Mentoring for School Quality by Cooper Bruce S. ;McCray Carlos R.;

Author:Cooper, Bruce S.,;McCray, Carlos R.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Chapter 6

Teacher Mentoring Practices and Models

What Can We Learn from Research and Effective Practices?

Chun Zhang

Introduction

Having highly qualified teachers is one of the most important variables in contributing to positive student outcomes, to closing achievement gaps, and to preventing school failure (Phillips, 2010). However, new teachers need support and mentoring in the beginning years of their teaching careers for them to become highly qualified educators (Barrera, Braley, & Slate, 2010). Beginning teachers who were provided with well-structured mentoring had higher levels of student engagement than those who were not (Stanulis & Floden, 2009). Studies also indicate that rigorous, well-planned, and well-structured mentoring programs hold great potential for improving beginning teachers’ practices and for affecting students’ academic outcomes positively (Hobson et al., 2009; Mathur, Gehrke, & Kim, 2012; Smith & Ingersoll, 2004).

As schools and teacher education programs face the challenges of preparing and keeping highly qualified teachers—especially for low-performing urban schools—good or effective mentor characteristics and mentoring practices and models that have promise and evidence of success need to be examined and disseminated. This chapter will examine the literature and research in the areas of effective teaching, mentor characteristics, and teacher mentoring practices and models. Important indicators and characteristics of mentors and mentoring programs will be highlighted. Practical applications of how schools can conceptualize, plan, and implement successful mentoring programs will be discussed.

Characteristics of Effective Teaching

Effective teachers of high-achieving students tend to have the following five characteristics: (1) high expectations, (2) a focus on academic instruction that engages, motivates, and challenges students, (3) have smooth transitions during activities, (4) address the needs of students, and (5) connect curriculum with students’ interests and experiences. These teachers are clear and enthusiastic in the delivery of instruction, and they use time effectively (Brophy & Good, 1986).

In addition, they also manage their classrooms effectively through developing routines and procedures and helping students learn self-regulation and independent thinking and problem-solving skills. They create a comfortable, intellectually stimulating, and collaborative learning environment where authentic, interesting, and challenging activities are provided. They also monitor students’ learning and progress, and scaffold student learning to a deep understanding of curriculum across domains and content areas (Bogner, Raphael, & Pressley, 2002; Dolezal, Welsh, Pressley, & Vincent, 2003; Roehrig, Bohn, Turner, & Pressley, 2008).

These teaching behaviors and skills are found to be conducive to students’ learning and to promoting positive student outcomes. In general, teachers’ attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge affect teachers’ behaviors and skills to work with their students, having an impact on students’ engagement and learning. Specifically, teachers’ instructional skills and practices are found to have direct effects on students’ achievement, whereas other teacher characteristics such as teacher beliefs and knowledge may have an indirect impact on student learning and achievement (Roehrig et al., 2008; Muijs & Reynolds, 2002).

Today’s new teachers face many challenges and need to become effective in the first few years of their teaching careers in learning the skills of planning and implementing curriculum and instruction, conducting different types of assessments, engaging and motivating students, guiding students’ behaviors, and

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