Developing Mentoring Methodology for Teacher Education to Support the Reflections of Teachers of Japanese History

Abstract

　　This study aims to propose a mentoring methodology in teacher education to support mentees and to suggest effective media to intensify mentoring reflection. To this end, a literature review and preliminary investigation were conducted. Subsequently, a lesson plan was developed as a medium of reflection, and teachers were instructed about its use.

　　The results obtained from this research are as follows:

　　First, a new way to utilize lesson plans in developmental and practical research was proposed. Traditionally, lesson plans have been associated with the improvement of instruction, but I posit that lesson plans should be linked to teacher education. Specifically, in response to the differing circumstances of mentees, lesson plans titled “Masu (a square wooden box used as a measure of rice) in the Middle Ages” and “The name of a new era called Meiji” were created and were employed to demonstrate the mentoring process.

　　Second, the study advised mentoring at a school site that would also constitute professional development of senior teachers who are to become mentors. Considering how lesson plans may be developed and utilized can itself become a medium of intensifying reflection with regard to mentoring. This practice accords mentors an opportunity to look back at their teaching to date.

　　Exploring these two themes was a major undertaking as such an assessment had not yet been subjectively conducted. As the number of young teachers increases, the aim of teacher education is not merely “to teach and be taught” but also to interactively “teach together and learn from each other.” Japanese history education, in particular, is a subject considered to be resistant to change. The first step toward reform of the instruction would begin with a dialog between senior and junior teachers questioning the fundamental assumptions about why Japanese history is taught to students.