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Project Overview

The Maryland PDS 2025 Project SMTA is a collaboratively designed and facilitated professional development experience for practicing and potential Supervising Mentor Teachers in four Maryland public schools: Buck Lodge Middle School and High Point High School (Prince George’s County Public Schools); Farquhar Middle School and Olney Elementary School (Montgomery County Public Schools).  

A Supervising Mentor Teacher is defined as a practicing teacher who has one or more UMD educator preparation interns placed in their classroom as a component of the interns’ educator preparation certification program. Collaborators on the design and facilitation of the SMTA include Mentor Teachers, PGCPS and MCPS School Administrators, PGCPCS and MCPS Professional Development Specialists, and º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù faculty.  

Theory of Mentor Teacher Development and Impact

Supervising Mentor teachers are primary influences on Interns’ perceptions of teaching and Interns’ capacity to create meaningful learning environments in their early years of teaching.  We contend that Supervising Mentor Teachers’ development and impact are driven by a system of interacting belief, relationships, roles, and capacities.  Supervising Mentor teachers deepen their understanding of the relationship between Supervising Mentor Teachers’ belief systems, their mentoring practices, and their informal interactions with Interns. Our Theory of Supervising Mentor Teacher Development and Impact contends that, for high impact on Interns’ preparation to enter the profession, the following Supervising Mentor Teacher development activities should take place: 

• Supervising Mentor teachers’ examination of their belief systems about the students they teach, their students’ families, and communities served by their school
• Supervising Mentor teachers’ examination and understanding of Interns' academic,  family, and community histories 
• Supervising Mentor teachers’ understanding of their critical role as teacher educators, including the realization that they are the primary ambassadors of the teaching profession.
  • Self-awareness and cultural competency
  • Speaking up and responding to prejudice, bias and stereotypes
  • Building alliances
  • Leading beyond the classroom
  • Ongoing reflection and learning
• Supervising Mentor teachers’ understanding and capacity to employ a range of mentoring practices that can support intern capacity to employ critical practices associated with
  • Planning, instruction and assessment
  • Classroom culture
  • Family and community engagement
• Supervising Mentor teachers employ tangible and relevant assessment tools to support their interns’ professional, social, and emotional growth on their path to becoming a teacher in contemporary schools.

Maryland PDS 2025 Supervising Mentor Teacher Academy Goals

1. Critically examine their beliefs and knowledge about their PreK - 12 students’ ways of knowing and learning, families, communities, and histories
2. Critically examine their beliefs and knowledge about teacher candidates' ways of knowing and learning, families, communities, and histories
3. Examine and expand their beliefs and knowledge about how teacher candidates can and should be prepared for their first years of teaching
4. Examine and expand their beliefs and understanding of the critical role of the Mentor Teacher in teacher º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù programs
5. Demonstrate the capacity to support teacher candidates' development of their instructional practice
6. Demonstrate the capacity to support teacher candidates' development of beliefs and practices in establishing a safe and inclusive classroom culture
7. Demonstrate the capacity to support teacher candidates' development of beliefs and practices focused on family and community engagement
8. Use data collected from a range of assessment tools to support teacher candidates' preparation

SMTA Module Schedule & Topics

• Includes ten 1.5 hour professional development workshops once a month between September 2022 and July 2023.
• Length: Up to 3 hours per month
• Date and Times: Second Tuesday of the Month from 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm 

SMTA Module Schedule & Topics (2022-2023)

Work Group Members