Mentoring Doctoral Students

Mentoring is a new part of our program.  We have some clear and important orienting ideas, but there is much still to be figured out.  We need you to help us shape the work. 

What are a Mentor’s responsibilities?

  • Attend annual conference with ETE Fellows
  • Attend quarterly meeting with other ETEFP Mentors
  • Participate in recruitment and selection of current ETE Fellows
  • Provide mentorship to one or more ETE Fellows (see below)

What are the mentorship possibilities for a Mentor? We think about three central responsibilities of 1) research, 2) course design and instruction, and 3) field supervision. You could mentor a Fellow in field supervision in any of the following areas:

Research in Teacher Learning and Teacher Education 

We recognize that a Fellow’s doctoral advisor is likely to have the primary responsibility for guiding that Fellow’s dissertation research. As a Mentor, your contribution could complement the advisor’s work on dissertation research or could focus on research that precedes or runs alongside a dissertation. If you are able to mentor a Fellow in the area of research, you could either directly assist or invite a Fellow to join you in any of the following:

  • preparing a literature review; 
  • shaping research methodologies; 
  • conducting research, including research into Teacher Education programs;
  • writing up a research report; 
  • Identifying, proposing to, and publishing/presenting in journals and at research conferences.

Course Design & Instruction  

Fellows are likely to go on and teach courses in teacher education programs. They may also teach undergraduate and graduate courses outside of teacher education programs. A Fellow could work with you to design or conduct any of these kinds of courses.  You might even have an open TA position that a Fellow could fill. Less commonly, a Fellow may already be an instructor for a course that would benefit from your guidance. 

Field Supervision

The work of clinical supervision can be the heart of teacher education experience.  Supervisors also play a vital role in translating program content and values to the K-12 clinical practice context. A Fellow might observe a student teacher's cohort's seminar or shadow a supervisor as they visit student teachers in the field.