THE MANY ROLES OF A MENTOR

An overview of mentor support and its forms

Reflection Warm-up

•  Make a list of strengths and experiences you bring mentoring.

•  What areas of mentoring are you most concerned about?

•  Think back to your first years teaching. What forms of support did you receive? In what ways could that support have been improved?

Objectives Mentor teacher will be able to: •  Identify the various roles and responsibilities

he or she may be required to take •  Identify potential areas of strength or weakness

as a mentor •  List resources to recommend to the beginning

teacher.

The Many Roles of a Mentor Often, mentors are chosen because of their: – Exemplary teaching skills – Experience in the field – Willingness to complete the assignment

All of this is important, but as a mentor, your role in as a teacher of teachers may require different skills than what you bring to teaching your students.

(Roehrig et al., 2008)

The Many Roles of the Mentor

The Peabody Framework •  Peabody graduates are prepared through

expanding upon their: – Knowledge of Subject Matter – Understanding Learners

and Learning –  Initial Repertoire – Conceptions of Practice

The Many Roles of the Mentor In addition to assisting beginning teachers in applying the framework of their preservice training, mentors provide support in:

•  Organizational Contexts and Purposes – Supporting the teacher’s acclimation to the school

•  The Positive Aspects of Teaching – Emotional support through the trials of the first

years. (Achinstein & Athanases, 2006)

The Many Roles of the Mentor

The remainder of this module will examine each of these roles in depth. With each role you will be asked to reflect upon: – Areas of personal strength and weakness that may

impact your mentee – Other resources in your school, district and

community that your mentee can access – Your expectations for the fulfillment of the role

Knowledge of Subject Matter

•  Support teachers translation of subject matter knowledge into effective and developmentally appropriate lessons.

•  Help with resources for regional history or other content knowledge specific to your region

Knowledge of Subject Matter

Take a few minutes now to complete the “Knowledge of Subject Matter” page on the Mentoring Resources Inventory.

Be as inclusive as possible as this will be a tool for you to use throughout the mentoring relationship.

Learners and Learning

Beginning teachers must focus on and organize classroom management first in order to be effective teachers later. (Feiman-Nemser et al., 1999)

In order to effectively manage the classroom, a teacher needs a strong knowledge of his or her students as learners.

Learners and Learning

Classroom Management •  Help your mentee to: – Establish and trouble shoot a classroom

management plan – Establish culturally appropriate family

communication systems – Appropriately implement any school wide

management techniques

Learners and Learning

Progress Monitoring •  Coach the beginning teacher through: – Administering formative assessments and CBMs – Establishing data-gathering and progress

monitoring procedures – Analyzing data to create groups for instruction and

intervention

Learners and Learning Make sure beginning teacher is prepared for diversity in: – Student Population

•  Learning profiles •  Ethnic and socioeconomic diversity •  Linguistic diversity

– Parent Population •  Levels of education •  Levels of availability and involvement •  Expectation of the teacher

(Achinstein & Athanses, 2006)

Learners and Learning

Take a few minutes now to complete the “Knowledge of Subject Matter” page on the Mentoring Resources Inventory.

Initial Repertoire

Beginning teachers have been taught research based strategies and developed a toolbox of teaching techniques. It is up to the mentor teacher to help them expand upon their knowledge and apply it .

Initial Repertoire Curriculum •  Help the beginning teacher to – Access the district standards – Apply curricula and texts adopted by the school

•  Make sure teacher can access any professional development associated with text book adoptions.

•  To what extent is the teacher required to follow these curricula?

– Map long term plans •  Using CBM and objectives, the teacher will create a

timeline for the objectives that he or she must cover. (Brooks, 1999)

Initial Repertoire You may also need to: –  Serve as a source for ideas on lessons and materials

•  What supplemental materials are available in the library or school community?

•  What materials do you have experience with? – Help with expansion and application of skills in

teacher’s instructional repertoire. •  What classroom structures are you most comfortable with

implementing? •  What structures are other teachers in the school expert with?

(Brooks, 1999)

Initial Repertoire

Take a few minutes now to complete the “Initial Repertoire” page on the Mentoring Resources Inventory.

Conceptions of Practice

•  Cultivating reflective practice, especially in the first years of teaching is a key to professional success. (Bullough et al. 2008)

•  Observations can be used to help teachers reflect, but when observations are not possible other tools can work as well. – Reflective protocols will also be introduced in

future modules

Conceptions of Practice

•  Your role as a mentor is to provide encourage reflection so the teacher can make decisions in his or her classroom.

•  Mentees can reflect on: – Lessons planned – Lessons taught – Classroom management in a specific situation –  Student success –  Professional growth over the course of the year

(Wood, 1999)

Conceptions of Practice •  Instead of evaluating the teacher’s performance –  For instance stating:

•  I need to see more… •  You need to …

•  Use reflexive stems to prompt the teacher’s own reflection. –  For example:

•  What worked best about this lesson was… •  What I would like to improve in my communication with Mr.

and Mrs. Blackman is… (Wood, 1999)

Conceptions of Practice

•  Help the beginning teacher access professional resources on campus –  In what areas do you feel strongest as a teacher and

most able to provide support? – Which teachers identify as experts in a particular

area (writing, science, cooperative learning, etc.) and would be willing to provide additional support?

– Who are the curriculum specialists on campus and what supports and services do they provide?

Conceptions of Practice

•  Help the beginning teacher to access professional development opportunities. – What professional development is required in by

the school or district? – What additional professional development may be

helpful to the beginning teacher? – What local professional organizations can the new

teacher get involved with from the start? – How does the teacher request professional

development days?

Conceptions of Practice

Take a few minutes now to complete the “Conceptions of Practice” portion of the Mentoring Resources Inventory.

Organizational Contexts and Purposes

•  Beginning teachers are also new employees at your school. As a mentor, you support them by: – Making sure they know key personnel and the

types of support they can expect from each. Familiarize them with : •  Curriculum specialists •  Support staff •  Custodial staff

Organizational Contexts and Purposes

•  Be sure they are comfortable with school procedures: – Student Management

•  Lunch •  Restroom •  Dismissal •  Morning and afternoon duty •  Committees and meetings

– Administrative expectations for lesson planning – Making copies

Organizational Contexts and Purposes

•  Be sure they are comfortable with school procedures: – Accessing materials

•  Manipulatives •  Textbooks •  Classroom supplies

– Office Referrals – Any other questions from the faculty handbook

Organizational Contexts and Purposes

Take a few minutes now to complete the “Organizational Contexts and Purposes” portion of the Mentoring Resources Inventory.

The Positive Aspects of Teaching

Moir’s stages of teaching model shows that teachers tend to become discouraged and lose perspective in the first year. (1999)

Mentor support can help redirect their focus to the positives of the profession and why they selected it in the first place.

(Kagen, 1992)

The Positive Aspects of Teaching

•  Provide emotional support by listening to the beginning teacher’s concerns, progress, and questions

•  Express positive feelings about the profession and help the teacher to attain those same feelings.

•  Help the beginning teacher cope with the details of teaching.

(Brooks, 1999)

The Positive Aspects of Teaching

•  Be available as a trustworthy buddy: – Ask the beginning teacher about his or her needs

and concerns about professional growth and school climate and participation.

– Allow the new teacher to openly discuss matters without concern of judgment.

– Provide a safe environment for answering any questions the teacher may have.

(Lakein, 1999)

Positive Aspects of Teaching

•  Help prevent burnout by promoting balance: – Ask about interests and activities outside of school – Encourage other activities – Praise progress and improvement, not just

perfection (Kagan, 1992)

Positive Aspects of Teaching

Take a few minutes now to complete the “Positive Aspects of Teaching” portion of the Mentoring Resources Inventory.

Conclusion

•  Not all items listed in the inventory will be immediately relevant for your mentee. In a future module, we will address induction and what support is needed for the very beginning of the year.

•  The inventory is intended to be a living document. Add to it as you learn of new resources.