An examination of email-based novice teacher mentoring: proposing a practitioner-oriented model of online reflection
Year: 2004
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This qualitative study examined how mentoring and reflection were enacted in the \ndiscourse between novice teacher protégés and their experienced teacher mentors in an \nonline new teacher support program Participants were members of six mentoring teams in \nWINGS (Welcoming Interns and Novices with Guidance and Support) Online sponsored \nby the University of Texas at Austin, a program designed. to offer graduates of the \nuniversity's teacher preparation programs protégé-driven just-in-time support. Novices \nwho chose to participate were offered the opportunity to select an experienced teacher \nmentor with whom they could communicate via a facilitated private email list. The teams \nparticipating in this study had each communicated for at least one semester. \nData consisted of the email exchanges between mentors and protégés and the \napplications submitted at the beginning of the match. Qualitative analysis of the data \nproceeded inductively. Methods of constant comparative analysis and microanalysis of \ndiscourse revealed the content, structure and patterns of the teachers' talk. Findings \nindicated that the teachers, who discussed many of the same issues previously identified \nwith face-to-face mentoring pairs, focused much of their talk on storytelling. Although \ntext-based, their stories did not assume the formal structure traditionally associated with \nwritten discourse. Instead, the teachers utilized an electronic equivalent of spoken \nconversational narratives. Narratives were fluid and reflective of the purposes they \nserved, including: relating, illustrating, venting and reflecting. Reflective exchanges, a \nfocus of the study, were initiated almost exclusively by the protégés and grounded in the \nproblems they faced in their teaching. \nAnalysis generated a practitioner-oriented model of reflection categorized \naccording to which aspect of the problem the teacher foregrounded. This model \nsuggested a typical sequence in which new teachers told a story and examined one or \nmore aspects of the problem posed. When these reflective bids received a response, the \nmentors' messages extended the reflection in a fluid process, shifting back and forth \nbetween different aspects of issues. Implications include recommendations for online \nteacher mentoring programs and a theoretical understanding of how teachers reflect on \nissues they consider important.
Author: Karen Dorothy French
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1897636397