Mentoring

Mentoring Responsibilities

The task of mentoring requires the skills of a teacher, counselor, friend, role model, guide, sponsor, coach, resource, and colleague. Responsibilities include:

• Meet regularly with mentee, both formally and informally
• Help mentee understand the culture and philosophy of MCCPS
• Guide mentee through the daily operation of the school
• Arrange for mentee to visit different teachers' classes
• Demonstrate lessons for mentee
• Observe mentee teaching and provide feedback
• Be a role model in all aspects of professionalism
• Support and counsel mentee, providing perspective when needed
• Document Mentor/Mentee activity weekly in Mentoring Log

"Being an Effective Mentor, How to Help Beginning Teachers Succeed"

Kathleen Feeney Jonson

For Mentor Teachers(Edutopia)

Be Patient and Compassionate

As a veteran teacher, it can be hard to remember what it was like as a brand new teacher, or one considering jumping into the profession. Sometimes we focus so much on the technical side of becoming a teacher that we forget the social-emotional component. Heather reminds us, "New teachers are eager and passionate. They are also extremely scared and delicate. They need someone that they can trust. They need someone that they can celebrate with and also someone who will let them express their fears and concerns." Give new teachers the benefit of the doubt, be honest in feedback, and give time for improvement. After all, we were all there at some time.

Nurture Unit and Lesson Design

Sometimes we focus too much on delivery of the lesson rather than the design of the lesson itself. As mentor teachers, seek opportunities to let teacher candidates design or co-design lessons and units. I wrote about this belief in a previous blog. Ted says, "Providing as many opportunities as we can to design and create for the classroom is very important in changing the culture of education." I couldn't agree more.