#10 Establishing and Maintaining Effective Peer Relationships on Campus
by Courtney Glazer

Problem Statement:

Successful integration into a school's culture is vital to the success of beginning teachers. "Beginners in isolated settings soon abandon their initial humanistic notions...in favor of a routine technical culture...where order is stressed over learning, and where students are treated more impersonally, punitively, and distrustfully" (Rosenholtz 1991). For this reason, beginning teachers need to learn the ins and outs of establishing effective peer relationships in their building. Furthermore, teacher uncertainty about administrative activities and instructional practice can be diminshed "by providing teachers positive feedback, encouragement, nuturing inspiration to persists in their instructional efforts" (Rosenholtz 1991). It is increasingly important when secondary schools are growing in size and administrators are increasingly busy with issues other than supporting teachers taht all teachers know how to find needed and invaluable support among their peers.

Mentoring is one type of support received by beginning teachers, but in many cases mentors must be sought out by the teachers themselves. In a 1998 survey of teachers with 3 or fewer years teaching experience, 45a5 indicate that mentoring has improved their classroom teaching "a lot," 26% indicate "moderately," and 25% indicate "somewhat." "Being mentored by another teacher was not only a more frequent occurance for beginning teachers, but it was generally perceived to be of more benefit to their teaching as well...{This} suggests the importance of such relationships early in a teacher's career." (National 1999) With such value placed on mentoring relationships, beginning teachers need to know how to seek out and maintain these relationships on their own.

Instructional Strategies:

Role play requires students to act out situations that they might face when working with coleagues. Role play gives prospective teachers simulated experience in communicating, handling difficult or threatening situations, and resolving conflict. By dramatizing situations, prospecitve teachers become emotionally engageed and learn in a "hands-on" manner about the situations that they will face in their schools. Because role play usually takes place in the university classroom, teacher educators can analyze their students' reactions and responses, and peers can give feedback. By alternately playing the roles of teacher and colleage, prospective teachers can gain a better understanding of each perspective. (Hochberg, 1993) (Shartrand 1997).

Organized observer-interns in small groups. Each group will be given one scenario to role-play and discuss. Within the group, one person should take on the role of the beginning teacher, one person should take the role of the colleague, and other group members will observe and offer feedback on the role-play. The groups should pass the scenarios around so each group participates in each role-play.

Role-playing and discussion on each scenario should cover:

• how the situation made the beginning teacher feel
• what contextual factors the beginning teacher took into account before acting
• what action the beginning teacher should take

The supervisor should move among the groups to pose open-ended questions to direct the learners the above requirements for each scenario and also to offer suggestions based on her experience.

Role-Play Scenarios:

• You overhear two teachers gossiping about one of your students in the teacher's lounge.
• You are talking with another teacher who is upset about the behavior of a child who shows no discipline problems in your class.
• You must negotiate a difference of opinion with another teacher in your department.
• You talk with a special education caseworker about a student's declining performance in your class.
• An administrator has called you into her office to discuss a student's complaint about your teaching.
• You want to explain an original instructional technique to your department leader.

References:

Hochberg, M.R. (1993). Building Villages to Raise Our Children: Staffing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project.

Rosenholz, S.J. (1991). Teacher's Workplace: The Social Organization of Schools. New York: Teachers College Press.

Shartrand, A.M., Weiss, H.B., Kreider, H.M., & Lopez, M.E. (1997). New Skills for New Schools: Preparing Teachers in Family Involvement. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project.

National Center for Education Statistics. (1999). Teacher Quality: A Report on the Preparation and Qualification of Public School Teachers (NCES 1999-1980): U.S. Department of Education.