Renewing Experienced Teachers through Mentoring
By Felicia Saffold
Originally presented at the 2004 Tampa IMA Conference
Posted Feb 14, 2005
Recruiting and retaining a strong teaching force is a critical issue receiving
increasing attention by policy makers across the country. In particular, attention
is being paid to the high attrition rates among new teachers. Over two million new
teachers will be needed over the next decade due to increased student enrollments,
reductions in class size, and accelerating retirements (Darling-Hammond, 1997; Archer,
1999). This problem is compounded when beginning teachers leave the profession at
an alarming rate. While this situation affects school districts nationwide, the problem
is most severe in urban school districts where teacher turnover is as high as 50%
in the first three years (Odell, 1990; Haberman & Rickards, 1990).
These include:
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Benefit 1: Reflective Practice is Improved
Research supports journal writing as a way to facilitate one's ability to analyze
his/her own learning and put learning into practice (Schon, 1983, 1987). Mentoring,
however, provides a context for substantive reflective practices that go beyond journal
writing. The mentors described reflection as a dual process. As part of the mentoring
role, mentors were required to articulate their own practices in the classroom. They
found this to be instrumental in their continued development as educators. In doing
so, they helped their Fellows to engage in reflective practices.
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Benefit 2: Professional Activity is Enhanced
Throughout the mentorship, many opportunities were made available to the mentors
to engage in professional discourse and to share their expertise with their peers
in the Compton Fellowship Program and with other teachers as well. Some of these
opportunities were made available to the mentors at the schools to which they were
assigned.
Often times educators underestimate the value of professional discourse in the development
of teachers. Routman (2002) states that one of the most powerful approaches to developing
confidence about teaching practices is ongoing professional conversations among colleagues.
The Compton mentors talked a great deal about being able to work together as mentors.
They were required to meet as a team for bi-weekly mentoring meetings. During the
meetings, the mentors would engage in conversations about the mentoring role.
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Benefit 3: Profession is Viewed on a Broader Scale
In order for teachers to continue to grow, they need to have experiences beyond their
own school building and classroom. The confines of one school setting limits one's
knowledge and experience. "There is life outside of my classroom," one
mentor stated. "I never really knew anything about what anyone else was teaching
or what other schools were like." This experience has opened my eyes," she said.
Mentors also have the opportunity to get a broader of sense of the quality of education
across the district. Several of the mentors stated that they liked being able to
go to various schools in the district to see what was going on. Oftentimes, they
were pleased to find out that exceptional things were happening in schools all across
the district.
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Benefit 4: Education Field is Revalued
The mentors came to value their role as educators again. Prior to mentoring, some
of the mentors were contemplating leaving the field of education. By seeing teaching
through fresh eyes, mentors were reminded of why they went into teaching in the first
place.
Some mentors talked about how the experience stimulated their ambition to take on
administrative roles in education. Although none of the mentors reported that they
were dissatisfied with mentoring, several of them stated that it was not as fulfilling
as being the teacher in the classroom and being directly responsible for seeing children
learn and succeed.
Education continues to look to mentoring programs as a fundamental means of retaining
urban teachers. While this continues to be a crucial benefit of mentoring programs,
those who design such programs should consider how veteran teachers can receive the
full benefit of mentoring. Then, perhaps, more veteran teachers like the Compton
Fellowship mentors will experience a renewed commitment to the profession.
References
Archer, J. (1999). Teacher recruitment group branches out, asserts itself. Education
Week, 18(36), 6-7.
Darling-Hammond, L. (1997). Doing what matters most: Investing in quality teaching. New York: National Commission on Teaching and America's Future.
Edwards, F. (2002). The impact of mentoring on new teacher retention: Perceptions of urban school teachers. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee, WI.
Haberman, M. (1995). Star teachers of children in poverty. Bloomington, IN: Kappa Delta Pi.
Haberman, M., & Rickards, W. R. (1990). Urban teachers who quit: Why they leave and what they do. Urban Education, 25(3), 297-303.
Odell, S. J. (1990). Support for new teachers in mentoring. In T. M. Bey & C. T. Holmes (Eds.), Mentoring: Developing successful new teachers (pp.3-23). Reston, VA: Association of Teacher Educators.
Routman, R. (2002). Teacher Talk. Educational Leadership, 59(6) 32-35.
Schon, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Schon, D. A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: Toward a new design
for teaching and learning in the professions, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
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