THE SWEET SPOT OF MENTORING MINDS AND BUILDING SUPPORT

Abstract

The Focus of Practice (FoP) of this Participatory Action Research (PAR) project was to develop mentors' knowledge, skills, and dispositions to identify and implement equitable classroom practices through coaching conversations with beginning teachers. The study examined what happens when mentors shift from essential check-ins with beginning teachers to meaningful coaching conversations around equitable practices. The setting was two elementary schools located in eastern North Carolina. During 21 months, I met with two school-based Lead Mentors who were co-practitioners and conducted three PAR cycles. The goal of each PAR cycle was to employ methodologies from community learning exchanges and engage the Co-Practitioner Research (CPR) group in a plan of action that improved what was currently taking place in schools. A new plan was implemented, followed by observations of Beginning Teacher (BT) Mentors and the effect within the context or setting of their classroom. The BT Mentor then conducted observations within the classroom of the BTs they directly supported using the same equitable practices, the Calling-On Tool. Explicitly, each lead mentor invited a BT mentor and the beginning teacher they supported to participate in using the Calling-On Tool. Lastly, both Lead Mentors and BT Mentors along with the BTs they directly supported reflected on their practices and the impact of equitable practices in the classroom, which revealed mentors need (a) knowledge of building safe environments that allow for belonging, (b) skills to implement equitable instructional practices that support learning for every child, and (c) the disposition that demonstrates behaviors impact positive relations. As a result, I developed a framework that creates a sweet spot for the mentor to support the beginning teacher by providing a sense of belonging that builds safety and trust in an equitable environment.