Correspondence Between Preservice Teachers and Mentor E-Pals

Following are a few comments made about the information preservice teachers received from their mentor e-pals during the fall semester project:

• “My mentor told me about their new grading system, which is something we do not have in Arkansas, in that they no longer use A, B, C, and D grades for Needs Improvement or Satisfactory. They have a developmental report card. This is individualized and something I did not know. So I’m learning from her and we’re sharing ideas. She asks me for ideas because she knows I'm in school.”
• “My mentor told me about an Animated Literacy Program that she heard about through Jim Stone in California. She gave me his name and address and now I can find out about it. She said she has had a wonderful success rate with teaching reading in her kindergarten class.”
• “My mentor teacher has gone through the Internet and asked teachers from all over the world, literally, to send her their favorite kindergarten book that they’ve used in their class and she’s forwarded all of those to me. So, I’ve heard from people as close as Texas and as far away as the Netherlands.”
• “I now have some insight on a school district in the state that I might possibly be teaching in.”

The following are a few comments made by the mentor teachers about their participation in the project:

• “I enjoyed the chance to share my experiences with someone who is just starting out. It gave me an opportunity to reflect on what I do in my classroom.”
• “I think this is a great chance for you students to become comfortable with the computer system and explore questions they may not feel comfortable asking a cooperating teacher.”
• “Discussing things with students in college helps keep me on top of trends in education and it helps me understand why I do the things that I do in teaching. By explaining myself to her, I got a deeper sense of what I believe and how I feel. I got as much out of it as your student did!”
• “I enjoyed hearing about her experiences as she began her classroom time.”
• “She shared some of the projects/units she was working on. It was interesting and helpful to me -- I don’t have much of a chance to talk with people clear across the country.”

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From “Electronic Dialoguing in a Preservice Reading Methods Course: A Yearlong Study” by Denise Johnson.
Reading Online, www.readingonline.org
Posted July 2002