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Early childhood classroom mentor teachers are often left with little support and guidance as they assume the role of teacher educators. The purpose of this collective case study was to explore how a community of practice comprised of pre-K mentors and a university program coordinator supported the development of shared and individual understandings about how to effectively supervise preservice teachers. Utilizing key tenets of sociocultural theory, four pre-K mentor teachers from two public schools in the Southeast participated in an online and face-to-face community of practice facilitated by a university program coordinator. The pre-K preservice teachers (n=6) were secondary participants in this study. Across twelve weeks, the evolution of collective and individual knowledge was chronicled through interviews, online discussions, face-to-face exchanges, and classroom observations. Audio-tapes from meetings and interviews were transcribed verbatim. Data analyses involved iterative cycles of coding, moving from open coding to process and pattern coding. Through this process, data displays and conceptual memos were created and informed the analyses. Findings from this qualitative study illustrate how the mentors’ processes of coming to know were developed within a complex web of relationships from which they re-envisioned their roles as pre-K teachers. As the mentors negotiated the meaning of mentoring, they engaged in recursive cycles of reshaping their identities through questioning, hypothesizing, and sharing lived experiences. New identities as educators of both children and adults emerged as they considered the role of mentoring as a tangible object to be closely studied, negotiated, and operationalized. The mentors left this study acknowledging that while mentoring was difficult, complex work, it was worthy work.

Effective mentoring during teaching practice plays a crucial role on student-teacher learning in order to achieve the required results and goals of higher institutions of learning. This dissertation builds upon how mentor-teachers provide mentoring in an effort to obtain the best possible learning experiences for student-teachers and it contributes to the body of knowledge in the field of mentoring during teaching practice. However, mentor-teachers may be unsure of their role of how-to mentor student-teachers. Thus, affecting the efficacy of such a relationship of mentoring. Although a number of studies have examined the teaching practice programme, there is a considerable lack of literature on how mentor-teachers understand their role in supporting student-teachers during teaching practice. The purpose of this study was to investigate how mentor-teachers understand their role as mentors in order to develop student-teachers during teaching practice. The data for this qualitative study were collected through semi-structured individual interviews of eight mentor-teachers and six student-teachers. The dissertation draws strongly on the work of Peter Hudson who developed the 5-factor mentoring model. The data collected from these interviews were analysed and presented as emerging themes. The study found that many mentor-teachers showed an understanding on what mentoring is, however, they were not sure of what is expected of them as mentors and that tertiary institutions need to do more in order to ensure that mentor-teachers are trained for their role in supporting student-teachers. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / Unrestricted

Through the use of interview and observation data, collected over two years, this qualitative study describes the perceptions, attitudes, and experiences of two Cooperating Teachers (CTs) and their assigned Pre Service Teachers (PST; n = 12) who were mentored over the course of two Special Education practicum experiences and five CT professional development trainings. Special attention was focused on the ways that CTs and PSTs describe modeling and how CTs’ modeling seemed to affect the CT/PST relationship. Participant responses were analyzed using a qualitative narrative method and indicated that CT’s use of modeling served primarily as a socializing process in which PSTs learn the role of a professional teacher through their interactions with the CT. Also, different types of modeling (e.g., simple vs. cognitive) seemed to affect this socialization process. The outcomes of simple and cognitive modeling were highly varied and affected the CT/PST relationship development differently. Additional findings indicated that professional development that focused on cognitive modeling may be related to CTs’ mentoring role development and the way they implement mentoring processes. It is hoped that the findings in this study will help to initiate conversations between CTs and PSTs and teacher educators concerning the use of modeling and the potential effects modeling may have on the mentoring relationship.

Through the use of interview and observation data, collected over two years, this qualitative study describes the perceptions, attitudes, and experiences of two Cooperating Teachers (CTs) and their assigned Pre Service Teachers (PST; n = 12) who were mentored over the course of two Special Education practicum experiences and five CT professional development trainings. Special attention was focused on the ways that CTs and PSTs describe modeling and how CTs’ modeling seemed to affect the CT/PST relationship. Participant responses were analyzed using a qualitative narrative method and indicated that CT’s use of modeling served primarily as a socializing process in which PSTs learn the role of a professional teacher through their interactions with the CT. Also, different types of modeling (e.g., simple vs. cognitive) seemed to affect this socialization process. The outcomes of simple and cognitive modeling were highly varied and affected the CT/PST relationship development differently. Additional findings indicated that professional development that focused on cognitive modeling may be related to CTs’ mentoring role development and the way they implement mentoring processes. It is hoped that the findings in this study will help to initiate conversations between CTs and PSTs and teacher educators concerning the use of modeling and the potential effects modeling may have on the mentoring relationship.

This study aimed to investigate adaptation challenges of novice teachers in induction period, to analyze the variables influencing their adaptation, and to assess pre-service and in-service training in terms of preparing them for induction into teaching. Through a questionnaire, the data were collected from 465 novice teachers teaching in randomly selected 8 provinces of Turkey. The general results revealed that novice teachers had job-related concerns a little more often than the social concerns. The four most frequent adaptation challenges appeared as (1) workload, (2) social status and identity, (3) supervisor, and (4) classroom management challenges. Novice Teachers&rsquo / adaptation challenges differed in relation to age, subject area, university, faculty, practice teaching, existence of a mentor teacher in pre-service years, school type, grade level, amount of in-service training, and love of teaching profession. More than half of the participants perceived their pre-service and in-service training insufficient.

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