ERIC Number: EJ821191
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005-Apr
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1361-1267
EISSN: N/A
Mentoring among High School Teachers: A Dynamic and Reciprocal Group Process
Shank, Melody J.
Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, v13 n1 p73-82 Apr 2005
In education, mentoring is typically understood as a one-on-one relationship between a novice teacher and a more experienced, competent colleague. Through the mentoring relationship, the veteran teacher guides the new teacher into the profession. In this article, the author supports an alternative conception of mentoring by describing how a group of new and experienced high school teachers, committed to changing their teaching practices toward a pedagogy of intellectual engagement, together created the conditions and relationships within their collaborative inquiry group to mentor one another. In the group, novice teachers modeled risk-taking and vulnerability for their more experienced colleagues. Veteran teachers guided their newer colleagues toward learner-centered pedagogical possibilities and inquiry practices. Additionally, the group itself, with its norms of open questioning and doubt, trust, collegiality, and a shared purpose, created a collaborative space of mentoring that was dynamic and reciprocal. (Contains 1 note.)
Descriptors: Mentors, Collegiality, Secondary School Teachers, Teaching Methods, Coaching (Performance), Teacher Collaboration, Supervisor Supervisee Relationship, Group Dynamics, Participant Observation, Interviews, Content Analysis, Social Psychology, Beginning Teachers, Master Teachers
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Adult Education; High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A