Abstract

This issue of Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning Journal includes research from scholars from across the nation (South Atlantic, Midwest) and the globe (Haceteppe,Turkey and Perth, Australia). The authors present research involving teachers at all stages of their careers (pre-service, in-service, and teacher leaders), at all levels (rural preschool aides to international research-focused professors), through different modes (including book study and peer mentoring among college students). That said, finding and belonging to a mentoring network is an accessible reality in today’s world. When individuals intentionally place themselves in mentoring relationships, they find themselves in an atmosphere of professional growth. Mentees, being in this position, makes for uncomfortable feelings at times, because they are stretched and developed to operate just slightly beyond their present limitations. In spite of this discomfort, they willingly engage with mentors, because they want for other people to see, experience, know, and be served by the best version of themselves. Mentors find fulfillment in creating the right conditions for professional development for up-and-coming professionals to perform one step beyond their current stage of competence. Individuals operating within a mentorship network and even a dyad can provide opportunities to assume both a mentor or mentee role in professional growth of others. The satisfaction received from these roles has created an international, growing level of demand for professional development on the topic of mentoring itself, and the body of knowledge grows as to how to effectively supply mentoring related to professional development. Mentoring and Tutoring creates a platform in which readers may assume both roles as they engage in the papers dedicated to creating this atmosphere of growth – and vital to personal happiness, fulfillment, and productivity. The lead article, Professional Development of Multi-experienced Educators through a Book Study: Fostering Mentoring Relationships by Amador, Wallin, and Amador present a “Multi-Experienced Professional Development” model which blends groups of professionals with varying levels of experience and backgrounds to enrich the learning environment. The pre-service and in-service teachers they interviewed found security the relationships, and expanded their reflective practices from the informal, personal interactions they experienced during a book study. Their study shows that book studies involving multi-experienced teachers provide plausible benefits as an informal mentorship model. In the second paper in this issue, Mentoring and Professional Development in Rural Head Start Classrooms, Garner, Carter McLean, Waajid, and Pittman communicate their experience from the development and piloting of a small-scale professional development program geared toward helping rural preschool teacher assistants earn their Child Development Associate (CDA) credential. Through qualitative case study, they found that substantial group and one-on-one mentoring facilitated the mentees in becoming