A Letter to My Teacher: Perceptions of Middle School Students and Pre-Service Mathematic Teachers of Their Mentor Teacher

Sep 15, 2026

Upload by Kyle

Research examines how pre-service teachers and middle school students perceive mathematics teachers, comparing their perceptions of six mentor teachers. Data were gathered through reflective letters written by pre-service teachers (f=35) and the students of those teachers (f=105). Responses were analyzed using MAXQDA qualitative data analysis software. Findings show both positive and negative perceptions linked to learning-teaching design, attitude, and classroom management, with students expressing stronger positive attitudes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLetters

FormatPDF

Pages22

Reading Time8 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Teachers’ role in shaping students’ attitudes toward mathematics

Importance of teacher education, experience, and teaching flexibility

[www.ijres.net](www.ijres.net) A Letter to My Teacher: Perceptions of Middle School Students and Pre-Service Mathematic Teachers of Their Mentor Teacher Sedef Çelik Demirci Artvin Çoruh University, Türkiye Tuğba Baran Kaya Kırıkkale University, Türkiye To cite this article: Celik Demirci, S. & Baran Kaya, T. (2023) . A letter to my teacher: Perceptions of middle school students and pre-service mathematic teachers of their mentor teacher. International Journal of Research in Education and Science (IJRES), 9(3), 802-822. [https://doi.org/10.46328/ijres.3273](https://doi.org/10.46328/ijres.3273) The International Journal of Research in Education and Science (IJRES) is a peer-reviewed scholarly online journal. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Authors alone are responsible for the contents of their articles. The journal owns the copyright of the articles. The publishershall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of the research material. All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations regarding the submitted work. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. A Letter to My Teacher: Perceptions of Middle School Students and PreService Mathematic Teachers of Their Mentor Teacher Sedef Çelik Demirci, Tuğba Baran Kaya | Article Info | Abstract | | --- | --- | | Article History | This research was conducted to determine the perceptions of pre-service teachers | | Received: | and middle school students towards mathematics teachers. For this purpose, the | | 02 January 2023 Accepted: | perceptions of both the pre-service teachers and students regarding six | | 01 June 2023 | mathematics teachers were discussed comparatively. The research method is case | | | study. The data of this study were collected through reflective letters of pre-service | | | teachers (f=35) and students of these teachers (f=105) to six middle school | | | mathematics teachers. The collected data were analyzed in the MAXQDA qualitative data analysis program. As a result of the analysis, it was determined | | Keywords | | | Perceptions towards mathematics teachers | that pre-service teachers and middle school students had positive and negative | | Pre-Service teachers | perceptions towards the mentor teacher in the categories of designing the learning- | | Middle school students | teaching process, attitude and classroom management. When the perceptions of | | Reflective letters | middle school students towards their teachers were examined, it was seen that the positive attitude towards the teacher stanted out. While the students mentioned less about classroom management, it was seen that pre-service teachers talked more about and they were able to evaluate teachers from different perspectives in the context of classroom management. However, it has seen that both pre-service teachers and students have more negative perceptions about the design of the learning-teaching process than positive perceptions. In addition, it was determined that the negative perceptions ofthe preservice teachers about the mentor teachers standed out, while the students' perceptions oftheir teachers were more positive. | Introduction In Türkiye, mathematics is the most feared subject, and a subject in which performance is unsuccessful at all levels of education and, thus, it is accepted that this situation should not be seen independently from mathematics teachers (Demirkol & Ergin, 2017) . Moreover, students’ successful performance in mathematics depends, not only on their own efforts and motivation, but also on the ability of their teachers to make students enjoy mathemat

FAQs

What is the purpose of the study described in the document?

The study determines perceptions of pre-service teachers and middle school students toward mathematics teachers, comparing perceptions across six mentor teachers.

How were the study’s data collected and analyzed?

Data were collected through reflective letters from pre-service teachers and from students of those teachers, then analyzed using the MAXQDA qualitative data analysis program.

What do the results indicate about perceptions of mentor teachers?

The analysis shows both positive and negative perceptions in areas such as learning-teaching design, attitude, and classroom management, with students highlighting positive attitudes toward the teacher more strongly.

Sep 15, 2026

Upload by Kyle