Reflective Dialog Journals: A Tool for Developing Professional Competence in Novice Teachers.

This study focuses on the use of a mentoring protocol, the reflective dialogue journal, to develop professional competencies for pre-service teachers within a school-university partnership. To examine the effectiveness of the reflective dialogue journal protocol and the processes employed by mentor teachers to assist pre-service teachers with developing professional competencies, this study utilized a qualitative research method and analyzed the reflective dialogue journals written by 21 pairs of mentor teachers and pre-service teachers over a period of 12 weeks. Results show that keeping reflective dialogue journals benefits both the mentor teachers and the pre-service teachers, allows mentor teachers to identify areas of concern by pre-service teachers, and provides a wide range of mentoring strategies for mentor teachers. Findings indicate this easy-to-use, evidence-based tool can be readily incorporated into mentoring programs to enhance reflective practice and provide structured mentoring opportunities. NAPDS Essential(s) Addressed: #4/A shared commitment to innovative and reflective practice by all participants; #5/Engagement in and public sharing of the results of deliberate investigations of practice by respective participants.

[1]  Jerie Weasmer,et al.  Teacher Preparation: A Revision Process Fostered by Formative Assessment , 1997 .

[2]  Diane W. Kyle,et al.  Is Mentoring Enough? An Examination of the Mentoring Relationship in the Pilot Two-Year Kentucky Teacher Internship Program , 2006 .

[3]  Christopher R. Gareis,et al.  Electronically Mentoring to Develop Accomplished Professional Teachers , 2007 .

[4]  Tony Pell,et al.  Mentoring Beginning Teachers in Secondary Schools: an analysis of practice , 2006 .

[5]  Lisa C. Ehrich,et al.  Outcomes and perennial issues in Preservice Teacher Education Mentoring Programs , 2004 .

[6]  Ann Lieberman,et al.  Mentoring Teachers: Navigating the Real-World Tensions , 2011 .

[7]  Carolyn Gascoigne Lally,et al.  Language Teacher Observation and Reflective Diaries: An Alternate Perspective , 2000 .

[8]  Richard M. Ingersoll,et al.  The Impact of Induction and Mentoring Programs for Beginning Teachers , 2011 .

[9]  L. Darling-Hammond.  Teacher Quality and Student Achievement , 2000 .

[10]  Anita Greenwood,et al.  Mentoring New Science Teachers. , 2007 .

[11]  Sandra J. Odell,et al.  Teacher Mentoring and Teacher Retention , 1992 .

[12]  Elizabeth A. Wilkins,et al.  Building a Network of Support for New Teachers , 2007 .

[13]  A. Moloney,et al.  Reflection in a social space: Can blogging support reflective practice for beginning teachers? , 2010 .

[14]  Anthony H. Normore,et al.  Avoiding the Pitfalls of the Rookie Year: How a Mentor Can Help , 2006 .

[15]  A. Reiman.  The Evolution of the Social Roletaking and Guided Reflection Framework in Teacher Education: Recent Theory and Quantitative Synthesis of Research. , 1999 .

[16]  Linda Darling-Hammond,et al.  Keeping Good Teachers: Why It Matters, What Leaders Can Do. , 2003 .

[17]  Nancy Robb Singer,et al.  Building Bridges: Creating an Online Conversation Community for Preservice Teachers , 2004 .

[18]  Norhasni Zainal Abiddin,et al.  A Review of Effective Mentoring Practices for Mentees Development , 2011 .

[19]  Icy Lee,et al.  Using Dialogue Journals as a Multi-Purpose Tool for Preservice Teacher Preparation : How Effective Is It ? , 2022 .

[20]  Thomas M. Smith.  How Do State‐Level Induction and Standards‐Based Reform Policies Affect Induction Experiences and Turnover among New Teachers? , 2006, American Journal of Education.

[21]  Mari Koerner,et al.  The Cooperating Teacher: An Ambivalent Participant in Student Teaching , 1992 .

[22]  Ned A. Flanders,et al.  Analyzing Teaching Behavior , 1970 .

[23]  Robert Cole,et al.  Interactive Group Journals: Learning as a Dialogue Among Learners , 1998 .