Kelly Girtz

EDUL 6016

Assignment #2: Developing a Mentoring Program

 

Part I: Program Design

 

            An ideal teacher mentoring program should include several key components that are discussed in detail below.  Some schools integrate elements of these, but could be well served to explore them all.  A quality mentoring program is not inexpensive, but any costs are recouped in the enormous savings associated with increases in teacher retention.

            There should be reduced responsibilities for new teachers.  This could take several forms.  At a minimum it could be supported by limiting requests from administrators for performance of extracurricular duty.  Ideally, new teachers would have a diminished teaching load, perhaps teaching four periods instead of five, for example.  This provides the novice teacher with opportunities to better develop lessons, collaborate with other teachers and observe in veterans’ classrooms.  This time could be spent on a variety of purposes. The beginning teacher is often run ragged trying to put lessons together that feel worthy of the classroom, but at this point is unfamiliar with resources that are available and needs extra time to do justice to instruction.  This time could also serve to bring the new teacher in contact with many other teachers.  Those in the first years of teaching face emotional struggles as they are isolated from others in the building.  Also, many teacher preparation programs provide surprisingly little range of experience in classrooms.  New teachers benefit greatly from exposure to other teaching styles, organizational strategies and approaches to the classroom.  There needs to be some sense that teachers are extending their education in their early years of teaching.       

            Regular meetings with a mentor teacher are critical.  The mentor should not be some distant colleague with whom the novice teacher only occasionally meets.  Rather, there needs to be an ongoing relationship that is established from the start of the academic year.  The novice needs to know that the challenges that are being experienced in the classroom will have a venue to be aired in the near-term.  The outset of a teaching career is fraught with challenges that should not be left solely to the teacher to unravel.  New teachers and their students need the benefits of support from a more knowledgeable educator.   

            Regular moderated meetings with other novice teachers should be scheduled.  The isolation mentioned above is fascinating, given that there are likely several other people in the building going through the same trials.  If a lead teacher or principal would meet with these teachers regularly, they could understand the common challenges that they face, and feel that their experiences are validated.  This is a forum in which issues can be aired that some new teachers may have difficulty discussing.  This can also give the administration a window into the operation of the school on the ground level, knowledge that eludes many principals.      

            There must be pay for time spent in induction activities.  It is an indignity throughout many school systems that there are so many tasks that teachers are responsible for on “their own time.”  It is one thing for a teacher of any experience level to spend time at the library doing preparation for lessons, it is quite another for there to be required formal activities outside a lengthy school day for which teachers are not compensated.  If there is early attendance required of new teachers at the start of the year, these must be paid work days.  If there are evening or late-afternoon activities required of new teachers, again, this must be time for which the employee is paid.  The teaching profession is degraded when teachers repeatedly take additional responsibilities without pay.  The point of entrance into the profession is a good time to nip this in the bud.

Part II: The Ideal Mentor

            Just as thought needs to be devoted to the design of a mentoring program, there must be some consideration of who should be selected as mentors.  It is not enough to have a warm body in this role.  We ideally look hard at who we hire as teachers in the first place, and we need to also consider who we ask to guide these new teachers through their inaugural year.

            Mentors must have a positive outlook on students and the educational process.  There are more than enough sour people that new teachers will encounter as they enter the world of education.  It is important that the people who these fresh faced folks spend the greatest amount of time with have a willingness to emphasize the good and look forward, rather than repeat cheap criticisms when it is essential for success that teachers spend energy building solutions to the problems they encounter.  Mentors not only have an impact on the operational aspects of a ward’s classroom, they influence the vision of that person.  As the low retention rate for new teachers is a huge concern for school systems and a drain on resources, there needs to be an uplifting outlook on the front end of teachers’ careers.  Mentor teachers should be realistic in their appraisal of problems that a system has, but they should also be focused on how to work through issues, not remain stuck on them. 

            Mentors should be familiar with the material being taught by the novice.  Novices need someone who has the specific strengths to handle the challenges they are facing.  Often new teachers had fairly narrow experiences with a curriculum in student teaching opportunities, and are teaching material for the first time ever.  In this context, it is essential that new folks have access to those who have had to make decisions about what needs to be taught and how to approach the material.  There are great lessons that any veteran teacher has to teach neophytes, but teachers who share curriculum are able to address the widest array of issues that they have in common, from selecting materials to understanding the relationship between what the students are expected to learn now and how it will relate to the coursework that is to come.

            Mentors should have experience a range of groups within the student population being taught by the novice teacher.  Just as there are areas where support can be provided on the basis of experience with a curriculum, there is support that can be provided on the basis of experience with a population of students.  Many schools track students into ability groups, and teachers often become more comfortable or adept at teaching one track or another.  There are sensibilities that teachers develop about students when they spend many years with a particular set of students to the exclusion of others.  When new teachers are mentored, they should have the benefit of learning from teachers who are familiar with the dynamics of the population being taught by the new teacher.  Otherwise, assumptions and misconceptions that the more experience teacher carries can provide a false sense of how to support students in the classroom of the new teacher.

            Mentors must be supportive to other adults but honest about a new teacher’s needs for improvement.  It is sometimes difficult to be honestly critical of others,   particularly when the other person is clearly in a difficult position.  However, this is a task for which mentor teachers need to be prepared.  Those who rely upon their expertise need clear, honest assessments if there are to be changes made to the teaching or real opportunity for reflection.  There will be things that need to be addressed by even the most competent new teacher, and the mentor must be prepared to identify these areas.  At the same time, the mentor teacher must remember that new teachers are in a delicate position and need continual support as they build the repertoire for a successful career.