ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0633-6406

Date of Award

Spring 2026

Language

English

Embargo Period

5-1-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Educational Theory and Practice

Program

Curriculum and Instruction

First Advisor

Carol R Rodgers

Committee Members

Julie E Learned, Kelly Wissman

Keywords

peer mentor, relational, writing, Dewey, educative experience, sense of belonging, sense of self, self-efficacy, writing identity, teacher identity, mentor identity, proactive agent identity, the common good, meaningful work

Subject Categories

Curriculum and Instruction | Curriculum and Social Inquiry | Higher Education and Teaching | Language and Literacy Education | Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Abstract

This phenomenological case study examines the experiences of writing peer mentors who are embedded in a first-year inquiry-based writing seminar. It aims to understand how peer mentors who are engaged in the complex practice of supporting first-year writers in a writing classroom make sense of themselves and writing. At a large R-1 diverse university, I interviewed 6 writing peer mentors 3 times over 1 calendar year. I traced their development from mentees, (first-year writing students), through their three semesters of peer mentoring. They also shared written reflections from their training praxis course (a course for peer mentors focusing on their mentoring experiences) and essays from their course work. After deep and iterative data analysis of interviews and peer mentor writing, the study employed interpretive phenomenological analysis. Three major findings emerged. First, through the First Year Writing Peer Mentor Program, embedded peer mentors are engaged in what John Dewey called meaningful, educative experiences. Second, peer mentoring in a writing classroom is relational. It is fueled by peer mentors’ curiosity and strengthened by supportive networks with collaborating faculty, peers, and co-peer mentors. Third, as peer mentors move through their tenure they develop and strengthen multiple identities including (a) a peer mentor identity; (b) a writer identity; (c) a teacher identity; and (d) an identity as a proactive, independent agent. Combined, these identities build self-efficacy and coalesced into a more secure sense of self. The study shows how peer mentors’ involvement over time with a program that comprises collaborative faculty, co-peer mentors, mentees, and writing fosters peer mentors’ engagement in what is, to them and their community, meaningful work.

License

This work is licensed under the University at Albany Standard Author Agreement.

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