Mentor teachers modeling: affordance or constraint for special education pre-service teachers in the practicum setting?

ABSTRACT

Special education (SPED) teacher preparation programs are intended to help preservice teachers (PSTs) learn and adopt effective teaching practices to serve students with special needs. To help SPED-PSTs learn needed skills, SPED mentor teachers (MTs) must employ high-leverage practices (HLPs) such as performance feedback, conferencing, and modeling. Although most teacher preparation programs utilize modeling in preparing PSTs, little is known about how SPED-MTs use this mentoring tool. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was conducted to explore how SPED-MTs engaged PSTs in modeling practices during a practicum experience. Data from semi-structured interviews were analyzed to describe SPED-PST and SPED-MT attitudes, experiences, and use of modeling over the course of a special education practicum, focusing on MTs’ modeling strategies and PSTs’ subsequent behaviors. The relative impacts of simple and cognitive modeling on the PST-MT relationship were compared. SPED-MTs’ modeling foci were compared to recommended HLPs. This preliminary study provides recommendations for SPED-MTs’ use of modeling with SPED-PSTs.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher preparation
• special education
• high-leverage practices
• pre-service teachers
• modeling strategies

Disclosure statement

We acknowledge no financial interest or personal benefit associated with this research.

Additional information

Funding

Support for this research was provided by an MSE grant from Brigham Young University, awarded to Elizabeth A. Cutrer-Párraga.

Notes on contributors

Elizabeth A. Cutrer-Párraga

Elizabeth A. Cutrer-Párraga is an Assistant Professor of Special Education at Brigham Young University. Her research focuses on multicultural education issues in special education, coach–teacher relationships, school-based literacy interventions and the social/emotional well-being of children who struggle in reading and writing.

Kendra M. Hall-Kenyon

Kendra M. Hall-Kenyon is a Professor of Early Childhood Education and Chair in the Department of Teacher Education in the David O. McKay School of Education at Brigham Young University. Her research interests include teacher preparation, teacher well-being, and, early childhood education, with particular focus on early literacy instruction and assessment.

Erica Ellsworth Miller

Erica Ellsworth Miller is pursuing a Masters of Special Education at Brigham Young University. Erica has taught children with special needs in varying community and educational settings for 20 years. Erica’s research interests include teacher education relative to supporting children with complex trauma histories.

Morgan Christensen

Morgan Christensen began her career as an educator. She received her first degree in Early Childhood Education and taught third grade for four years before deciding to go back to graduate school. She is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Counseling Psychology and is working as a mental health counselor, researcher, and psychometrician.

Jessi Collins

Jessi Collins is currently a special education teacher. She is interested in reading research that examines how to teach young children vulnerable to reading challenges how to read.

Emily Reed

Emily Reed is currently an undergraduate student at Brigham Young University. She is interested in research that examines high-leverage practices to better match academic and behavioral instruction to the needs of children with disabilities.

Tyler Beer

Tyler Beer is currently an undergraduate student at Brigham Young University. He is interested in research that examines how to better support special education preservice teachers to incorporate high-leverage practices.