Mentor teachers in professional development schools: The motivations, benefits, and challenges

The purpose of this study was to determine the motivations, benefits, and challenges of serving as mentor teachers in select Professional Development Schools (PDS). This involved mentoring interns for a full academic year in their classrooms.;This study used the qualitative methodology of phenomenology studying the essence of mentoring in a PDS. Data were gathered using individual semi-structured face-to-face interview questions at the school site. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded for themes.;The participants for this study included eight individuals who serve as mentors; of these eight, four mentored multiple years and four opted out from mentoring between interns. Mentors were elementary public school teachers located in a select rural area in the Midwestern region of the United States.;Analysis of interviews resulted in a number of findings. The motivations for mentoring focused on three sub-themes: benefits of having an extra set of hands, benefits for the interns, and benefits for students in the classroom. Mentors indicated they gained new skills, knowledge, ideas, and time as a result of being mentors.;Mentors noted the challenges of sharing classroom space and students as deterrents to consistently hosting interns. Mentors discussed the time it takes to develop a relationship with the interns. Some of these relationships persisted beyond the mentoring experience. Mentors provided recommendations on how to build positive relationships.;In working with the university, mentors noted that the dependability of the supervisors working with their interns was at times challenging. Mentors also wanted the university personnel to be consistent in its expectations of them across the years.;Mentors also noted the impact of mentoring on their professional growth. However, they wanted more opportunities to be recognized for their work as mentors by sharing their knowledge with other districts, prospective interns, and teachers. In addition, they wanted autonomy in expectations for interns and freedom to design their mentoring program.;Recommendations for practice and further study are provided. These included having PDS partner universities improve communication, provide better training, respond positively to mentor choice to opt out of mentoring periodically, and allow both quality and marginal students to be in year-long experiences.