Mentoring Newsletter
A guide to working with mentees at your school site
November 2022:
Hello, BPS mentors.
Welcome to November! For new teachers, this time of year can be a mix of anticipation for the holidays and stress over new challenges at work. Please check out the graph below. Share with your new teachers and encourage them to stay strong -- their feelings are normal and will start to turn around after winter break. Let them know they've got this!
Three reminders for lead mentors to share with your mentoring teams:
- Schedule observations of new teachers using the data-collection tools and conference forms located on the Induction website. Idea: Use video if there are time constraints.
- Observation feedback sentence-starters could be: When was learning best? How do you know a strategy helped students learn? What does it look like to be successful in your lesson today?
- If a teacher has resigned or is on a leave of absence, it must be notated on the Induction Roster. The Induction Roster is a live document and should be updated if there is a change in staff. Just make sure it's up to date!
Ideas for supporting new teachers through this month:
1.Personal: Discuss the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday with your mentee. If this is the new teacher's first major holiday away from family, brainstorm with them what they might do to minimize the loneliness and make the holiday fun and rewarding. Also, strongly suggest to the new teachers that they walk out the door for Thanksgiving vacation with no schoolwork in hand. We should all use the break to rejuvenate and re-energize!
2. Professional: Check in with your mentee to see if they need assistance in completing forms or requirements for certification. Almost half our new teachers are on temporary certificates. Remind them that emails from Dinah Kramer, Sharon Doucett-Doran, Lisa Stanley, and Tracy Seibert actually ARE intended for them personally.
3. Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment: Talk to your mentees about what formative assessments they are using on a frequent basis and what feedback those assessments are giving them to tweak their teaching. Many new teachers don’t have a solid grasp on formative assessments so you may have to give a few suggestions (exit slips, teacher questions, etc.) Also, be sure that the new teachers do not fall into the all-day "turkey and Pilgrim" trap in the days leading up to break. Help them make plans to maximize meaningful active learning experiences before Thanksgiving break.
4. Organizational Systems: Keep reviewing efficiency and effectiveness of classroom procedures and identify new procedures that may need to be developed.
5. Students: For secondary teachers – assist new teachers in working with students who ask for letters of recommendation to accompany their college applications. Share some examples of letters others have written.
6. Colleagues: Continue to engage new teachers in collegial analysis and discussion of student achievement and classroom assessment data. Also, if possible, identify colleagues who would be willing to have your mentee observe in their classroom for a period. Observing two or three procedures/skills/transitions done well by a veteran teacher is one of the most impactful ways that new teachers learn and make changes in their own classrooms.
7. School Systems: Discuss leave, student absenteeism and the student make-up work policy surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday.
8. Parents and Community: Remind your mentee that multiple positive and productive parental contacts before report cards are sent home can reduce questions about grades.
*Special Education teachers: Check in with the new ESE teachers to ensure that their system for interacting on a regular basis with each of the general education teachers and other educators working with their students is working. Have them share evidence of successful collaboration.
Enjoy Veteran's Day off and, if you are a veteran, thank you for your service. Additionally, have a peaceful Thanksgiving holiday. We in BPS' Professional Learning and Development department are so thankful for you!
- Bridget Reed
reed.bridget@brevardschools.org
Breakdown and suggestions taken from Paula Rutherford's Just Ask Publications
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⭐New Teacher Trainings to Share⭐
Upcoming trainings:
November 14th: Learning Cycle & Differentiation 8:30-3:30 pm ESF Rooms 7&8 Section #413875
December 8th: Assessment & Feedback 5:00-7:00 pm ESF Rooms 7&8 Section #413887
Please contact Tracy Seibert for more information at seibert.tracy@brevardschools.org or ext. 11237
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New Teacher Academy, October 13, 2022
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Clinical Educator Training (CET) October 24, 2022
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$$$ Teacher Discounts $$$
With the holidays right around the corner, check out some of these discounts for Florida teachers. Mentors, share these links with your mentees.
Best Teacher Discounts in 2022: The Ultimate List (weareteachers.com)
Teacher Entertainment Discounts & Deals - Teacher Travel Discounts
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✔️Quick Mentoring ideas
2. Provide a one-day lesson plan
3. Co-observe another teacher and discuss ways to implement an observed strategy into their classroom
4. Video a cooperative learning strategy in your class and share with your mentee
5. Role-play a parent conference
6. Assist your mentee in filling out school forms
7. Make classroom materials together
8. Provide materials for a curriculum unit
9. Suggest options for dealing with challenging student behavior
10. Assist with room arrangement and seating charts
11. Discuss school protocol and traditions with your mentee
12. Examine examples of student work together
13. Listen as the new teacher discusses his/her assessment of student work examples
14. Encourage the new teacher to share a successful lesson at a grade level meeting
15. Ask questions that help the new teacher prioritize issues/concerns related to instruction
16. Brainstorm together possible ways for your mentee to introduce a curriculum unit
17. Share an effective strategy for grading papers
18. Ask your mentee how a new strategy might impact student learning
19. Model a cooperative learning strategy
20. Identify the strong points in lesson design
A few of these tips from: New Teacher Induction- How to Train, Support, and Retain New Teachers, by Annette Breaux and Harry Wong (2003). CA: Harry K. Wong Publications