Friday, June 30, 2017
You are very important!!
The research on mentoring is clear about the importance of the building administrator in both the success and the satisfaction of a new teacher. No matter how supportive and helpful the new teacher’s mentor is, new teachers still seek and need feedback and approval from their building administrators. Send them the message that “you are valued, we want you to succeed, and we want you to stay”.
Thursday, June 29, 2017
So what can you do?
Please read the following list for some good suggestions.
Here is a link to a list of topics that new teachers need to know about in your school. This list was put together by a group of principals in the ND South East Education Cooperative. It might be helpful for you in preparing to meet with your new teachers at the beginning of the year.
Here is another link, this one to a calendar of suggestions for supporting your new teachers during each month of the school year. It contains suggestions for both building administrators and mentors. We’ll be sharing this list with your mentors and your first-year teachers, also.
This is a volume of the New Teacher Center's Reflections newsletter devoted to The Vital Role of the Principal in Teacher Induction. Other articles include Convergent Coaching, A Theory of Action for Coaching-Based Supervision, The Principal: A Key to Beginning Teacher Success, and A Culture of Collaboration.
Here is a link to a list of topics that new teachers need to know about in your school. This list was put together by a group of principals in the ND South East Education Cooperative. It might be helpful for you in preparing to meet with your new teachers at the beginning of the year.
Here is another link, this one to a calendar of suggestions for supporting your new teachers during each month of the school year. It contains suggestions for both building administrators and mentors. We’ll be sharing this list with your mentors and your first-year teachers, also.
Another interesting resource can be found at
This is a volume of the New Teacher Center's Reflections newsletter devoted to The Vital Role of the Principal in Teacher Induction. Other articles include Convergent Coaching, A Theory of Action for Coaching-Based Supervision, The Principal: A Key to Beginning Teacher Success, and A Culture of Collaboration.
One of the most worthwhile things you can do for your mentor pairs is to provide them with schedules that allow them time to communicate and work together.
Two kinds of support that new teachers require are psychological and instruction-related (Gold 1996). We all know that good collaboration takes time … and unless the mentor and new teacher have time to work together, it’s unlikely that the relationship will actually be much more than a buddy system … and we won’t see the kinds of improvement in instructional skills that we would like to see. As much as possible, when you are doing planning for a new school year, try to support your first-year teachers by scheduling shared lunch hours or preparation time with their mentors.
Two kinds of support that new teachers require are psychological and instruction-related (Gold 1996). We all know that good collaboration takes time … and unless the mentor and new teacher have time to work together, it’s unlikely that the relationship will actually be much more than a buddy system … and we won’t see the kinds of improvement in instructional skills that we would like to see. As much as possible, when you are doing planning for a new school year, try to support your first-year teachers by scheduling shared lunch hours or preparation time with their mentors.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
The final step of this training
The final step for you is to send me an email (to ecjacobson@nd.gov) by Friday, October 12, 2018 answering the following questions. This email is a necessary part of your personal requirements for your school to participate in the Teacher Support System Mentoring Program.
Here are the questions you need to answer:
1. How closely do the mentors you have chosen for the first-year teachers in your building fit the guidelines for selecting a mentor?
2. Do you have any concerns about how you will meet the requirements of the Teacher Support System program?
3. Does your building presently have a culture that is supportive of new teachers? If so, what are the characteristics that make it so? If not, what can you as the building leader do to make it a better place for new teachers to work?
4. What are your personal plans for how you will support the new teachers in your building?
5. What was the most helpful part of this training for you? (And we'll take suggestions on how to make it better, too!)
Thank you for completing this training in support of the new teachers in your building. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns you have about how we might best support your work.
Erin Jacobson
701-328-9644
ecjacobson@nd.gov
Here are the questions you need to answer:
1. How closely do the mentors you have chosen for the first-year teachers in your building fit the guidelines for selecting a mentor?
2. Do you have any concerns about how you will meet the requirements of the Teacher Support System program?
3. Does your building presently have a culture that is supportive of new teachers? If so, what are the characteristics that make it so? If not, what can you as the building leader do to make it a better place for new teachers to work?
4. What are your personal plans for how you will support the new teachers in your building?
5. What was the most helpful part of this training for you? (And we'll take suggestions on how to make it better, too!)
Thank you for completing this training in support of the new teachers in your building. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns you have about how we might best support your work.
Erin Jacobson
701-328-9644
ecjacobson@nd.gov
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