Feedback Example: Mentee Report

Title: Progress Report

Description: Describes mentee professional development in the practicum course TESL 326 through collaborative work with the APLI 647 mentor. The progress report documents growth in the mentee from the beginning to end of Winter Semester 2018 at Concordia University.

To: Gabriel (mentee)

From: Helene (mentor)

Gabriel, it has been such a pleasure to work with you this semester! I have greatly appreciated the collegial and trusting relationship we have established together. I have greatly valued the intensity and energy that you have put in your work throughout the semester. I have seen you grow into a strong and energetic teacher. This makes me feel happy for you and proud of the work that we achieved together.

Here are some noteworthy areas to celebrate and continue working on in your professional development:

Development of your “Teacher Person”

In our first session together you mentioned that you had returned to the TESL certificate program after having dropped out. That you returned without a passion for teaching, and that for you it was about proving that you were capable of completing the program. Throughout our work together I have seen you become increasingly interested in your lesson planning and delivery, and in your students. In our last session we talked about how you discovered your “alter ego” or your “teacher personality” that comes to life when you teach. This happened to me too when I discovered my place in the classroom. For me it is the strongest sign of your growth as a teacher - you have found a place where you are in your element, able to be fully present to respond to the needs of your students and the demands of the classroom context. This is a significant feat to have accomplished within these short 3 months!

Development of Classroom Management Skills

Throughout the semester I have seen you develop your monitoring and instruction-giving techniques, as well as your board work.

You have worked on being more calm and collected during monitoring. You have also worked on noting student errors during monitoring to go over in post activity feedback. Your classroom management skill is very good. There is room for growth in your use of space and your presence during monitoring. For example, putting yourself at the students’ level by sitting down or bending down to address their concerns. You could try having a notepad or bottle of water with you during monitoring so that you have something to occupy your hands. This might make your body language more natural, and you more approachable.
You have developed instruction-giving techniques that include framed questions, and gestures with your students. Continue planning your instruction checking questions in advance and modeling how the activities are to be completed.
Your use of the board is excellent. You plan ahead of time what you will write and how it will be organized. In the practicum context you have generally been able to prepare the board before your lessons. Continue to work on developing your impromptu board work skills for situations in which you will not be able to prepare your board prior to teaching.

Development of grammar knowledge

Your interest in grammatical knowledge is a strength in you as a teacher. It is good to be well prepared before teaching a lesson. Continue working on researching the grammatical form and structure you will teach prior to the lesson. It is important to think of anticipated problems your students will have related to the grammar you will teach. This is an area that you need to continue working on.

Willingness to step out of your comfort zone

When we started working together you were uncomfortable with introducing target language that you had not carefully controlled for. You were not comfortable with activities in which students produced language you had not carefully planned and prepared. There was little or no room for your students to produce language of their own, test their hypotheses, and make mistakes, nor to work with language that was at a +1 level (Krashen, 1985). We discussed over our meetings ways in which you could make your activities semi-controlled, or even free, so that your students would have room to experiment with language production and further develop their language skills. Although you were uncomfortable with my suggestions at the beginning, you considered them carefully. As we moved forward, you increasingly incorporated freer activities in your lessons. I think this is a significant strength that you have as a teacher. It is important to experiment, to try new things, and to consider how they work for you. In your careful consideration and execution of the new ideas and perspectives I have brought to the table you have demonstrated critical thinking skill and flexibility, two very important things in a teacher. I hope you will continue to push yourself to thoughtfully explore alternative approaches and methodologies in your teaching, a characteristic of expert teachers (Tsui, 2009).

References

Tsui, A. (2009). Teaching expertise: Approaches, perspectives, and characterizations. In A. Burns & J. C.

Richards (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to second language teacher education (pp. 190-197). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Krashen, S. D. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. Addison-Wesley Longman Ltd.