This course presents eight online modules that speak to the foundational aspects of mentoring and the roles of the mentor teacher and School coordinator. Mentoring is an intentional and supportive professional relationship where skills, attitudes and knowledge are shared to enhance teaching and learning. Each research based module focuses on critical aspects of the mentoring process with accompanying videos, linkages to U of A field experience resources, and teacher input from the field. There is also a script that you may download for each module, and a set of questions for you to answer upon completion. You may choose to do all or some of the modules.

Role of the Mentor Teacher
As a mentor teacher, you ensure the success of our future educators by coaching pre-service teachers to become independent, reflective professionals. In this module, Role of the Mentor Teacher, you will become familiar with crucial mentor teacher qualities extending beyond your subject expertise and explore the role of mentoring student teachers in a reflective approach by providing learning experiences, coaching, and assessment. You will become familiar with the skills required to be an effective mentor teacher, understand how to develop a trusting, collaborative relationship, and learn how to intentionally plan opportunities that foster personal and professional growth within both the classroom and the entire learning community.

Fostering Effective Relationships
Establishing effective relationships creates a foundation for student teachers to bridge theory and practice together; trust, respect, compassion, and humility are built upon that foundation to develop a relationship that will withstand the student teaching experience. It is the responsibility of a mentor teacher to understand the individual strengths and needs of the student teacher, and to guide student teachers on their journey. In this module, Fostering Effective Relationships, you will explore why educational relationships are so important, the elements that build a foundation for these relationships, and how we can foster effective relationships with all stakeholders in the student teaching process.

Reflections and Growth
Classroom teachers become mentor teachers not only to share wisdom and skill, but to seek the opportunity to learn together. In this module, we will explore how to guide the next generation of professional teachers, ensuring they value a knowledge base built on ongoing research and inquiry. This module will focus on the role of reflection and continual learning, professional inquiry, action research while teaching students and mentoring student teachers, and elevating teaching practice with action research.

Effective Learning Environments
The science of good teaching has evolved, and educators understand that learning is a result of an effective learning environment, positive relationships, and identifying student learning as the primary goal. Mentor teachers share their classrooms, time, and knowledge in the coaching of preservice teachers, and student teachers gradually build responsibilities and teaching skills. This module will improve both student teacher and mentor instructional performance, resulting in increased student knowledge and learning. You will explore essential questions to encourage student teachers to analyze their effectiveness, and learn key characteristics of creating effective classroom environments, based on learning theories, instructional strategies, and methodologies woven into lesson planning and design.

Written Feedback
The Faculty of Education and the Field Experience department have created a substantial website, clearly outlining mentor teacher roles and responsibilities and Government of Alberta Teacher Quality Standards. Effective mentorship and coaching provide student teachers with written feedback, and evidence to support recommendations. This module, Written Feedback, will explore all aspects of formal assessments, providing timely quality feedback, and creating a powerful final assessment.

Verbal Feedback
Effective mentorship and evaluation of student teachers is built upon a trusting collaborative relationship, regular communication and dialogue that supports growth, and meaningful feedback. In this module, Verbal Feedback, you will explore the University of Alberta Field Experience website, as well as current research and best practices. You will learn the value of providing timely verbal feedback and sequential improvement suggestions, and the skills required to articulate your pedagogical practice and provide valuable feedback.

Role of the School Coordinator
The role of a School Coordinator extends beyond acting as a bridge between Field Experiences and partner schools. As a School Coordinator, you embrace the opportunity to organize orientation days, coordinate student teacher involvement in supervision and extra-curricular activities, and ensure that Field Experience expectations are followed. In this module, you will learn how to cultivate teacher mentorship capacity and whole school pedagogical capacity while supporting mentor teachers in their supervision of student teachers. This goes beyond offering tips and tricks, instead building a vision and shaping the values of the school staff. As a School Coordinator, you step into the role of being a lead mentor and master coach, dealing with whole school matters, sharing a wider perspective on educational issues, and facilitating a learning community that provides guidance, structure, and support for mentor and student teachers learning and working together.

Facilitating Effective Cohort Meetings
Investing the emotional energy in discussions and activities to build trust ensures continued, rich dialogue throughout the Field Experience. Meaningful professional development occurs for both mentor and student teachers when regular conversations occur. It is important to create a time and place for authentic, trusting conversations between student teachers, in order to discuss and resolve emergent issues, such as supervision and instruction, examine and explore aspects of indigenous learning, and face the praxis shock experienced as their personal pedagogical beliefs and ideas are challenged by day to day teaching. In this module, you will learn how to support pre-service teacher meetings to discuss potential issues, the benefits of accessing the collective intelligence of the group, and the impact of modeled and embedded peer collaboration within your school environment. You will learn how to support this modeled and embedded peer collaboration with additional professional development activities.

This course will expand on Foundations of Mentoring with a deepening of understanding regarding the critical aspects of the mentoring relationship and process. In these eight module s, mentors will be supported in their professional growth with continued knowledge and understanding that will serve to maximize their effectiveness.

Fostering Effective Relationships (Part A)
In this module, you will take a deeper look into the various relationships a pre-service teacher is exposed to and how these relationships can contribute to an integral and supportive environment consisting of fairness, respect and integrity while demonstrating empathy and a genuine caring for others inside and outside of the school environment. In addition to the relationship between mentor and pre-service teacher, the relationships with staff, administration, students, parents and other agencies within the school also provide much needed support for today’s pre-service teachers. Within this framework, mentors can provide culturally appropriate and meaningful opportunities to support student learning.

Fostering Effective Relationships (Part B)
In this module, you will take a deeper look into the various components of providing pre-service teachers with an opportunity to see inclusive opportunities within the classroom. Within each school setting there are many opportunities for pre-service teachers to develop their skills by using different tools and strategies. Within this framework, mentors can provide culturally appropriate and meaningful opportunities to support student learning.

Demonstrating a Professional Body of Knowledge - Planning and Instruction
In this module, you will continue the journey towards a deeper comprehension of the Alberta Teaching Quality Standard (TQS) by looking closely at the first two sections, Planning and Instruction, and Demonstrating a Professional Body of Knowledge. The focus will be on the underlying principles that guide the planning and instruction process and apply across the whole range of programs of study from K-12. You will be encouraged to look beyond the current grade levels and subject areas that you are teaching in order to gain a broader insight into what the TQS requires. The process of engaging with the course content will help you articulate your understanding of these concepts. It will also provide a strong foundation for your efforts to assist pre-service teachers to develop the critical thinking skills they will need when they are required to develop their own planning and instructional strategies for future classrooms.

Demonstrating a Professional Body of Knowledge - Assessment and Evaluation
In an ever-changing world, the accepted practices around assessment involve, and make it difficult to stay current with what is expected of a teacher. Assessment and evaluation are critical components of K-12 education to gauge student progress, identify areas of improvement and make informed instructional decisions. Discussions around the validity of formative and summative assessments, differentiation, standardization, curriculum alignment, and more continue in schools. Flexibility, adaptability and a student-centred approach seem to be current themes. This module will not follow a direct-instruction format that outlines the right way to evaluate and assess in every situation. There are no easy answers. Instead, you'll be asked to deeply consider some questions. Your own experience and expertise will be invaluable as you interact with the course content.

Establishing Inclusive Learning Environments
This module provides a deeper look into the various components of providing pre-service teachers with an opportunity to see and practice inclusive approaches within the classroom. It begins by grounding the concepts of Inclusion and Differentiation within Alberta’s Framework. We then provide a few relevant examples of classroom structures and practices that support inclusivity. Our discussion then turns to the learning imperative faced by pre-service teachers. Within each school setting there are many opportunities for pre-service teachers to develop their skills by using different tools and strategies that support inclusion, and mentors can provide culturally appropriate and meaningful guidance.

Foundational Knowledge of First Nation, Métis and Inuit
This module provides information and resources to assist teachers in developing and applying foundational knowledge about First Nations, Métis and Inuit for the benefit of all students. In this module, you will examine the historical, social, economic and political implications of treaties, agreements and legislation (including residential schools), and discover resources that accurately reflect and demonstrate the strength and diversity of First Nations, Métis and Inuit. You will also learn how to support student achievement and provide opportunities for all students to develop knowledge of, and respect for, the histories, cultures, languages, contributions, perspectives, experiences and contemporary contexts of First Nations, Métis and Inuit.

Engaging in Career-Long Learning
This module is designed to introduce you to valuable guidance, resources and best practices that support you to effectively mentor pre-service teachers as they develop the attitude and skills that support career long learning. You will be introduced to a number of tools and strategies that support skill development. You will also be provided with guidelines and approaches for meaningful learning support.

Adhering to Legal Frameworks
This module focuses on TQS Competency 6 and what it means in the context of working with and evaluating a pre-service teacher. It is important that mentor teachers are familiar with legislation that affects the work of teachers and that they are able to guide pre-service teachers in becoming aware of what this will mean in their own career development. Laws, regulations and policies affecting the teaching profession come from federal, provincial, school division and school authorities. Education is primarily a provincial responsibility, which means that each province will have somewhat different ways of organizing teaching and learning. This module will highlight some of the most important and common legal requirements encountered by teachers, but each teacher is responsible to learn and follow the specifics that apply to their own unique situation.

This course presents six online modules that speak to the questions that mentor teachers might consider as they welcome pre-service teachers into classrooms that have become increasingly complex. Effective mentoring relies on the formation of strong relationships that are based on relational trust and mutual respect. This can be challenging given the fact that many pre-service teachers come from a generation that has very different life experiences, values and needs than the mentors they work with. In this course, we will explore ways in which the mentor-mentee relationship can be developed within this new context. As well, we will examine the mentor-mentee practice of co-teaching and what is necessary for both parties to facilitate the process while maintaining effective learning opportunities for the pre-service teachers.

Modules 1 and 2 - Providing Context: An evolving mindset in teacher education and field experience (Parts A and B)
These modules will provide some context around the many challenges that are facing mentors as they welcome pre-service teachers into classrooms. Some of these are school wide issues that impact the workload, outlook and mental health of individual teachers. In addition, many pre-service teachers come from a generation that has very different life experiences, values and needs than the mentors they work with. Our rapidly changing world also requires a focus on the future skills required of pre-service teachers.

Modules 3 and 4 - Relational trust and navigating challenges (Parts A and B)
Foundational to effective relationships is relational trust and mutual respect (Hagenauer et al., 2023, Hudson, 2016). "A high quality relationship is expected to be supportive, with the sharing of practices and resources, as well as collaborative problem solving. Moreover, a positive relationship is characterized by high enthusiasm, high professionalism, clear expectations and shared information" (Hudson, 2016, p. 39). In these two modules, we will further examine the pre-service teacher and mentor teacher relationship, how each conceptualizes their relationship, and the tensions and conflicts that may emerge in the practicum process.

Modules 5 and 6 - Co-teaching: A collaborative practice for success (Parts A and B)
The mentor-mentee relationship relies greatly on the distribution of power between both parties. For the mentee to feel confident, shared power between the two is advantageous. Hudson (2016). "Forming the Mentor-Mentee Relationship", Bradbury and Koballa (2008) identified sources of tension in mentoring relationships when power exists with the mentor, where the mentee "may be unwilling to question the practices of the school mentor teacher for fear of fracturing the relationship or affecting the mentors' evaluation of their progress" (p. 31). In these modules, we will examine the mentor-mentee practice of co-teaching and what is necessary for both parties to facilitate the process while maintaining effective learning opportunities for the students involved.

You may choose to complete one, two or all of the three non-credit courses and end your involvement with the Supporting Mentor Teachers Project. OR, you can continue your learning journey.

Each non-credit course has a companion graduate-level course. These can be taken as a non-degree graduate student or through open studies on an individual basis.

However, completing a mentoring assignment and the first non-credit course, Foundations of Mentoring, makes you eligible to move on to the next step in your academic journey, the Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies - Mentoring and Leadership.

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