Sociology:This case illustrates ways in which mentoring programs can fail to achieve the desired outcomes of supporting new teachers. How do you think age, experience, status, and other sociological factors affect this professional relationship?
This case study reminded me a lot of my grade 12 English teacher; he was similar to the new teacher Elizabeth in this case. He would mark my essays and then I could sit down with him and he would go over the reasons I got the mark that I did and how I could fix it, and he would remark my paper after I took the time to fix it. This was the greatest learning experience for me, because I was never good at writing papers in high school, and to have a teacher sit down with me and work through changes and explaining them to me was very beneficial to my writing and confidence.
Teacher mentorship is going to be different at every single school and every different location of the school. If the school is of higher socioeconomic status, then there will be different standards on the students as well as the teachers, because there is a higher chance of most, if not all of them going to university and eventually having high paying jobs, and they will likely remain of a higher economic status. The expectations may not be as high in a school of lower economic status. In this case study, the teacher mentor stated, “I know you want these kids to feel good about themselves, but let’s face it, they are going to be flipping burgers for a living and they will have to face reality sooner or later” (p. 42). When a teacher doesn’t believe in the abilities of their students, they are less likely to go above and beyond to help them. Or take the time to get to know their students.
Teachers who have been around for a long time, and have become well equipped with curriculum, assessment, and dealing the students, and are more likely to have a hard time adjusting to change or new ideas. They may be less likely to go above and beyond for their students, or change the way they assess, because it may take longer or be more work for them.
Older teachers, may have more experience with students not putting in effort, or trying to better and get out of the social class they find themselves in. They may have tried in the past to help students but did not see the reward. When teachers go into the profession with the students’ success as priority one, I think they are more likely to push aside all the sociological factors that may change how they view the students.
In Social studies the last couple weeks, Steve has been talking about how the teacher mentors in Kamloops are enjoying having the teacher candidates in their classrooms, because they have been submerged in the new curriculum and it is a great learning experience for the teacher mentors. I think if teacher mentors are able to remove all the sociological factors, they may have more of an open mind and see the new teachers are partners and people to bounce ideas off, rather than being above them.