Professional Development - Head Start - U.S. Department of Health ...

This story demonstrates that Head Start mentors can play
a key role in the professional development of staff working
their way towards a degree.
“Kathie,” a teacher at a Head Start program, was taking
her first college course. She had been out of high school for
15 years, and had been teaching for the last eight. Because
Kathie and her fellow Head Start teachers had been out of
school for so long, the college and Head Start administrators
decided to start them with a course in child development, a
subject that they agreed the teachers already know something
about. Starting from a familiar base would be reassuring.
Kathie's assignment was to read a chapter in her Child
Development textbook and then write an essay on the social
development of young children. She read the chapter, and
found that much of the information reinforced what she
already knew from eight years of teaching. But, she didn't
know how to begin to write an essay.
Luckily, she remembered that her mentor, Dorothy, a
teacher on the Head Start staff, had encouraged her to give
her a call if she felt lost. So she did.
Dorothy and Kathie met the following afternoon at the
Head Start center. Dorothy asked Kathie to tell her whether
any part of the chapter had special significance for her. Kathie
said that she really liked the descriptions of the different kinds
of social play. She had observed children in her classroom
involved in individual, parallel and cooperative play.
Dorothy asked Kathie to gather some information to
prepare to meet again later that week. Kathie was to look
for examples of individual, parallel and cooperative play as
the children in her class went about their daily activities.
Kathie didn't think that would be hard to do. Dorothy suggested
that Kathie write three paragraphs: one each focused
on a child involved in individual play, parallel play and
cooperative play.
Kathie came to the next meeting with the three paragraphs.
Dorothy looked them over. After she read the first
Systems/Partnerships
A MENTORING SUCCESS STORY IN HEAD START
Mentors can offer valuable assistance to Head Start
teachers taking college courses by Willa Siegel
one, she asked Kathie to talk about what she'd seen. When
Kathie did this, Dorothy pointed out that she had used many
more descriptive words in her verbal description than she had
in her written one. Those descriptive words were helpful in
showing that she understood the material. Dorothy then
asked Kathie to update the paragraph on individual play,
which Kathie did. Dorothy read it and exclaimed, “You've got
it!” Kathie beamed!
Dorothy suggested that Kathie elaborate on the next two
paragraphs by describing what she saw the way she would tell
someone what she saw.
Kathie started writing and, when she was finished, she
gave them to Dorothy. Kathie could see that Dorothy was
pleased and, even better, Dorothy could see that Kathie was
pleased with herself.
“Okay” said Dorothy, “We've got your essay started.
You've done the hard part. Now, you just need to write an
introduction…. Why are you writing this essay, what do you
want to tell in it?” Kathie thought for a few minutes and said,
“Children learn to play by playing. They play differently at
different times in their lives. Very young children like to play
by themselves. They don't share very well. As they get older,
they learn to play with other children and really like playing
with them.”
Dorothy said, “If you write down what you just said,
you've got your introductory paragraph.”
This type of mentoring assistance showed Kathie
� she could succeed,
� taught her the skills she needed to tackle this and other
similar projects, and
� increased her confidence.
Kathie's Head Start mentor took the perfect approach by
engaging her interest and by giving her the support she needed
to turn her classroom knowledge into college-level work.
Dorothy's mentoring approach worked! ■
Willa Siegel is an Education Specialist for the Education and
Partnerships Division of the Office of Head Start.
T: 202-205-4011; E: willa.siegel@acf.hhs.gov
Head Start Bulletin 19