Alexis Ducat and Sybil Humphries turned a conversation about first-year
teaching toward induction and mentoring programs. Alexis wrote:
How do we support new teachers? I'd like to start a New Teacher Academy--not
retired teachers, but teachers who would like to share their thoughts about
the real world. Is this feasible.
Alexis
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sybil Humphries wrote:
Please visit my portion of the Pickens County's Website which deals with
evaluation and mostly Induction Contract Teachers:
http://www.pickens.k12.sc.us/adept/TEAM/index.htm
This is how our induction program works:
Year One:
Assistance Team in the School (building admin. and a mentor)
- they are to do certain things during the year, such as observe give feedback,
etc.
- Year-Long Class (ours is called "Surviving Year One") At the
end of the year, the teacher may be rehired as an Annual Contract teacher
or as a Provisional Teacher.
Year Two:
ADEPT TEAM evaluation
-Three member team (One administrator from teacher's school, one teacher
who is matched by area and level, but NOT from the teacher's school, and
one OTHER evaluator. Other can be another administrator from another school,
another teacher from another school, may be matched or may not, OR it may
be someone from the district office. I am OTHER on a lot of teams because
I am contracted as a full time evaluator and serve on as many as 30 teams.)
-This goes on throughout the year with two reporting periods. Very complicated
process.
-Results can affect contract level (or if there is, in fact, to be a contract).
I would like to write a grant for a full time person just for the induction
year teachers. I have found that the teachers look to me as their personal
mentor, but my full time job is evaluator, and the induction class is really
a part-time job in addition to my 30 evaluation teams. These teachers need
an objective person to be an advocate for them, a person who will be on
a schedule for observing them and giving feedback, and even model instruction
practices. Their assistance team does this, but on a very limited basis
because of time demands of their own.
Does anybody know of a source for funding for a grant like this?
Since most of you are well acquainted with your own first year teaching
programs, and thought that someone might know of somewhere I could look
for help on this.
THANKS, Syb
----------------------------------------------------------------------
First-year teacher Stacy Goldberger wrote:
Right now I need to be a devil's advocate . . .
I have a few questions and statements concerning the issue of new teacher
induction programs. Being a first year teacher who is in a three year induction
program in New Jersey, I have to raise my concerns.
1. How will the mentors be chosen? Will they be willing or coaxed by an
administrator?
2. If the school or district does not have enough willing mentors, how
will it solve this problem?
3. How will the school or district monitor the mentor's part in the mentor/protege
relationship to make sure he or she is effective an actually willing.
4. In my program, the mentor protege relationship is priviledged. The issues
that face the first year teachers are supposed to remain and be solved
between the two individuals. How can this actually be enforced, especially
when the administrators and mentors are working together (even if they
are not supposed to be) to determine whether or not the new teacher is
rehired?
As a first year teacher, I am in a mentor/protege relationship. It isn't,
however, ideal or comfortable. I have been advised by my union rep. and
other teachers to bring my problems elsewhere.
SG
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Stacy, Excellent questions - I don't have those answers. I am still seeking
the answers for teachers like yourself who are struggling. Maybe the wonderful
teachers on our listserve can help us.
Alexis Ducat
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sybil replied to Stacy's questions:
Stacy, your concerns are valid for sure! I think the SC program is quite
different from yours in some ways. Our mentors are selected by the principal,
as is the specific building administrator on the assistance team. The overall
evaluation of the first year experience is done by the principal.
He or she takes into consideration the mid-year and end-of-year reviews
of the assistance team, input from the induction class, AND his or her
own knowledge and observation. It always comes down to the principal when
contract levels are being decided.
Our mentors are sometimes more willing and open than others. There is always
the negative one who does not do what he/she should, and as the instructor
of the class, I always hear about it, but am powerless to do much. I do,
however, get in touch with the administrator with these concerns. Sometimes
I do this on an overall information letter to principals because I do not
want to cause more problems for the teacher. On the other hand, we do not
give our mentors a stipend either, and that would probably help with some
attitudes. Because it takes quite a bit of time to do it correctly. It's
a commitment.
About the confidentiality - that's not an issue in my county that I know
of. The first year is assistance based rather than evaluation based. The
second year, when we do the comprehensive evaluation, is highly confidential
and we guard it well. I'm not sure what type of advice our PCEA might give
the induction teachers - it would be interesting to know. I know it is
very interested in the evaluation process for annual teachers - and seems
to think of it as "punitive" rather than evaluative. This has
been expressed on a number of occasions.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The SC program seems to be what my teacher induction program is supposed
to be. Perhaps my first year is supposed to be assisted and evaluative
at the same time. The program, however, does seem more punitive than constructive
(at least to me it does.)
I have been in touch with one of my former education professors, who does
understand my issues. Although she validates my concerns and observations,
the relationship is only so helpful when she lives in North Carolina and
I live in New Jersey. Ideally, she would observe me and give me constructive
feedback that would in no way work against me.
My district, however, does have staff development professionals who observe
use and assist us. The issues that come up or are discussed between the
new teacher and the staff development professional are confidential. My
first visit will be next monday; I wish it were earlier in the school year!
Stacy Goldberger
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In New York City we have a one year mentoring program for those teachers
who do not have student teaching. Those with student teaching get no official
mentor. I like the idea of a multi-year program for all new teachers.
Our problem is finding quality mentors. The mentors we get are usually
retired teachers who were very traditional. As an administrator I have
teachers coming to me complaining about the mentors, because they are actually
working against the progressive, child centered philosophy we advocate in
our academy. This presents a real problem for the new teachers who need
help, but cannot find it in their mentors, and are forced to give up preps
to meet with them.
When one of our "mentors" first came to our school, I asked her
not to go into the classroom until the teachers had met her and had a chance
to talk to her. She went in anyway while the teacher was teaching and started
talking to him. You can imagine what happened to the class. Then she went
into another class and had the teacher set up a team against team competition.
A big fight broke out.
She is still mentoring because we are mandated to have mentors, and just
can't find them.
Naomi Smith
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Janice Biscoe returned to the idea of a New Teacher Academy:
Hi Alexis and rest,
Great idea about the New Teacher Academy. In our district we have a very
structured mentoring program. As a new teacher many years ago, this was
unheard of where I began my career. Thank heavens for a teacher who took
me under her wing and guided me, listened, supported, and became a true
friend.
But, to the present.....I am now an administrator and when we are getting
new teachers we ask for volunteers to mentor them. (Of course, we do have
a few in mind that would be great). My style of leadership is shared participation
so I want everyone to have a stake in the issue.
Teachers have a half day meeting before the school year begins where they
are introduced (along with their mentors) and it is a relaxed atmosphere.
We have teams in our school and a team all has the same prep or IST team
planning time. Mentors meet once a week with their teachers and discuss
a variety of subjects, from discipline to any personality problems. Of course,
they also do other things with their teachers, lunch on a weekend, get togethers,
etc....
As an administrator, I meet with the new teachers once every two weeks to
review how things are going. This is a fantastic time for me because I feel
I am helping and aiding new teachers and of course, in the end, the students.
I go into the rooms - not for the formal or informal observations - but
to let them know and the students that I am here. I have received feedback
that they enjoy this and the added benefit is that we are all understanding
each other much better. I have learned each teacher's strengths in teaching
and I am also able to observe the maturation of the teachers and how they
use new ideas and thoughts.
We have forms to fill out - who doesn't! But let's face it, we all have
a hard job to do and with the narratives, journals, logs, etc....and teacher
portfolios, at the end of the teacher's first year, they will be able to
look back and see how they have fared. In fact, I am also able to do that
as one of my administrative goals for the year.
Just thought I would add my two cents!
Janice Biscoe
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexis Ducat replied to Janice Biscoe:
Dear Janice,
Thanks so very much. We, also have an induction period - about 3 days before
school starts in September entitled New Teacher Orientation. However, they
are given so much information, their heads are spinning.
Even if they are coming from all different levels, experiences, learning
styles, etc., it is the day-to-day, week-to-week questions that need to
be addressed. Basically, New Teacher Orientation gives the new teachers
an overview of the district--yet within the district, as you well know,
each school has its own population.
We also are team oriented and have all five days blocked with one hour of
professional dialogue - either curriculum development, student support,
standards initiative, flexible scheduling. I like your idea, but do not
think that on every team in my school there is a new teacher, so that format
might not work. I just know I finished helping a teaching write a letter
to her parents outlining her plans in her Language class during the second
marking period. I spent one half hour this morning soothing a new teacher
as she wondered what to do about grades vs. learning, and can she raise
a student 10 points if he/she has really showed improvement during the last
month of school by staying after, applying real effort--not relating to
grades, but to learning.
There are so many questions. Even though I am a mentor to a new teacher,
this still isn't enough. Again, I am left with answers.
Alexis
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Then Canadian teacher Brenda Dyck shared her thoughts on mentoring first-year
teachers:
Several years ago the Alberta government alloted money to schools to offer
an internship program for first year teachers. A first year teacher opted
to participate. They were paid a wage (only about half what they would have
normally received) and the school recieved the rest. Surprisingly the cooperating
teacher (I was one) did not receive any payment. It actually went fairly
well for me and the gal who worked with me but I do have some thoughts on
the process:
1) it is very important to match compatability of teacher and intern. This
isn't just about personality, it is about teaching style.There will be disasterous
results if you have an abstract random person with a concrete sequential
person. Some of this can be anticiapted with simple Briggs-Meyers testing
on both teacher and intern
2) a stipend to the cooperating teacher should be a given. There will be
hours and hours of dialogue necessary throughout the year a steacher and
intern sort through questions, problems etc. This recognizes the input required.
A wise school will even schedule an extra planning time (that teacher/intern
share) to allow for dialogue and planning
3) the intern should view this as an interning year (just like a doctor
in training). Unless they view this year (complete with less salary) as
part of their personal learning process they may resent the work involved
and the posture of being a learner. In many ways I believe that this year
could be part of the Education degree, not in addition to it.Having observed
many struggling first year teachers (especially in Middle/High School),
the interning process is a very proactive way to enter this demanding profession.
Without the considerations above I think a first year mentoring program
has the potential of crashing leaving both teacher and intern with a very
bad taste in their mouth.
Sincerely
Brenda Dyck
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ellen Berg replied to Brenda -- and raised questions about the role of
universities:
I completely agree with Brenda. It occured to me while I was working on
my degree that I spent very little time actually working with students,
and even less time discussing/learning about practical classroom management
strategies.
I believe that the full amount of training I ever got on classroom management
(and specifically discipline) was a 1-hour seminar at the beginning of my
student teaching.
I understand that universities want to arm their teacher candidates with
plenty of background theory about student development, learning theory,
and teaching methods, but we all know that with poor classroom management
and a lack of discipline, little or no real learning takes place in the
classroom. Why is it that the state officials who create the requirements
for teacher certification fail to realize what we all know within a month
or two of "real" teaching?
Wouldn't it be nice if universities would switch their programs to include
a full year of student-teaching complete with study groups to help new teachers
reflect on their practice? During that year, student teachers would have
the support of fellow interns, a cooperating teacher, and a university professional.
Many good habits could be cultivated so that regardless of where the intern
found a position, s/he would already be well on their way to being successful.
So many issues could really be addressed....how to start the year, interdisciplinary
teaching, differentiation, etc.
I don't know about you all, but my student teaching experience, while positive,
did little to prepare me for having my own classroom. I learned most of
what I needed to know about classroom management and discipline while subbing
full-time at a high school and through my own investigation. I think many
new teachers who lack the support of their peers look at their failures
as static--i.e. they are just not able to teach well--instead of dynamic--this
failure is feedback, I can and need to do something different.
I think the teachers I admire most in my building are the ones who look
closely at what is going on and then change what they're doing. They believe
they have the power to make positive changes in the classroom. I think those
teachers that play the blame game--it's the other teachers on the team,
it's the administration, the kids, the parents, society, etc.--really believe
that they have no influence on what happens in their classrooms or that
they, themselves are failures but are afraid to admit it.
I had a conference with one of my kids last week about his grade in my classroom
last quarter. I asked him if he wanted to earn that same grade again, and
he said, "No way!" So I asked him why he expected different results
when he was doing the same things he did last quarter. He looked at me and
said, "I never thought of it that way."
Okay, I guess I'll get off my soapbox. I just think we need to do more to
prepare incoming teachers as well as giving appropriate, non-threatening
support to our less-successful colleagues. If we continue to criticize them
behind their backs, will anything change? No. But what if each of us deliberately
sought out a struggling teacher to just talk to on occasion and to offer
our support. OR, what if we went to them with a question about our own practice,
to ask for their opinions? It might work, it might not, but at least we'd
be trying something different.
Ellen Berg
St. Louis, MO
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Karen Onyx described one district's helpful practice:
I agree with Ellen and Brenda. While working on my certification, I spent
a year as an ed. assistant in a special ed classroom with an exceptional
teacher. Not only did she model a variety of different methods, but she
also allowed me to experiment and try different methods on my own. At the
end of each day, we would discuss the effectiveness of each method and
what to do to improve. This type of apprenticeship was much more effective
than either my schooling or my student teaching.
During my 1st year as a "real" teacher, my current district had
a program for 1st year teachers. We (the new teachers) met monthly with
a retired teacher. While the retired teacher wasn't totally effective,
the chance to meet with other 1st year teachers was invaluable. We also
were provided with mentor teachers (stipend $800). The combination of having
mentors and meeting with other 1st years helped us all to survive.
Several years ago I was asked to mentor an alternate route teacher. While
we couldn't necessarily discuss subject matter (she taught art and I 6th
grade) we could discuss organizational strategies, management styles, and
different ways that we could integrate our subject matter. We both learned
a great deal.
I think most 1st year teachers need the time to think about what they are
doing and how they could impove. Usually 1st year is spent putting out
fires.
I'm not sure that our district has continued the program.
Karen Onyx
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Karen Onyx wrote:
"I think most 1st year teachers need the time to think about what they
are doing and how they could impove. Usually 1st year is spent putting out
fires."
I think our involvement on this list shows how much we all need "time
to think and discuss what we're doing and how we could improve". It's
a shame that our systems don't recognize this reality and give us the time
and structures to regularize reflection and collaboration.
I'm pleased that most schools do provide some measure of support to new
teachers, but the notion that collaboration is only for beginners is a
serious part of the "close your door and go it alone" mentality
that holds back our progress.
I'm wondering what supports are available in other schools or systems for
peer coaching or team planning. Do teachers engage with others regularly
or is it an individual decision?
I was very frustrated with the mentality that still had folks "putting
out fires" and counting down to June, year after year.
Deborah Bambino
Phladelphia, PA
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Amy Heinsma replied to Ellen Berg's suggestions about university year-long
internships with study groups, etc.:
What an awesome idea - I forwarded to several people at the University of
Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado near where I live that is known for
teacher preparation!
Amy
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Amy, look up information on Professional Development Schools. I did both
my practicum and student teaching in a PDS - where the university professors
not only taught the students--but the teachers as well. It was an incredible
experience.
Alexis
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wonderful ideas! I must be cynical today, but I often wonder how much of
my university training prepared me for the classroom or the principal's
position. Let's get those students into the field as often as possible!
Michelle Pedigo
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John Norton wrote about some mentoring programs he's seen:
Some of you know that in another but related life, I'm a freelance education
writer. I've recently been searching with one of my clients for good teacher
induction programs in a nearby state, and we've found shockingly few "smart"
programs.
One of the "smarter" efforts I've seen (in another state) included
a district-level program that sponsored weekly and monthly evening classes
for first-year teachers, where they worked with district-level specialists
and shared their stress-filled lives with other colleagues in the same
boat. At one school in that district, there were four core-subject teacher
coaches who spent a lot of their time supporting new (1st, 2nd, 3rd yr)
teachers with everything from classroom management to project/standards
oriented teaching in the subject matter. These teachers were selected for
their cutting-edge expertise. Their presence had a huge positive effect.
Ironically, the coaches were not placed in the school primarily to serve
new teachers. But they quickly picked up the most pressing work, as good
teachers will.
They found, as so many of you have found, that the traditional mentor teacher
program in the school was inadequate to meet the needs of a large group
of new teachers who had not been prepared by their colleges for classes
filled with low achieving urban kids. These new teachers needed the help
of folks who were not responsible for a full teaching load of their own.
I suspect, frankly, that there's no way for colleges to prepare new teachers
for the shock of the first year, short of internships where teacher ed
students spent a LOT of time in classrooms prior to earning their own.
I did see this model in one Alabama district, and the difference it made
was enormous. One Auburn U. intern I interviewd worked at least two days
a week all year with her mentor teacher. She was so much more savvy about
the "job to come" than her classmates who were in the traditional
"practice teaching" mode.
There are many ways to improve the current situation, if folks are willing
to spend the money to do it. And when you consider that a study by the
So. Regional Ed Board found that about 35% of new teachers quit by their
fourth year, it might make a lot of economic sense to spend more money
on induction and beginning teacher support. How much $$ do we waste when
we educate folks at taxpayers expense and they leave after a few years?
John
----------------------------------------------------------------------
John - well said. I just finished a middle-level staff development meeting
where we broached this subject--supporting and nurturing new teachers.
Some teacher preparation programs have teachers begin in Sept until Dec.
Great - they get to see how the first days of school are set up. Some programs
have teachers start in Jan and end in May - they never really get to see
the end of a school year. It is all misaligned and miscued.
One of our middle schools hold monthly new teacher meetings. We, today,
decided to pass out a questionnaire to new teachers and their mentors/buddies
to see what their pressing needs are. I suspect many do not even know the
questions to ask, but by now - in November, after those first grades are
in, they are feeling just a little bit better or worse. Once the questionnaires
are compiled, we'll come up with a 12 week theme for all new teachers and
go from there--depending on their needs. This will be the focus for our
New Teacher Academy.
Alexis Ducat
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I've read with great interest the discussions on mentoring new teachers,
and thought these ideas might resonate with you! These are some current
recommendations for new teacher induction programs. (I wonder if this is
happening anywhere?)
= Provide time. View induction as a multi-year, developmental process. Help
teachers learn (1) subject-specific issues in curriculum and instructional
practices and (2) basic professional skills, such as learning how to communicate
effectively with parents or evaluating students' learning and writing informative
reports on their progress.
= Provide activities to focus new teachers on professional growth. Create
a required reading list. Establish an 18-hour hotline for new teachers and
get them involved in their subject's professional associations. Send new
teachers to professional conferences with experienced teachers. Call on
them to write new-teacher handbooks and to utilize Internet networks.
= Train school administrators to be knowledgeable and alert to new teachers'
needs, and to refrain from assigning inductees to classes they are not qualified
to teach or loading them up with extra duties.
= Provide a first-class mentoring program backed up by funding adequate
to serve all eligible inductees. Select highly competent classroom teachers
to work with inductees and train them. Release these mentors from regular
classroom duties for observations, demonstration lessons, and meetings with
new teachers. Be sure to support, assist, and evaluate mentors.
= Involve new teachers in peer support groups. Invest in technology to facilitate
communication. Provide E-mail, online forums, and electronic bulletin boards
for inductees to share ideas, concerns, and to communicate with mentors,
professors, and other teachers. Also provide access to confidential counseling.
= Provide sufficient resources. Effective teacher induction costs money.
Avoid broadening policies for teacher induction without fully considering
the cost of implementing them effectively.
= Evaluate the effectiveness of the induction program. Indicators might
include new teacher retention rates, knowledge, skills, confidence, and
satisfaction.
As an FYI - One induction program at East Carolina University - the
Peer Coaching Project - has grabbed national attention. This initiative
began with six pairs of teachers who worked together to share ideas, watch
each other teach, and conduct classroom research. Each of these 12 teachers
coached another teacher the following year. By 1995, two hundred and forty-five
teachers in three districts were working together in peer coaching partnerships.
Anne Jolly
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Amy, look up information on Professional Development Schools. I did both
my practicum and student teaching in a PDS - where the university professors
not only taught the students--but the teachers as well. It was an incredible
experience.
Alexis
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Stuart wrote about coaching for "on-going" teachers:
In response to Deb's asking about mentor-type models, like peer coaching
for on-going teachers.....
the New York State Education Department has a Peer Teaching Academy. Teachers
submit lessons for Peer Review, and those making it to statewide review
have the "opportunity" to get feedback on all aspects of the
lesson from a wide range of content and process experts.
Obviously, you gotta be pretty sure of yourself to want this feedback.
However...they have created a nice process that can be implemented locally
and utilized for all teachers, not just the ones with model lessons. The
most helpful part of the process, I think, is the utilization of "LEOs"
rather than lesson plans. It looks at the Learning Experience Outcomes
from a student perspective, rather than what's gonna get covered from the
teacher's perspective.
You can check the outline for the Peer Review process out at web.nysed.gov,
and go the New York State Academy for Teaching and Learning from there.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Betsy Burch, a California principal, got on her teacher preparation "soapbox":
I second that - great ideas and so very important - especially at the middle
school level, which in my state does not have the support of a credential
program. This is really one of my soapboxes - I just started reading the
brand new Turning Points 2000
and skimmed the chapter on teacher preparation.
The basic premise is that without well prepared teachers who are specifically
trained to be middle school teachers, reform in middle school programs will
continue to be a struggle. And, here in California, that has become a real
crisis in the midst of our severe teacher shortage. Since few people seem
to want to grow up to be middle school teachers in the best of times, every
middle school in my district not only started the year with open positions
filled with long term subs and many of us still have openings. But, back
to teacher preparation.
If I ran the world of teacher preparation and could design my own ideal
program it would look like this. First, there would be a distinct middle
school credential. Second, when students are still undergrads, they should
be given positive observation experiences in great middle schools and time
spent listening to enthusiastic middle school teachers who have made middle
school their career. Getting to know real live middle school kids at this
point would also be a big incentive.
Third, intern-like programs should be designed with teachers who are trained
to be master teachers and agree to work with the intern for a year. That
everyday kind of experience is the only way to really prepare someone for
the real world of teaching. The univ. profs need to be out in the middle
schools, learning about them, seeing them in action and supporting them
with the research time and reflection professors have the luxury of having
time for.
I had an interesting experience a few weeks ago at a local university. I,
along with two of my teachers, interviewed a group of potential student
teachers. Of the nine that we interviewed, NONE wanted to be middle school
teachers. So, we asked them why because we were so frustrated with not finding
anyone who wanted to be a student teacher in our school. They all told us
that they really had not learned anything about middle schools in any of
their course work and had heard horror stories about how hard it is to teach
at the middle school level. Those reflections convinced me that the middle
school teaching idea has to begin early in the undergrad education process.
A radical thought (remember, I went to Berkeley!) - how could the power
of this listserv group begin to promote the great need for a middle school
credential in every state? And, after we accomplish that, how could we influence
the design of ideal middle school credential programs?
That's all for tonight, folks - tomorrow I meet my External Evaluator for
my Underperforming School grant - she sounds great on the phone, so I am
feeling very positive. My highly optimistic goal is to find a way to convince
my staff and my parent community that it would be good for our kids to try
and adopt the Turning Points model program as a basis for our improvement
plan. I can now start to use some of the very generous suggestions many
of you have given me over the months that this listserv has been up and
running.
Goodnight all...
Betsy Burch
----------------------------------------------------------------------
John Norton replied to Betsy Burch:
It's kind of a Catch-22, Betsy. Last year I interviewed folks at three
or four universities about this very issue. Most of them had avoided middle
grades credentialing programs -- or tried them and failed. In each case,
the college admins. told me that they just couldn't get students to go
into the programs. No students, no programs. No programs, no students.
Your idea is the right one -- to give students more opportunities to work
in m.s. classrooms early in their college careers, before they commit to
a particular credential. Long Beach State has started doing this, and it's
really helping them recruit. Across the USA, the myth of the impossible
middle schoolers is keeping good folks away from the middle grades.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Susan Hurstcalderone asked about mentoring on-line:
Greetings Naomi and All,
Acknowledging that a talking to a person face to face is the optimum, what
about the possibility of mentoring from outside the building using online
mentors. These could be teachers in other buildings within your system who
are willing to be mentors but the distance factor prevents the direct contact.
A science group, of which I am a member, uses online mentors....and it has
worked to connect the new teachers with a "veteran" for the day-to-day
questions that arise. Just an idea to consider...look how it has brought
this group together.
Susan Hurstcalderone Bethesda, MD
Editor's note: Listserv manager John Norton later posted this URL
which links to a teacher mentoring website:
http://www.teachnet.org/docs/ntol/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nancy Long wrote about taking advantage of master teachers:
Last night I had a chance to visit with a retired elementary school principal,
now 79. He told about a speaker he'd heard at the retired teachers' assn.
meeting this week, a retired nun who had been in the classroom for many
years.
She said one of the worst things happening in education today is that teacher
burn-out levels are epidemic because of large class sizes, paperwork, OCR
regulations about midifying for special populations, discipline, and such.
Master teachers are taking early retirement in record numbers just to get
relief from the stress. But they are the ones who are needed most of all
in the classroom.
Her solution: Retired teachers should support the master teachers who are
near retirement. They should work with small groups, or take the large
class so the teacher can work with the students who need extra help; they
should help with paperwork, provide encouragement, and do all the things
mentors do, to keep these teachers from leaving the field of education.
Even once or twice a week would take some of the load off.
What a concept!
Nancy Long
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Larry Tash replied:
In my school and in our district, we encourage schools to have retired outstanding
teachers come back on a periodic basis to work with our newer teachers.
They are not bound to working with teachers of any number of years of experience
because they are not mentors. Mentoring is very valuable, but it takes three
years, I think, before a teacher knows enough about themselves and the job
to find out if they are in the right profession.
Larry Tash
----------------------------------------------------------------------
John Norton wrote:
Thanks so much to everyone for the great discussion on new teacher induction,
support, mentoring, and much more. I'm looking forward to compiling this
conversation and sharing it with several national groups that are working
on this issue with state policymakers. Your voices will be heard!
Meanwhile, you might find this recent article at Education World of interest.
It describes Connecticut's BEST program, which has gotten a good bit of
attention as a model for other states. (This description is from the weekly
MiddleWeb "articles of interest" e-list):
CONNECTICUT 'S BEGINNING TEACHER PORTFOLIO http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin201.shtml
Connecticut's demanding two-year support and assessment program for new
teachers -- Beginning Educator Support and Training (BEST) -- is gaining
national attention. The program includes mentoring, seminars, a personal
portfolio, and an analysis of the teacher's performance. This story at
the Education World website includes interviews with new and veteran teachers
involved in the program and links to more information.
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