor teachers in a PDS context over the course of three months from March 2015-May 2015. The purpose of the study was to better understand and answer the following research questions: (1) What are the self-reported practices of mentors in the PDS context?; (2) Why do the mentors engage in these practices?; and (3) How have these practices developed and changed over time? In addition to classroom observations of practice, qualitative interviews were conducted with each mentor to learn more about each mentor's life history as a student, time spent as a mentor, and espoused beliefs about effective mentoring. As a result of the data collection, a profile of each mentor was written to describe the mentor's experiences as a student and teacher leading up to the time he or she became a mentor, as well as each mentor's beliefs about effective mentoring including examples from practice to illustrate the beliefs. Across the mentors, four specific mentoring practices were identified. (1) Co-planning. All mentors engaged in this practice, with the same end goal in mind, i.e., developing an intern who was capable of planning independently, there were similarities and differences among them in terms of how they involved the intern in co-planning early in the process. (2) Providing ''teacher'' opportunities. This practice goes further, especially at the beginning of the year, by providing opportunities for the intern to be viewed as a ''teacher'' and develop his/her own identity in the classroom. (3) Co-teaching. The data from this study shows that all of the four mentors engaged in the practice of co-teaching with their intern. (4) Collaborating with the Professional Development Associate (PDA). Unlike the previous practices described, collaborating with the PDA was not a key practice the mentors articulated explicitly in interviews about their mentoring beliefs. This practice emerged from the data analysis process. These practices were also compared to the YendolHoppey and Dana's (2007) framework for effective mentoring in order to provide illustrations of their domains for effective mentoring and contribute a new component for consideration.