Chain mentoring among STEM lead teachers in urban secondary schools in the mid-southern United States

This article uses the chain mentoring conceptualization from a recent study of the University of Houston's Innovative STEM Teacher Education Program (ISTEP) (pseudonym). In it, we examine interactions among lead teachers in Greater Houston's secondary schools who themselves are graduates of ISTEP. In this narrative inquiry article, we interacted with lead teachers from six urban school districts who support STEM teaching and learning and mentor ISTEP's preservice teachers. Individually and collectively, data was gathered by observing their communications in meetings and by conducting interviews and focus groups with them. Linkages and connections between and among these teacher leaders were identified based on the stories they told and re-told about their lived and re-lived experiences in the ISTEP community. Through this iterative process, we established that chain mentoring also occurred among the lead teachers who supported STEM students and faculty and mentored future STEM teachers in America's fourth largest metropolis.