ABSTRACT
Mentors need to understand the settings within which their mentees teach in order to help them down the path toward teaching proficiency. Mentoring in context begins with an understanding of mentees’ classroom settings and the inside (personal) and outside (cultural) factors at play, including the expectations that they and their students have of their relationships, roles, and responsibilities. Because these factors also influence the mentoring relationship, this chapter looks at classroom dynamics for mentors, the potential tensions that may exist between a teacher and students and between a mentor and mentee. Suggestions are given for how mentors can become researchers of their mentees’ classroom contexts and draw on their mentees as their primary informants. Finally, readers are given the opportunity to begin the process of becoming versed in their mentees’ classroom contexts.
