Running Head: MENTOR COLLABORATION 1

Mentor Teacher Collaboration

SPED 875: Advanced Practicum with Exceptional Children and Youth

University of Kansas

Dr. Martha Elford

Brent Seager

February 18, 2018

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Module Six: Mentor Teacher Collaboration

Prior to my scheduled meeting this week with my mentor teacher, she asked me to select

a student that could potentially have difficulties with the writing activity during the third lesson.

This allowed me an opportunity to reflect and assess student completed projects and determine

which student(s) that might struggle with the writing activity during lesson three. According to

Kettler & Bower, 2017, assessing student products without bias can be challenging for even

experienced educators. For this reason, I selected three students that might struggle with the

writing activity, by using the concept map/graphic organizer completed in lesson one. The

conversation of our meeting was fluid and focused on the three student product samples that I

brought in to select one student that could potentially struggle with the writing activity in lesson

three (Kettler & Bower, 2017).

Prior to the meeting, I was excited to discuss potential challenges, as this will allow me

an opportunity to have another opinion about potential challenges and solutions to the potential

challenges. After some discussion about the concerns regarding the three students and potential

struggles that each could encounter with lesson three, my mentor made her suggestion about one

student that she believes could have the biggest challenges with the writing portion. According

to Chester & et al., 2013, a majority of students and teachers enjoy the mentoring experience and

welcome the new opportunities that it presents. I believe that selecting a target student with the

help of my mentor for the third lesson plan was appropriate, as having an additional opinion

made the selection process much easier (Chester & et al., 2013). The only question that I had

going into the conversation was what could I implement to lesson plan two? My mentor

suggested providing additional time to teach the skill and taking additional time to teach non-

verbal communication and facial expressions. My mentor asked me about how I planned on

addressing challenges that other students could face during the writing activity, I responded that
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students will have the option to use a computer for typing, and that additional time will be

provided for students that need it. While other arrangements may need to be made, these other

options will be implemented on an as needed basis.

The next topic of discussion was the growth that my mentor has seen during the

observations of the previous lessons. The entirety of our conversation was fluid and the main

concerns about lesson plan two and selecting the target student for lesson three were the major

topics of our conversation. The mentoring process has been an excellent opportunity and

resource that has provided me with support and encouragement to be the best educator, and I

look forward to implementing suggestions and ideas gained during collaboration conversations

with my mentor. According to Hastings & et al., 2015, mentoring is an essential element in

developing a leader. I believe that this is true, as my experience with mentoring in the course has

been a very positive experience, and has allowed me to develop essential skills to be a leader and

want to be a mentor to incoming teachers (Hastings & et al., 2015).

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References

Chester, A., Burton, L.J., Xenos, S. & Elgar, K. (2013). Peer mentoring: Supporting successful

transition for first year undergraduate psychology students. Australian Journal of

Psychology, 65(1), p. 34-35.

Hastings, L.J., Griesen, J.V., Hoover, R.E., Creswell, J.W. & Dlugosh, L.L. (2015). Generativity

in college students: Comparing and explaining the impact of mentoring. Journal of

College Student Development, 56(7), p. 654-655.