Mentoring, Reflection, and Reciprocal Journaling

There is a severe shortage of African American teachers in K-12 public education, and this shortage is particularly acute in large, urban school districts. This article presents results from a case study of a mentoring triad—a first-year African American teacher, her mentor, and her principal—and the use of reflection and reciprocal journaling to reflect on and dialogue about the challenges of teaching in a large urban high school. More specifically, the research is an investigation of journaling as a reciprocal process of communication used by the participants to reflect on instructional practices, principal expectations, racial and cultural issues within the urban school context, and the first-year teacher's decision to stay in her position. The author discusses two major themes, the teacher's professional competence and the teacher as a member of the school community, and gives several recommendations for practice.