This year, I have had the opportunity to serve as a new teacher mentor. My mentee is new to our school, but not new to teaching. Therefore, my role has been to help her learn "The Jenkins Way" rather than support her with instruction. She has taught fourth grade longer than me, so she has provided me with more instructional support than I've provided her with.
I am really impressed with our new teacher mentor program. This is the first year, since I have been at my current school, that we have implemented a new teacher program. Currently, they meet every month for about 30 minutes. Each month, the topic is based on whatever is going on in the building, or their personal needs, as a group (i.e. TKES, parent-conferences, RBES, etc.).
To acquire additional leadership hours, I often sit in on these meetings to support our coordinator in delivering information. Since there are no administrators present, the discussion is very open and honest. I feel as though the new teachers are gaining valuable information that they can use immediately.
Also, to attending new teachers meetings, each new teacher has an instructional coach. The coach completes at least one coaching cycle a month to help support the teacher. During the coaching cycles, they may focus on analyzing data, co-teaching models, lesson planning, etc. The coach can provide them with immediate feedback to improve their instructional practices.
I have noticed this year that our new teachers are happier and feel more supported. One thing that I would change about our mentoring program is that mentors/mentee teachers need to be beside each other, or at least in the same part of the building. I also think that mentors need to go through some training before being paired with a mentor. Finally, mentor/mentee's should have similar personality traits so that they can work together.
What does your school do to support new teachers?
Charlotte,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate this post because I have been trying to get a mentorship program up and running at my new school. I envision having a teacher to teacher mentorship and a teacher to student mentorship. I have been discussing this for a while but since this is a start up school the program has been pushed to the back burner.
We have started the same mentor program at our school, and I LOVE what I am seeing from it. We have educated teachers, willing to listen, and progressing to wonderful teachers through this programs. We have teachers who are knowledgeable, and this forum allows them to answer questions. I love what I am seeing with our mentor program in our building as well.
ReplyDeleteWe have a New Teacher Program at our school that meets two times per month. All new teachers were recognized in the beginning of the year or during the year (depending on when they come) during our faculty meeting. The principal along with some department chairs work with new teachers to get them acclimated to our school environment and culture. New teachers are also provided with other teachers they can go to for support throughout the school year.
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