TEACHER MENTORS GATHER AT BRYN MAWR

Bryn Mawr-Haverford education minors and mentors meet in Taylor

An art teacher at a suburban elementary school and a high-school English teacher at a Philadelphia charter school are likely to have different perspectives on common problems, says Senior Lecturer in Education Alice Lesnick, but it's rare that educators from such disparate settings get a chance to exchange ideas. The Bryn Mawr-Haverford Education Program created that opportunity last Thursday when 11 Philadelphia-area educators representing a variety of schools and specialties met at Bryn Mawr to discuss mentored learning with 17 students in educational studies.

"We discussed definitions of mentorship, the practice of apprentice-based learning and how to forge partnerships between colleges and practicing educators in the community," Lesnick says.

The teachers who attended the session are all mentors to students who are undertaking field placements as part of the senior seminar required of all educational-studies minors. Their placements are quite diverse, says Lesnick: "The course is designed to meet the needs of students who have a range of interests, from classroom teaching to administration to educational policy."

One Bryn Mawr student is exploring arts-based educational approaches with Philadelphia Young Playwrights, Lesnick says. Another is shadowing the principal of Overbrook Elementary School, watching her mentor in action in interchanges with students, faculty, staff and parents. Lesnick is especially pleased by one student's placement at Philadelphia Futures, a nonprofit that helps prepare promising public-school students for college.

"Her mentor is Rashida Miller, Haverford '02, a recent graduate of our program," Lesnick explains.

Fieldwork is just one element of a course that also includes an intensive schedule of reading, writing, discussion and experiments in curriculum design. Placements are arranged with the help of the Education Program's Ann Brown and Robyn Newkumet, who meet with each student to discuss her or his needs and interests in the spring of the junior year. After matching students with appropriate sites, Brown and Newkumet approach the schools and arrange the apprenticeships. Each student spends three to five hours per week at her field-placement site in the fall and five to eight hours in the spring.

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