what you can expect from your mentor
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS
Let us begin our work together with the student's learning experience at the center of everything we do.
MY PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE WITH PEER COACHING AND MENTORING
Too often educators work in isolation without the time or opportunity to collaborate with colleagues. These "teacher islands" come with a significant cost to the school climate, the students’ learning, and the teachers’ health and well being. More than 50% of teachers leave the profession within the first five years, and it is most often attributed to being isolated and alone in one's practice. Fundamentally, the teacher-mentor relationship is a process of collaboration in which we share best-practices, problem solve, gather data through observation and collection of student work, and reflect prior to implementing new strategies. It is a recursive process of improvement. The classroom teacher leads the work; the mentor teacher guides and supports and models. STUDENT DATA AND STUDENT LEARNING The purpose of collecting data is to inform practice. These are just a few of the ways teachers can gather information that informs their classroom instruction:
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A TYPICAL SESSION TEACHER-MENTOR SESSION
Pre-conference or a pre-assessment of goals and objectives. At this meeting, you identify what specific component of your classroom instruction you want to focus on. You will have a specific lesson in mind with essential questions, the framework of that lesson within a larger unit, the students involved, and any desired outcomes. Guidance at this stage might include helping you anticipate what to expect or asking you to consider another vantage point. Observation. During the observation, I will not participate in the lesson; I will take notes and might look for the following:
Post-conference/post assessment. Ideally, the post conference will happen soon after the observation to maintain relevancy. At this time, we will discuss the lesson with you leading the conversation. I will ask questions focusing on what went well, what you might consider doing differently. I like to use these words given to me by one of my mentor teachers: celebrations and considerations. What can we celebrate about the lesson and what would you consider doing differently. The focus of this conversation is always on the student learning. Not only is teaching a recursive process, so is this relationship of teacher-mentor. I will be learning from you, so it’s vital that we have good communication. I need to know what’s working for you and what’s not: what can we celebrate about our time together and what should we consider doing differently. Be honest, don’t worry about my feelings. I am here to serve your needs and support your very important work with the students. |