scholarly journals Conceptualizing Core Practices for Professional Development of Novice Mentors

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samina Naseem ◽  
Paul A Crutcher

Purposeful and effective professional development of teacher mentors is often a proposed solution in many of the present debates about education, including teacher quality, teacher retention, and the student achievement gap. The literature about teacher mentoring suggests that if mentors in teacher education programs do not have significant professional development on mentoring, even a thoughtfully organized formal induction program can be ineffective in preparing good teachers, undermined by an unprepared mentor. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to propose a framework of professional development for veteran teachers who are to become mentors. Our framework will have a three-fold effect. The framework is designed to (a) develop or strengthen supportive and collaborative partnerships between schools and teacher education programs; (b) prompt veteran teachers to identify, share, and deconstruct their teaching practices with colleagues and teacher educators; and (c) scaffold teacher learning into research on and best practices in effective mentoring. Ultimately, the framework's aim is to structure the preparation of effective teacher mentors, who will go on to have positive impacts on interns and novice teachers' long-term successes. Notably, based on the research, our Professional Development (PD) framework is situated in schools, about subject area knowledge, and focused on mastery of mentoring skills. 

2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Epstein

The client analysis conducted in this study explores the professional development needs of11 language teachers, five in South Africa and six in Canada. The study employs a questionnaire and interviews to discover how each teacher's background and context affects his or her perceived professional development needs. Interviews show that teacher educators cannot necessarily predict teachers' professional development needs based on their backgrounds and contexts alone. A variety of inputs from recipients over an extended time is desirable and would yield more accurate predictability of an individual's professional development needs. This would result in teacher education programs that more accurately meet a teacher's real needs.


The authors perceive that institutionalized racial hierarchies are the greatest barrier to educational equity in the United States. While P-12 teachers may express the desire to make their classrooms spaces of joy, creativity, and intellectual brilliance, it is primarily through intentional skills development that teachers succeed. The authors assert the need for greater investments by school districts and teacher education programs in professional development for in-service P-12 teachers that further empower them and, in turn, their students, to contribute to the dismantling of racism in the U.S. Teacher educators, administrators and policy makers need to position themselves as cultivators and supporters of P-12 teachers in ways that encourage and sustain their antiracist advocacy and equity work in their teaching.


Author(s):  
Eva Brown ◽  
Michele Jacobsen

Meaningful and authentic use of technology for quality teaching and meaningful learning is an essential component of a 21st century education. Teacher education programs have been slow to transform and adopt programs that are essential for new teachers to be equipped with skills for 21st century teaching. Professional development of veteran teachers faces challenges in format and delivery and teachers are slow to become enculturated in design inquiry learning infusing technology in meaningful ways that embrace digital citizenship to meet the needs of 21st century education. The project described in this chapter offers an innovative approach to professional learning in a partnership approach with teacher education students and veteran teachers to address the challenges faced by both teacher education programs and professional development models.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 123-128
Author(s):  
Julius Michael Egbai ◽  
Eke Ogbu Eke ◽  
Ijeoma F Ubochi

The study aims at assessing teacher educators’ views on the prospect and challenges of e-learning in teacher education program aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. The population consists of 1321 academic staff of Alvan Ikoku College of Education Owerri (AIFCE). Two Schools out of the seven schools in Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education were purposively selected for the sample size of 249 academic staff. Researchers made an assessments questionnaire titled” Teachers Views on Prospect and Challenges E-learning in Teacher Education Program Questionnaire (TVPCETEC) was used for data collection. It has a reliability coefficient of 0.77 determined through the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation in answering the research questions. The study showed that teacher educators are of the view that e-learning is the key for effective teacher education program vis-vis the Covid-19 pandemic, which has called for social distance protective protocols. Challenges to effective e-learning, such as in teacher education, were also identified. But despite the challenges facing e-learning in teacher education programs, teacher educators accepted that e-learning is the key to limitless possibilities in education and should be fully embraced. It is recommended that Colleges of Education liaise with relevant authorities in benchmarking teacher education programs with e-learning. It will help tackle the digital divide among lectures and students for effective implementation of learning in teacher education programs.


2021 ◽  
pp. e20200014
Author(s):  
Elise St. John ◽  
Dan Goldhaber ◽  
John Krieg ◽  
Roddy Theobald

Emerging research finds connections between teacher candidates’ student teaching placements and their future career paths and effectiveness. Yet relatively little is known about the factors that influence these placements and how teacher education programs (TEPs) and K-12 school systems match teacher candidates to mentor teachers. In our study of this process in Washington state, we find that TEPs and K-12 systems share overarching goals related to successful student teacher placements and developing a highly effective teacher workforce. However, distinct accountabilities and day-to-day demands also sometimes lead them to prioritize other objectives. In addition, we identified informational asymmetries, which left TEPs questioning how mentor teachers were selected, and districts and schools with limited information with which to make intentional matches between teacher candidates and mentor teachers. The findings from this study inform both practice and research in teacher education and human resources. First, they illuminate practices that appear to contribute to informational gaps and institutional disadvantages in the placement of student teachers. Additionally, they raise questions about what constitutes an effective mentor teacher and provide researchers and policymakers with better insight into the professional realities of teacher educators and K-12 educators, as well as those of district human resource (HR) coordinators, which is important given their differing accountabilities and distinctive positionings in the education of teacher candidates.


2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorena Guillen ◽  
Ken Zeichner

This article examines the experiences of a group of nine community-based mentors of teacher candidates who partnered for several years through a local, community-based organization with the graduate elementary and secondary teacher education programs at a research university in the Pacific Northwest. Following a brief discussion of the history of partnerships between teacher education programs and local communities, we report the findings of a study of the perspectives of these community mentors on their work with teacher candidates and university teacher educators.


Author(s):  
Jarrett D. Moore

This chapter advocates for the (re)framing of critical thinking from a skill to a disposition and proposes a framework whereby teacher education programs can create space for pre-service teachers to develop a critical disposition. By studying the context of American education and schooling and their corporate interest, pre-service teachers along with teacher educators can start to unravel the discourse and power inherent in American education. Understanding how these concepts lead to hegemony can begin the process of creating a counterhegemonic movement among American educators that includes the reclaiming of the purpose of education, raising pertinent epistemological question, and practicing critical self-reflection. The final part of the new framework for developing critical dispositions is a reintroduction of broader theoretical concerns into teacher preparation programs.


Author(s):  
Vivian H. Wright

In teacher education programs, there is a consistent need to locate and to recommend to teacher educators, teacher candidates, and in-service teachers, viable technology tools and concepts that can be used in the classroom. Digital storytelling is a concept that is growing in popularity and one which offers versatility as an instructional tool. This chapter presents information and ideas on how to facilitate learning, productivity, and creativity through a variety of digital storytelling classroom uses.


2016 ◽  
pp. 1424-1437
Author(s):  
Nwachukwu Prince Ololube ◽  
Nanighe Baldwin Major ◽  
Peter James Kpolovie

In this chapter we highlighted the impact of the current economic and political dispensation in Nigeria and its impact on teacher education programs and the means of enhancing teacher education in the Niger Delta region. This paper is a conceptual and methodological breakthrough in Nigeria's academic landscape where qualitative and quantitative experiences highlight issues that are pertinent to teacher education program in the Niger Delta. The chapter proposed that the Niger Delta region's and the entire Nigeria's teacher education programs would be advanced if the component parts of the current economic and political disposition are resolved. This chapter contends that the Niger Delta region has the potential to address the challenges currently faced in the region such as social disruption (violence threat), poverty, hunger, disease, conflict, marginalization, and the achievement and improvement for effective teacher education programs. This chapter is of the immense judgment that successfully addressing the challenges currently faced in the Niger Delta region, teacher education programs will greatly improve qualitatively and quantitatively.


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