The following blog post is an interview with Dr. Sylvia Hollifield, a program coordinator for SE Michigan in the teacher preparation program at Michigan State University.
In this interview, Sylvia sat down to talk with us about her role in the teacher education program at Michigan State University. She gave us an inside look into her work with school districts to create placements for intern teachers where they have the opportunity to learn and grow from mentor teachers through practice in the daily operations of a school. Sylvia describes her role as mediator and negotiator of relationships where she strives to help each person understand their role in the teacher-intern process. This blog represents the first part of the interview that was focused on relationships. The following is an edited transcript of the recording of our in-person interview.
Q: What do you believe is the best way for interns, mentor teachers, and university field instructors to work together?
Sylvia: Trust. Honesty. I think the relationship that develops between the three of them is critical to the success of everybody. First of all, I would say critical to the success of the internship year. It is similar to riding a bike. When a child learns to ride a bike, you in most instances have training wheels. I like to look at those training wheels as the field instructor and the mentor. During the course of the internship year, those training wheels hold that intern up and then they can be removed hopefully as the year progresses. You still need both because they are both necessary for that balance. It is hoped that when the time comes, those training wheels can be removed and that intern hopefully by the end of the year will be able to ride on their own volition. The school context itself of course plays an important part, but that relationship to me is key to the success. I think the mentor teacher sees growth on a daily basis, where the field instructor would see growth over a period of time and that’s what I think the internship year is about having the opportunity to watch an intern develop and grow over a period of time.
Q. Can you tell us more about trust and honesty?
Sylvia: I think trust is probably the most important part because it says I know you got my back. I am hopeful that you will tell me the truth about what you see, that you are there to be that critical friend if that is what I need. When I am successful I need to know that; when I am not as successful I need to know that too. I say honesty because I don’t need you to tell me I’m doing a good job, if I’m not. It may hurt my feelings and I may not like what you say, but because I believe and trust you enough to feel that you have my best interest at heart then that trust and honesty is important. When we think about preparing new teachers, it is important for us to tell the truth and I have one truth that I hold onto. I heard it a long time ago, in a district I taught in. When a substitute would come to your room during your absence, part of the evaluation of that substitute was, would you want this person to teach your child? I think it’s an important question for the profession, in the preparation of teachers. It is important for us to send the best that we have to offer.
When we don’t have that trust in the relationship and we are not honest with what we see and honest about what needs to be done…When we don’t do those things and we want to sugar coat everything it would be, for lack of another word, what I would call a bad diabetic situation. You are giving a whole lot of sugar which is not good for us and while the spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down, it doesn’t make a good teacher because we are afraid to say that we need to look at this in a different way. And so to me that is trust and honesty. The other part of that is I don’t think berating anybody is a good thing; because you have people who really, inherently, I believe, want to be successful in their internship year. The intern wants to be successful because they say that they want to teach. The mentor wants to be successful because they feel they have the skills necessary, they’ve been successful as a teacher, and they feel that they have the skills necessary to bring somebody else into the profession. When it doesn’t work out, I think the mentor teacher probably feels more remorse (depending on the situation) than the intern. I think part of that remorse comes from the fact that everybody doesn’t get an intern or a student teacher. When something happens, you have two schools of thought, either one it’s good that the person is gone or in some instances the [mentor] teacher feels that he or she failed. That bothers me because they have the collegial thing that they have to deal with as well. I look at that mentor and have that conversation with the mentor, particularly if it’s an intern that should look at a profession other than teaching. There are some people who come to the internship who probably should have considered something else along the way and it could be a variety of reasons. I think we have to be strategic about who we let come into the profession of teaching. When I look at the internship year, the interns are preparing to go into a profession that is going to call for endurance and the internship year allows them that preliminary year to prepare. The internship is the preparation and if you do it right you could become an extraordinary teacher. We have everything in place to provide that to you, but you also have to bring some skills to the table. The field instructor, the mentor, the university-everyone has a stake in that we support you in what you say you want to do. I think that’s important because when I think about interns making that transition from student to professional and during the course of the year we have to support them in that dual role. They are in classes during the internship year, and it’s the same thing that most of us did—teach and go to school. The interns are just choose to do it differently. You taught and then you went to school in the evening. Well this kind of compacts it where you are learning how to teach and you are taking classes at the same time so that maybe you can see a synthesis or a marriage so to speak between practice and theory.
We thank Sylvia for sharing her insight as a practitioner on developing successful relationships during the teacher- intern experience. Trust and honesty are important themes to consider as we prepare for a new academic year in teacher education programs across the country.
Below are some articles that may provide more insight into the relationships between teacher interns, mentor teachers, and university partners (Please note there are links to each article in the title):
Levin, B. B., & Rock, T. C. (2003). The Effects Of Collaborative Action Research On Preservice And Experienced Teacher Partners In Professional Development Schools. Journal of Teacher Education, 54(2), 135–149.
Martin, S. D., Snow, J. L., & Franklin Torrez, C. A. (2011). Navigating the Terrain of Third Space: Tensions With/In Relationships in School-University Partnerships. Journal of Teacher Education, 62(3), 299–311.
Tillema, H. H. (2009). Assessment for Learning to Teach: Appraisal of Practice Teaching Lessons by Mentors, Supervisors, and Student Teachers. Journal of Teacher Education, 60(2), 155–167.