1ADOLESCENT DANCING AND THE MENTORING OF BEGINNING TEACHERS1

Picture a junior high dance. Crowds of eighth- and ninth-grade adolescents pile into the gymnasium which has been decorated with crepe paper streamers. Teachers and parents acting as chaperones stand smiling at the punch bowl in the middle of the room. As the night unfolds they mingle with the students, pushing them to talk with each other as well as persons of the opposite gender. For the most part, boys stand on one side of the room, girls on the other. The music plays, the disc jockey talks, and most of the boys and girls stand on their respective sides. Similar to the would-be dancing of junior high adolescents, experienced teachers working with beginning teachers stand poised and ready to dance. Like the crepe paper decorations in the gym, the external conditions supportive to doing the work of mentoring have been put in place. Like the chaperones at the dance lending support to the interaction of boys and girls, mentor trainers give guidance to the interaction of mentors with beginning teachers. And like the boys and girls standing on either side uncertain about how to make that move across the floor and invite a person to dance, the mentor faces similar concerns and anxieties about inviting a beginning teacher to have a talk about teaching. The experienced and beginning teacher pairs whom I discuss in this paper work in junior and senior high schools in a large urban district. Like the adolescents who go to the dance, the experienced teachers who participate in mentoring have certain purposes and expected outcomes. In this paper I explore the work of mentoring and perceptions and enactment of the role. The questions shaping the exploration include, What do mentors do when they work with beginners? What perceptions of the role do mentors have? What purposes do mentors see in their work, and what are the sources? How does the work mentors do with beginning teachers fit with the expectations they have