Telementoring in Teacher Education

This research study involved the telementoring of pre-service teachers by practicing teachers in the fall semester of 2005 and arose out of a need expressed by education students for more contact with practicing teachers that would not require large time and financial commitments. Twelve pre-service education students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) and 17 practicing K-12 teachers from four states participated. Pre- and post- reflections completed by student participants, email dialogues between pre- and in-service teacher participants, and pre-service student participant email reflections following each dialogue exchange were analyzed to gather project effectiveness data. Results revealed highly positive experiences that provided student participants a unique and practical glimpse of the daily lives of teachers and what teaching is “really like.”