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There is a burgeoning population of new CS teachers who are looking for additional support in their first few years of teaching, particularly around equitable and inclusive pedagogy. At the same time, there are a sizable number of teachers with multiple years of CS teaching experience who are looking for growth opportunities without taking on new courses. To address these needs, we are designing an innovative, equity-focused peer mentorship program for high school CS teachers. Mentors and mentees work together to support the mentee in identifying and achieving goals aligned to three of the CSTA Standards for CS Teachers: equity and inclusion, instructional design, and classroom practice. Mentors are provided with training and participate in a monthly community of practice focused on effective mentoring. The poster will share findings from our first year of implementation as well as examples of the materials we developed to support mentors and mentees.
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Lessons Learned from Implementing an Equity- Focused Peer Mentoring Program for CS Teachers
There are relatively few ongoing supports for novice computer science (CS) teachers, particularly focused on increasing teachers’ use of equitable and inclusive teaching practices. To address this need, we implemented a year-long, equity-focused peer mentoring program with 38 CS teachers across Wisconsin. Through design-based implementation research, we refined structures, streamlined activities, strengthened the focus on developing trust in mentoring partnerships, and created opportunities to build community among mentees. Pilot data suggests both mentees and mentors benefitted from the program, increasing their confidence in teaching and mentoring. In this experience report, we share lessons learned during our first two years of implementation.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2031314
- PAR ID:
- 10444761
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2023 Conference on Research in Equitable and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT)
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Karunakaran, S. S.; Higgins, A. (Ed.)Peer mentoring programs are one approach to improving the pedagogical development of mathematical sciences graduate students. This paper describes the peer mentoring experiences at three institutions that have implemented a multi-faceted GTA professional development program. Data was collected from surveys and focus groups conducted with graduate teaching assistants at each institution regarding mentees’ ratings of their mentors, mentors’ ratings of their impact on mentees, mentors’ impressions of the benefits and challenges of peer mentoring, and mentees and mentors’ ratings of program components related to support from mentors, their TA coach, program staff, and other graduate students. Most GTAs found value in participating in the peer mentoring program. While the mentees found their mentors to be significant to their own success and effectiveness, the mentors did not rate themselves as high as the mentees rated them with respect to their own significance in impacting the effectiveness of their mentee.more » « less
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