In this episode of our educational podcast, we delve into best practices for mentoring pre-service teachers, exploring the intricacies of fostering growth, building professional relationships, and guiding the next generation of educators toward success. With insights from Kellie Mudrow and Katie Jones from the Utah State Board of Education (USBE), this conversation highlights high-quality mentoring strategies that support both the mentor and the mentee.
Mentorship is one of the most powerful tools in a teacher’s professional development. It allows experienced educators to share their knowledge, reflect on their practices, and empower their mentees to become skilled, confident, and reflective teachers themselves. However, effective mentorship goes beyond simply offering advice—it requires a thoughtful, intentional approach.
Best Practices for Mentoring Pre-Service Teachers:
Kellie and Katie share evidence-based strategies for building meaningful mentor-mentee relationships. These best practices range from creating structured mentorship frameworks to encouraging open, honest communication about goals, challenges, and successes. Their approach ensures that pre-service teachers not only feel supported but also gain the practical skills and confidence they need to thrive in their classrooms.
Insights from Experienced Mentors and New Student Teachers:
In this episode, we hear from both seasoned mentors and new student teachers, gaining insight into the mutual learning process that occurs in mentorship relationships. Experienced mentors will share their perspectives on what works best in guiding and shaping the professional journeys of new teachers. At the same time, student teachers will offer candid feedback on the types of support and guidance that have been most beneficial to their development.
Practical Advice for Creating Effective Learning Environments:
We explore how mentors can help pre-service teachers establish positive, inclusive, and engaging classroom environments. Practical advice includes strategies for classroom management, fostering student engagement, and supporting diverse learning needs. Our guests also discuss how to adapt teaching methods for different grade levels and subjects while maintaining a strong emphasis on student well-being and academic achievement.
The Role of Mentors in Fostering Reflective Practice:
Mentors serve as guides in the reflective process, encouraging student teachers to analyze their own teaching practices, identify areas for growth, and develop action plans. We discuss how mentors can prompt reflective thinking through observation, feedback, and open dialogue—helping student teachers build self-awareness and the ability to adapt their practices over time.
The Importance of Feedback and Support:
Effective feedback is at the core of mentorship. Kellie and Katie emphasize how mentors can provide constructive, actionable feedback that empowers pre-service teachers to improve while maintaining a growth mindset. They also address the importance of ongoing support, whether through regular check-ins, co-teaching opportunities, or shared planning time.
This episode will provide both new and experienced educators with valuable strategies for becoming effective mentors. By applying these practices, mentors can create a nurturing, growth-oriented environment that ensures pre-service teachers not only gain the skills they need but feel supported throughout their journey into the profession.
Tune in for an inspiring conversation about mentorship, teaching practices, and how high-quality guidance can transform the next generation of educators!
Tony Pellegrini 0:00
Friends out there. Tony Pellegrini from Southern Utah University with our elevating the classroom a legacy of teacher preparation at SUU this a podcast series dedicated to celebrating and exploring the century long tradition of teacher preparation at Southern Utah University. This series will highlight the vital relationship between pre service teachers and experienced master mentor teachers in K 12 schools. By sharing stories and insights from both sides of the partnership, the podcast aims to underscore the impact of this collaboration on teaching and learning in Utah and beyond. I've got my associate here, Lorene, is going to tell us a little about our guest today.
Laureen Graves 0:40
Yes, welcome. Welcome. We're so glad you're here, and today we have two of the top movers and shakers in education in the state of Utah. So we're so grateful to have Kellie Mudrow from Davis School District and Katie Jones from USBE. And so we'll just give you a minute, Kellie, we'll have you go first and introduce yourself. Hi.
Kellie Mudrow 1:02
I'm Kellie Mudrow, and I'm so excited to be here, not just because I love all things education and teachers especially and students, but I love all things Su, you too. My job is, I am the Director of Professional Learning and quality staffing, and the short version of that is, I get to help pre service teachers and new teachers to the profession.
Laureen Graves 1:27
Awesome. Thank you. Kelly Katie, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Katie Jones 1:32
Well, Kelly stole my I love all things Suu. So I'm just going to say ditto to that I am actually alumni. So love Suu, yeah, yeah, I am for two degrees, actually, my bachelor's and my master's, and, yeah, my educational leadership as well. So I love all things Suu, plus it's in the southern part of the state, and we love that as well. So my role at usbe is, I am, my title is the educator development specialist, and one of my responsibilities is to head the mentoring and induction resources and support throughout the state. And part of that role has really given me a chance to work with our educator prep programs and to see where we're at with pre service mentoring. And one of the things that we found recently, we did some focus groups with recently graduated student teachers, so they just completed. In fact, some of them were just last week. They were done. And we we got a lot of very candid feedback from them, which is going to drive some of the work that we're doing in the state to support educator prep programs and that transition into into the teaching profession. So that's me, and I'm happy to be here, and I appreciate the opportunity to talk about mentoring and educator prep.
Laureen Graves 3:09
Thank you, awesome, Tony. You want to ask our first question Absolutely,
Tony Pellegrini 3:13
and we're going to focus first. We're going to come right back to you, Kelly, if that's okay, and what, Kelly, what makes a from your perspective, what makes a mentoring relationship successful? And how do you support mentors in creating those effective relationships?
Speaker 1 3:28
Excellent. I love this question because relationship building has to be the very first thing we talk about in our mentor training. So building that effective relationship starts with being authentic, both parties need to be able to be authentic to themselves, a collective commitment to students and each other as a partnership and the career, the profession, intentionality. We need to really be intentional. Our mentors need to be intentional about the guided supports that they're offering. And our mentees need to be intentional in really looking deeply into how it's how something is being done, why it's being done, what their particular style would look like in some scenarios, and as they try that out, you know, we don't want them to be someone else. We want our mentees to be able to be themselves. We need both people to be present in the work. And then I think on the coaching side, active listening, having good coaching conversations, being intentional in in just really committing to that partnership and looking at it as a co teaching experience. And my last thing is caring. If you care about what you're doing, and you care about students, and you care, as a mentor, about your mentee, and as a mentee, you you care about really giving this. Profession, everything you have to have a great base and a great start at the beginning. I think those are just some, just kind of the recipe for success in my book, that
Tony Pellegrini 5:11
is absolutely wonderful. We the metaphor of recipe. I love that my pasta Fauci may be a little bit different than your pasta Fauci Jolie, because we tweak it just a little bit. One tweak that I really appreciated, that I heard you say, as a former principal, as I work with teachers, it's being yourself. You have value. You have value with what you have. And like Katie mentioned a moment or two ago, she's been working with focus groups of new student teachers, how important it is, as you work with your mentor, to say, This is who I am. It's not necessarily you know what you learn in school. Yes, we Lauren, I try really hard to make sure they have the right answers for interview questions and and for collaboration. But it's so when we hire someone, we want to know who we're hiring. We wanted what we're going to be getting that six months from now. This is not You're not going to turn into some, morph into someone different, right?
Speaker 1 6:07
I love that. That's you can't you know your listeners can't see me nodding my head to everything that you're saying. But I think that's so true. You are the best at being one person, and that person is yourself, and you got into this profession for a reason, and whatever it was about you that drew you into this calling. That's who we want, and you deserve to get to be you, and your students get to deserve to see that authentic you.
Laureen Graves 6:36
I love that. I love seeing mentor teachers that really encourage that, because sometimes that student teacher goes into that space thinking they need to model exactly what the mentor teacher does and and when they come in with their unique ideas and skills, it's just a win win. I also love that you mentioned co teaching, because I think we've been really pushing here with our mentoring relationships with all of our students from SUU is to rather than just having it be okay, you teach for two or three weeks, and then I hand you the baton, and then the student teacher teaches, but to work together as and co teach for several weeks before that student teacher takes that lead role. And so I love that so much. So, Katie, I know you've been working so hard on really helping people across the state to get to that high quality mentoring for student teachers. What strategies or frameworks does the state promote for mentoring and how do they ensure consistency across districts?
Speaker 2 7:40
Well, that is actually the work we are doing. We just in this past summer, we had three wonderful, high quality mentoring collaborative meetings where we got our educator, prep program personnel from our universities, and we partnered them with the LEAs in that area, and we one of the questions that drove that US organizing that those events, was, do we, do we talk to each other? Are we talking to our LEAs and Epps? Are they talking to each other to communicate their expectations, and we have had some really great conversations. Sometimes, there was, I will tell you, in in one of the one of these events, there was a bit of finger pointing. Well, you guys don't, you know, prepare your student teachers, and then, well, you guys aren't preparing your mentors. And we were able to sit back, and as a facilitator, I just said, Wow, isn't this amazing to be able to have the opportunity to talk to each other and see each other's perspectives, and from there, we were able to to shift the conversation into what are your expectations? How can we support the mentors in preparing our student teachers better coming into that experience and and then again, how can we support the student teachers by providing a better, more accepting learning environment for them, because they are still students, right? They are learning in this mentoring experience, and it has, it has been really great. We have followed up on several of the items that came up through those events, we have a collaborative experience happening right now with BYU and UVU up in the Utah Valley and Jordan and alpine school districts, and they, they actually met for some collaboration. And some talk, and we're really excited about that. We also have a couple other events that are these follow up events, so we've, we're building, right now, a collaborative culture among our LEAs and our our universities, in order to build a framework. Because my goal as the mentoring specialist is that the mentoring experience in the student teaching world, just it mirrors what happens when you become a teacher and you and you step into those first few years of induction into the profession. And we want those experiences to mirror each other, so that that our student teachers, when they become teachers, want mentoring, they want coaching. They are are excited about it, and so and so. We need to have these conversations. We need to continue having these conversations. And again, you asked about framework, and we do have that Utah State mentoring and induction framework, which really encompasses the onboarding, mentoring, collaboration, professional growth of our educators, and that is, is what we would want to use As we are training our mentors to be mentors for our pre service teachers as well. So again, we're in that word. This is preliminary. We are having these conversations, which is exciting work, because when we do this, things start to change. And hopefully we see that we we get more students wanting to enter the profession and and then stay in the profession, which is something we are also focusing on. Yeah,
Laureen Graves 11:47
that's great. We both went to that one of those trainings over the summer. Very powerful. It was wonderful. And I do I agree with you, like, if we have great mentors, it really sets the stage for that student teacher, and impacts their longevity in their teaching career. So we want it to we really want to protect that and make it awesome.
Tony Pellegrini 12:07
Yeah, we do not want them three and out. That may be a baseball rule, but we do not want them three and out. And I love Katie that that collaboration that concern schools are different than 20 years ago, when I was in the classroom. Yes, Mr. Pellegrini, was on the door today, on the frame and my as I tell my learners Your name is going to be on the door, but you need this support, this collaboration, to address the challenges that students are bringing to classrooms today. It's not You're not going to be able to do it by yourself. You're not going to be able to do it with your counselor and principal, you are going to need, even to the district into the state support that this collaboration and cooperation is being enhanced. Thank you. Absolutely. Kelly. I want to come back to you for a second with a question here. Talk to us about some of the best practices for mentoring that you've observed pre service teachers and that you've observed in the district. Do you have a we'd love to hear a particularly mentoring story that you have. We want to keep it as anonymous as we can. We don't want to, you know, but, but we'd love to hear your perspectives and observations.
Speaker 1 13:13
I love that and and I couldn't agree with Katie more. It really does start with mentor training, and I think that that is critical and and to start those best practices, we actually spend an entire day we not only train our mentors that are going to be supporting our student teachers, but we train our mentors at two of our Teacher Academy schools that are going to mentor our practicum students, and we train our building administrators that on on even new teacher mentoring. So I think I think that's critical. The things that I've seen that are among my favorite. I was visiting, I was visiting a school, and the teacher was talking, she was directing the class, but thinking aloud and and the students clearly understood what they were supposed to be doing. You could tell that. You know, procedures were had really been taught and modeled and practiced and expected and and it was super positive, but I quickly discovered that she had a student teacher in the back of the room, and she was modeling, but thinking aloud. So that metacognition that we do when we plan was now part of that student teachers, learning and understanding. And I think sometimes we we discredit the profession and sometimes our skill set when we think everyone knows what I'm talking about or. Everyone knows what this means, or everyone knows that, because that's not the case. It was really interesting. I followed up with them after toward the end of the semester, and that that that student teacher did things a little bit differently, but understood the why behind some of those procedures as the teacher was talking so I think modeling effective instruction and management right now is really critical. We We can't expect our pre service teachers to have the experience that our our veteran teachers have had, and just know how to do some of these things. We We want to help them and give them some experiences. I also think understanding the university expectations was really important in this, because, you know this, this student teacher may have had class, you know, every Wednesday or evening or whatever in their program, that kind of thing. And so really even understanding that, understanding you know what, what things do you need to respond, particularly about what we're doing to make sure that I also support you in that learning if your university has an expectation for you to submit a classroom management plan. So we can talk about those things, and you can try some things. So I think those that collaborative analysis of, did this go well, What? What? Where do you think the breakdown was? Or, Oh, you're being too hard on yourself. I thought this went up. You know, amazingly, those kinds of things. And I think as you get in that relationship, you're planning together, and you're and you're watching this, this pre service teacher that's that has worked so hard to prepare, and now this is their opportunity. I love when you made the baseball reference. So now they're up to bat right now they're up, they're up at the plate and and the celebrations of those successes I have seen be be game changers in that, in that student teachers experience, I go back to my own student teaching and, you know, and my own New Teacher mentoring, and I am still connected to the people who helped me build a strong foundation and love what I was doing, right? So those are the things that I have seen that modeling effective instruction and management is absolutely critical on the mentor side, but building that positive relationship, building a culture of positive learning and growth, it just, you walked in and everyone in the room was learning, the students were learning, the student, teacher was learning, and the teacher was learning, and it was, anyway, just a joy.
Laureen Graves 17:55
That's incredible. I love that so much. That's such good practice. And, you know, it's, it's a lot for both the mentor teacher to look at the the new, you know, state competencies, because it's, it's a an extensive list, but it's all things that they're being taught. And so if they'll work together on this and just sharing that rationale, I love that so much, and I love how you said that, you know they are, they're off the bench, they're in the game. And so one of the things we've really tried to change here at SUU is the role of the mentor teacher, that they're more of a coach, right? They're standing just off first base, and they're coaching them, rather than that evaluative piece. We've taken away some of those forms they have to fill out because we didn't. We wanted that that student teacher, to feel so comfortable asking any questions to the mentor teacher and not feeling like, Oh, they're going to think that's a dumb question, or they're going to think I don't I'm not prepared if I ask that, that they're just working together, and that coach is right there, ready to answer any questions, rather than standing there just evaluating them. So we've really tried to emphasize that coaching role
Speaker 1 19:03
with Loreen. I love that you brought that up because we are very, very, very committed, especially my induction specialists. We are very committed to mentors are non in a non evaluative role. That is, we will hold to that, because it does create that safety, that opportunity to try something that maybe didn't work this time, but if I tweak it a little, it's going to be better, and it has value. So I love that you brought that up. Yeah, we have to stay non evaluative. So
Laureen Graves 19:40
good. Well, Katie, coming back to you. Little bit different direction. How does the state support professional development for mentors to enhance mentoring, the mentoring process for student teachers, and I know you've done and this is what you've talked about before. You've done so much work in creating those the mentors. Entering courses so that teachers can take those courses and then get credit for them and move across on the salary scale,
Speaker 2 20:09
right? But that's one of the things that that we feel, that we are supporting our mentors. However, part of this collaborative was that I found out not everyone knew about this resource, so I love that this is another platform for me to to share that we did a mentoring pilot program a couple years ago, and through that program, we created the mentor endorsement so we have a teacher and mentor teacher endorsement that state approved and to support the endorsement. There's many pathways in the instructional coaching endorsement provides many competency requirements for several of the competency areas. However, we also created mentor modules that meet all of the requirements for the endorsement, and we provide that those modules free of charge, and for us be credit on self as a self paced module in our Canvas platform, there are 12 total modules. Seven of them are required, and the other five can meet at one of the competency areas as as a choice, so that they there are other ways to meet that as an ongoing professional growth, as a mentor. But we, I'm happy to say that we've also partnered with the LEAs, and many of the LEAs actually house the modules in their in their Canvas, and provide the modules for specific mentor training, which is something that we really want to to make sure is happening, because that is where we get that high quality mentoring is when you have a mentor who is trained as a mentor who understands these things specifically, like what you and Kelly were talking about, that it's not about evaluative role. When you are observing, you will provide feedback like a coach, so that they can improve, help them set goals and things like that. So that's what the mentor modules do. But we have partnered with SUU as well, and we are providing we have taken all 12 of the modules, and we are using them for mentor courses, so for university credits. So those 12 modules also then provide 12 credits, and then it's also a pathway into the master program at Suu, the educational master's program. So we are really excited about that. It just offers another way for people to to become trained. And I will tell you that the feedback that I receive from those who engage in the training, whether it's Lea LED or self selected, they all say I am a better mentor, but I'm also a better teacher, because we focus on instructional practices and how to do how to support people in growth in those areas too. So that is, that is one of the the areas that we're trying to support, that mentor training. That's
Laureen Graves 23:28
fantastic. It really is a win, win. That's what we want it
Tony Pellegrini 23:30
to be. And I'm taking too much of the metaphor here. I love being on the team. Katie, thank you so very much. It's, you know, good to help and support. Just a couple of final questions for you. Those first ones, we're seeking advice from you, particularly for our mentors and student teachers, but the power that a teacher has in creating a learning environment and fostering that collaborative mentoring relationship. What are some things that student teachers, that mentors, that preparation programs can do? Do you have some ideas for us? We'd love to pick your minds on that.
Speaker 1 24:08
Well, I think that we have to send the message that it starts with building a positive culture, having a growth mindset and being open minded to to not only teaching but learning, right? So both people in that relationship, the mentor and the mentee, are teachers, but they're also both learners. And I will tell you that I have a I have a really close relationship with three of my former student teachers. One of them, my actual first student teacher was from SU you, yeah, I she was the top of the cheer mount that year. And but I will tell you, I tell everyone, I have learned more as a teacher from my student teachers. And so, you know, you have to be open minded and. And and work on that relationship. And if, if you, if you are very different people, you still can have a strong, effective working relationship by by committing, having that collective commitment and and attending to your half of that relationship, right? So if I you know, I've had student teachers that are also have a very different style than me, and I can look at that and say, Wow, okay, that worked really well. I think I'm going to try that spin. And so for me, I think both parties have to have that growth mindset and that willingness to build that relationship and above all, realizing that your goal is the children. Your your goal is education of all the children in the classroom.
Laureen Graves 25:54
That's fantastic. Katie, anything you want to add,
Speaker 2 25:58
you know, I will tell you that that the focus group conversations that we had, Kelly hit it right on the head. Some of our student teachers said I felt like maybe I didn't know what I was doing and I but when I was provided the opportunity to to give input on lesson planning, not just here's the lessons do them, but what are your thoughts? You know, what do you have ideas? Or even, do you have a lesson you are passionate about that you created in your, you know, educator prep program that built confidence in the student teachers, and it built that relationship. When the mentor teacher says, I know you're bringing something here. You know you're not just at you don't know yet, but yeah, you have experience and and so that I would, I will just say yes to that. It builds, it builds the relationship between the mentor and mentee, but also the confidence of the student teacher when you ask and for their input as well. So Katie,
Speaker 1 27:02
I still use some lessons that my student teachers did when I'm like, the strategies or the activities when I'm teaching like today, and I do give them full credit. But I love that like I love that thought I will say,
Speaker 2 27:16
I when you were talking, Kelly, I thought the same thing. I thought, oh my gosh, I totally have this student teachers lessons in my files that I stole from them because it was so impactful in the education of the kids in my class. So yeah, I'm right there with you.
Laureen Graves 27:34
I love I love it. I love that they and they need to feel valued, and as they grow in their confidence, they're just more effective and and they find more joy in teaching so well, our final kind of topic and question, mentoring and teacher preparation programs and teaching has evolved over the years, but what do you believe is the most significant challenge right now in teacher teacher preparation, And how can high quality mentoring. Help address that.
Speaker 1 28:04
Well, Katie, do you want to answer first? This time I've answered first so far. It's up to you. You go ahead. Okay, I love it. I will tell you. I believe the most significant challenge is that education is evolving right? The expectations are evolving, the pressure is evolving, and and the one thing that we need to equalize the playing field and match the evolution of education is the experience opportunities that our students have while they're in a university program, and the supports that they have in their first three years of teaching, I love the state model of that three year induction that has been that was an amazing brain child, whoever, whoever developed that. But I believe it's critical, because new things are happening that we're expecting brand new teachers to respond to, or even student teachers to respond to. We find that the more experience, both pre service and supports in their first you know, three years or more, if they need it, the more experience they have and supports they have in place to get coached, to ask questions, is is our greatest chance to keep our people in What I believe is the greatest profession on Earth.
Laureen Graves 29:42
Excellent. Katie. Anything to add?
Speaker 2 29:45
I know that this is why I go second. Kelly, so I can just say ditto, but I will say that no matter what the challenge is, I mean, those listening might be might think, oh management or Oh AI. Or there's so many things out there that we might consider a challenge. But no matter what the challenge is, I believe that collaboration, whether it's mentor, mentee, team across district, content, collaboration, whatever it is, and then ongoing professional learning when you continue learning as an educator, your students learn, when you learn a new strategy, when you learn to think differently about technology, whatever it is you you cannot help but, but bring it into your classroom. And so I think those are the two, the two biggest things, and they are also part of our induction framework. We see the value in those and we hope that that it will make it into the classrooms and make it into those three year induction programs.
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