Mentor Teacher Academy

Maryland PDS 2025 Project Mentor Teacher Academy (MTA)

The Maryland PDS 2025 Project MTA is a collaboratively designed and facilitated professional development experience for practicing and potential Mentor Teachers in four Maryland public schools : Buck Lodge Middle School and High Point High School (Prince George’s County Public Schools); Farquhar Middle School and Olney Elementary School (Montgomery County Public Schools).  A Mentor Teacher is defined as a  practicing teacher who has one or more UMD educator preparation interns placed in their classroom as a component of the interns’ educator preparation certification program. Collaborators on the design and facilitation of the MTA include Mentor Teachers, PGCPS and MCPS School Administrators, PGCPCS and MCPS Professional Development Specialists, and University of Maryland faculty.  For the 2020-21 academic year, 20 Mentor Teachers and potential Mentor Teachers (across the four participating schools) will convene monthly (virtually) to complete nine MTA  modules.  MTA modules are designed to take approximately three hours to complete (a combination of synchronous and asynchronous activities).

The design and facilitation of the MTA curriculum rests on multiple principles and imperatives. The core content of the MTA curriculum consists of opportunities for Mentor Teachers to reflect on and deepen their knowledge and skill in their role as Mentor Teacher.  The work of  a Mentor Teacher goes far beyond simply modeling instructional practice and classroom management.  The Mentor Teacher also communicates personal and institutional perspectives and perceptions of students, students’ communities, and the greater school community.  Furthermore, the Mentor Teacher serves as emotional guidance and support for the intern and must be prepared to engage in honest and productive conversations with the intern during the internship experience.  The MTA curriculum is designed to engage Mentor Teachers in the broad range of knowledge and skills demanded of Mentor Teachers in current and future school contexts.

It must also be acknowledged that the design and facilitation of the first cycle of the MTA is occurring while U.S. society (including schools and classrooms) is responding to the presence and acknowledgment of  a ‘twin pandemic’: the COVID-19 pandemic and the pandemic of structural, institutionalized racism. As a result, the MTA curriculum will continuously view and build this work through two crosscutting lenses: 1)  effective virtual instruction, and 2) culturally-sustaining, anti-bias, and anti-racist stances, perspectives, and school practices. Our collaborating school districts as well as the University of Maryland have multiple resources to support teachers and schools in response to the twin pandemic, and it is imperative that we use this professional development opportunity with Mentor Teachers to support their knowledge and skills in creating and modeling learning environments that acknowledge these societal challenges and realities.

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Maryland PDS 2025 Mentor Teacher Academy Goals

• Identify expectations, challenges, and rewards associated with the role of Mentor Teacher
• Identify the needed supports associated with the role of Mentor Teacher
• Provide MTA participants tangible and relevant tools to support their interns’ professional, social, and emotional growth on their path to becoming a teacher in contemporary schools
• Support MTA participants in their roles as both teachers and Mentors to employ a wide range of instructional strategies, including culturally-sustaining, anti-bias, and racially-just pedagogies
• Support MTA participants in their roles as both teachers and Mentors to engage in effective communication with students and their families from a broad range of cultural and social backgrounds
• Support MTA participants in their roles as both teachers and Mentors to employ use of high-quality instructional materials, including digital resources, in face to face, hybrid, and virtual classroom formats