“I Think I Can”: Mentoring as a Means of Enhancing Teacher Efficacy

Abstract

Because good teaching is central to student achievement, schools must examine their professional development practices to determine whether they meet the needs of individual educators or whether professional development is offered as one size fits all. Activities that encourage teachers at every career stage to be reflective practitioners, decision makers, problem solvers, and researchers are vital to professional development. If the focus of professional growth opportunities is not on teacher learning, staff development opportunities will continue to be temporary and ineffective. The professional learning that teachers experience needs to be wedded to the everyday activities of teaching (Bredeson and Scribner 1997). Also, teachers need to understand their own needs and then have a