This study included 9 new teachers all of whom were assigned master teachers as mentors. The study also included 11 mentor teachers who participated in this study. There were 20 participants in this case study. The study was conducted in the Johnson City School System. This qualitative case study was conducted by interviewing 20 participants in the mentoring program. Eleven mentor teachers and 9 new teachers were chosen through purposeful sampling. A list of possible participants was obtained from the Johnson City Schools Central Office and an email was sent to possible participants explaining the nature of the study. Participants signed an Informed Consent Form (Appendix D) and an interview guide was used (Appendix A). Probes, an interview technique that allows the interviewer to delve deeper following an interviewee's response was used to gain a richer understanding of the respondents' views (Merriam, 1998). During data analysis, 8 themes were identified as having positive or negative results of the mentoring process. These themes were: (a) relationships, (b) common planning time, (c) similar personality styles, (d) teaching practices, (e) program structure, (f) support system, (g) classroom organization and management, and (h) equal learning opportunities. Based on the research the following conclusions were presented. Mentoring programs are an important part of teacher induction. Positive relationships are critical to fostering successful mentoring teams. Common planning is essential to maximize the mentoring process. Strong support systems assist mentors and new teachers. Mentoring is an important component of successful transitions into a new school. Recommendations for enhancing the mentoring program included the following: To have a long-term study that tracks the progress of new teachers over a 3-year period.To include administration as a part of the initial training program study.To compare and contrast the difference between first career new teachers and those who have had previous careers and examine how the mentoring process affects the different populations.

An urgent need exists for balance between students learning the theory of clinical practice and becoming an expert. While theory is taught in the didactic setting, it is the experiential setting where the mastery of the clinical teacher is demonstrated. What does the master clinical teacher do that makes the student's learning experience so significant? One must recognize the moment, capture the learning opportunity, and draw the student in so that learning can occur. Effective clinical teaching is paramount in creating empowered students and practitioners. This qualitative case study of a doctoral pharmacy program identified two master clinical preceptors and shadowed one in a hospital and the other in a retail pharmacy. Interactions between clinical preceptors and students were captured through direct observation, audio-tape, and complemented with in-depth interviews. Content analysis identified emerging themes yielding an emerging model of master clinical teaching, illuminating teachable moments between student and clinical preceptor, and the manner in which they interacted with each other and the clinical environment. The model highlights an approach for making the critical time on clinical rotations as effective as possible and offers a practical means to study interactions between students and preceptors, discerning those that lead to teachable moments. Features of the teachable moments are identified. Although expertise cannot be taught, current and future clinical teachers can use this study to improve their teaching and effectiveness in clinical teaching practice. The methodology of this study can be applied to future studies in the same discipline, other rotations, or other disciplines. This study augmented the literature in qualitative research in pharmacy education for clinical practice by 1) utilizing a methodology that could be used in future studies 2) identifying features of teachable moments in the interactions of clinical preceptors and students 3) exploring how the clinical preceptors dealt with the changing environment of their clinical teaching 4) offering an emerging model to guide clinical preceptors for making the critical clinical teaching time as effective as possible. Future studies could utilize this emerging model to gain further insight on clinical teaching practices thus increasing the expertise of clinical teaching. / Ph. D.

The Modern Language Association (MLA) recently reported that from 1998 to 2002 there was a 92% increase in Arabic programs throughout the United States. With the increase in media coverage of current events in the Middle East, more and more students are desiring to learn about the region's languages and cultures. More teachers of Arabic are needed to meet this growing demand for Arabic instruction. This thesis investigates whether deliberate intervention via explicit and implicit exposure to the instructional behavior, skills, and strategies of master teachers of Arabic, combined with replication thereof, as well as critical personal reflection, positively alters instructor-teaching style (style, defined as behavior and beliefs in Katz, 1996). This thesis is also an attempt to provide an exportable model for the training of novice instructors of Arabic. One model currently being developed by the National Middle East Language Resource Center (NMELRC) is based on video footage of Muhammad Eissa, a master teacher of Arabic, made available by Brigham Young University, as well as additional footage from NMELRC's summer teacher development seminars. The model supports the first two semesters of Arabic instruction, including a set of DVDs of Dr. Muhammad Eissa teaching and interacting with students in a live classroom. The model also includes explicit training footage captured on DVDs from a two-week training seminar that took place at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, in the summer of 2003. My thesis investigates two types of training in this model: first, implicit training via exposure to Muhammad Eissa, accompanied with various reflective activities; and second, explicit training by way of exposure to, and discussion of, specific pedagogical issues via footage from the 2003 training seminar for instructors of Arabic at Middlebury College. It is hoped that my research will serve as a training model for teacher trainers and language program coordinators at institutions of higher education that desire to offer Arabic courses.