The role mentors play in graduate teacing assistants' success and preparedness

Mentoring programs for new writing instructors are a widely established practice in the field of Rhetoric and Composition (Cooper and Kehl, Fedukovich and Hall, Pytlik). These programs are vital for new first-year composition instructors to feel prepared and confident to teach (Hobson et al., Portner, Daresh). While graduate assistant (GA) training programs have been extensively studied in the field, much of the research that exists is outdated or focuses solely on the GA and not on the mentor. Moreover, limited research exists on how to improve mentoring programs. This study explores how effective the mentoring program within Ball State University’s Writing Program is in preparing first-year GAs to teach first-year composition courses. Specifically, I examine the role that mentors play in GAs’ preparedness and confidence to teach. My research questions addressed in this study are the following: How much of an impact does a mentor have on a new GA in terms of helping them feel prepared and confident in both teaching their own unit and teaching their first semester of classes? How much structure or how hands-on should a mentor be with their mentees? What training would need to be provided to mentors for the mentoring program to be the most beneficial to both new GAs and mentors? For this study, I conducted seven in-person and Zoom interviews; four participants were mentees, and three participants were mentors. After conducting two rounds of coding for my interviews, the two most prevalent themes I find in my data are “Disconnect” and “Impact.” The theme of disconnect refers to a current disconnect between some mentoring pairs that foster ineffective, unsupportive mentoring environments which results in GAs feeling discouraged and silenced. Furthermore, the theme of impact highlights the profound impact that mentors have on their mentees, whether it be a positive or negative one. Finally, I offer three overall solutions that Ball State’s Writing Program can implement into their mentoring program to make it the most effective that it can be. My hope for this is that in implementing these proposed solutions, this mentoring program will help mentors more adequately prepare our future GAs. Although Ball State University’s Writing Program is my sample program for this research project, my research can be applied to other Writing Programs at other universities.