Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine the opinions of beginning teachers who have had the services of a California Mentor Teacher regarding the following issues: Who initiated the contacts between the mentor teachers and themselves? What delivery approaches were used by mentor teachers working with them? What approaches (Demonstration, Observation with Follow-up, Casual Conversation/Brainstorming, Group Session, Sharing Materials, and Team Teaching) they perceived to be more useful than others in working on each one of six specific problems or needs (Classroom Discipline, Classroom Organization, Student Motivation, Treating Individual Differences, Diagnosing Weaknesses, Teaching Strategies)? Which of those approaches were perceived to be the most useful in providing them services across the six specific problems or needs? Procedures. This descriptive study was conducted by surveying a random sampling of first-year teachers from the California counties of Fresno, Tulare, Kings, and Madera. These four counties contained school districts from the third largest in the state to among the smallest. They were ethnically diverse and rural, urban, and suburban. Selected findings. (1) Slightly over half of the mentor/mentee contacts were initiated by the combination efforts of the mentor and the administrator. (2) There was no significant difference in perceived usefulness between those contacts initiated by the mentor or the administrator and those initiated by the mentee, except in the area of Classroom Discipline. (3) Casual Conversation/Brainstorming and Sharing Materials were the most commonly used mentor approaches, while Team Teaching, the most highly rated approaches, was used the least. (4) Group Session was generally rated lower than all the other approaches in dealing with most problems or needs. (5) In the areas of need in which the teacher has direct interaction with students (Classroom Discipline, Student Motivation, Treating Individual Differences, Teaching Strategies), the approaches considered most useful to the teacher were Team Teaching and Demonstration. In the areas of Classroom Organization and Diagnosing Weaknesses, other approaches were considered to be significantly more useful. Selected recommendations for professional practice. (1) Mentor teachers should keep close contact with the beginning teachers in order to make sure that their needs are met without fear that their proactivity would decrease their perceived usefulness to the beginning teacher. (2) It appears that the approach used by a mentor teacher with a beginning teacher does make a difference when dealing with specific areas of need. Therefore, it is important that mentor teachers examine what it is the teacher needs and identify an approach which would lend itself to effective use with the beginning teacher. (3) Combining the findings of the literature and those of this study, staff developers should consider their approaches to delivery to teachers on whether the issue being considered is one which involves interaction between the teacher and the students or not. (4) California Mentor Teachers should exercise the provision in the program to take up to 40% of their classroom time to team teach with new teachers. (5) Preservice trainers, such as universities and colleges where teachers are trained, should redesign their training to include master teacher-student teacher team teaching.