Evaluation Of Mentoring New Teachers

The proposed workshop must take in consideration training supervisors in peer coaching. Peer coaching is beneficial for both supervisory and teaching practices. It enables supervisors to provide directed assistance to every teacher and helps teachers improve their instructional skills and address their immediate instructional issues. Glickman (2010) views peer coaching as a supervisory approach that helps teachers “confide in, improve and move with each other towards collective actions.” In particular, peer coaching provides a strong system of support as teachers seek to implement new strategies, examine practices, transfer skills and put in-service learning in action. According to Zepeda (2010), peer coaching promotes teacher’s growth and development. Moreover, it leverages face-to-face interaction, thus, promoting relationship building and strong collegiality towards collective improvement and institution effectiveness. Supervisors using peer coaching as a clinical and differentiated form of supervision break the isolation found in most k-12 and empower teachers by placing them at the center of their own leaning (Zepeda, 2012). Teachers who participate in peer coaching are more secure and better connected, and certainly, in a better position to solve their own instructional issues and problems, as well as, find innovative ways to teach, thus benefiting themselves, their colleagues and their institutions (Hooker, 2013).

Fifty percent of new teachers quit with in the first five years of teaching (NEA, 2015), with this number being so alarmingly high it begs the questions: Why do so many teachers leave after going through years of college for this profession? Were teachers not prepared for the job, through college training, what should colleges teach in order to better prepare teachers?

Woullard’s and Coat’s (2004) article discusses the teacher shortage that has happened in the United States (Mississippi in particular), the causes of the shortage, and how a mentoring program for college students majoring in education can help to solve many of the issues that are causing the teacher shortage. The article begins by discussing the how the teacher shortage begin. According to Woullard and Coats (2004) it there was in increase in the amount of students who were attending elementary schools and secondary schools. However,

“The Teacher Retention Program is committed to supporting the development and retention of Arizona top teachers increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of Arizona’s school, and improving educational opportunities for all students” ("Teacher Retention Project," n.d., para. 1) . By retaining exciting dedicated educators who achieve in their field of expertise, the residents of Arizona will bring stability into the classroom which will result in higher academic test scores, increase graduation rates, and a positive school experience for our future citizen of the state of Arizona. This initiative will address the disastrous deterioration within the Arizona school district due to increasing numbers of teachers either relocating or vacating the teaching profession all together by providing a mentor program between effective teacher in high achieving schools with those in lower academic settings. As teachers leave the profession a void between seasoned experienced teacher and those beginning their career becomes noticeable, particularly in the low income school districts. By putting forward this initiative the residents of Arizona will comply with Brown vs. Board of Education ruling which address the issue of segregation in tangible

Mentoring is an initiative that has been found effective and transferable from business to education (Wallace, Montgomery and Pomerantz, 2010), indeed Linney (1999) suggested that mentoring is a very popular tool in various contexts and fields. In the field of education, Daloz (1987) felt that teachers and mentors played a vital role in allowing students to gain confidence, insight and passion to progress in their academic lives.

According to Heller (2004), education is notorious for a low survival rate of new teachers. Teachers feel isolated because they have little

The risk of losing beginning teachers has been an issue in the United States for a long time. An immense amount of research has been conducted exploring why beginning teachers are leaving the profession. Fantilli and McDougall’s (2009) pointed out that beginning teachers have the same responsibilities and requirements as veteran teachers, but in addition to these factors, feel the additional pressure that most people feel starting a new vocation. As a result, beginning teachers spend “a disproportionate amount of time and effort simply to keep their heads above water” (p. 814). In the article Hello, Goodbye: Exploring the Phenomenon of Leaving Teaching Early, a qualitative study was conducted to explore why beginning teachers are leaving the profession. Through an interview process, former beginning teachers identified negative factors that influenced their decision to leave the profession. These factors included working with unmotivated colleagues, feeling isolated, feeling that they did not receive support or recognition from administration, dealing with administrative problems, and not having flexibility and freedom to decide how they teach in their classrooms.

In the article “Education at Crossroads part 3” Vicki Viotti discusses improvements regarding retention with new teachers. “An emphasis on mentoring teachers in their first three years has been credited with more of them staying beyond five years in the profession, a proportion that’s now up to 60 percent”(Viotti pg.3 par.1). Teacher retention is when teachers decide to continue following their path as teachers. The rate of teacher retention was low due to teachers transferring to other schools. However, after being a persistent matter in schools, it has recently increased to 60%. In addition to teacher retention, resources for fundings also seem to be a problem. “...resources aren’t where they should be”(Viotti pg.3 par.3). The DOE believes

Teaching has always been lauded as an altruistic and fulfilling career. What better can one do to contribute to society than educate and prepare the future generation for success? At first glance, there are many attractive characteristics regarding the job: work-free summers, plenty of holidays, and the chance to impact a child’s life forever. However, in recent years, enrollment in teacher preparation programs have been on the decline. Headlines announcing “America’s New Major Teacher Shortage” have filled the news and papers, and Florida has been named as one of the states impacted. More and more teachers seem to be leaving the field. The question, though, is “Why?”. Many might point to the poor pay that teachers are notorious for receiving, but teaching has never been known for making big bucks in the first place. With both new teachers and longtime veterans leaving the field, the problem seems to be something more internal.

For example, as a first year educator, I was told I would receive a mentor for “induction and integration strategies” during my first year of teaching because “novice teachers encounter numerous challenges and demands when beginning their teaching careers in unfamiliar schools” (Rikard & Banville, 2010). I recall on many occasions that my mentor would tell me to come see her if I encountered any instructional challenges. As a new teacher, I expected my mentor to share how she developed her skills through role modeling and providing one-on-one sessions for lesson planning. Yet, this informal practice by teacher mentors reflected an internal norm that was often overlooked by administrators. According to Ingersoll (2003), “46% of all teachers in public schools will leave the profession within their first five years of teaching” (Rikard & Banville, 2010, p. 245)… “due to poor administrative support, difficult teaching loads, feeling powerless and isolated” (Ingersoll & Smith, 2003; Liston, Whitcomb, & Borko, 2006; McCormack & Thomas, 2003a; Rikard & Banville,

Bill Payne, as a new administrator had come inherited a school environment, complete with a faculty every administrator would dream of. Experience and innovations were known aspects of the campus. Mr. Payne expected these veteran teachers to be fully accepting of mentoring an training of new teachers. However, what he found, was a group of veteran teachers who were reluctant to share their craft.

I’ll never forget my first presentation as Weston’s New Teacher Mentor Program Co-facilitator in late August of 2014. I had planned some comedy games as icebreakers for the mentors and mentees. These had always worked in my roles as director for the Boston Women’s Improv Group, and as a guest lecturer for UNCC and UW’s pre-service educators. However, as veteran teachers sat stone-faced, and new teachers studiously avoided my gaze, the flop-sweat began to pour off me -- and not just because the air conditioning in the middle school library was broken! Tough crowd. George Carlin might have been referencing educators in a professional development setting when he said, “Inside every cynic is a disappointed idealist.” Thinking fast, I plied them with slightly melted candy, then did the can-can with administrators who were present. It worked.

The authors of this work utilized the action research to explore the implications of mentoring novice and pre-service teachers. The conceptual framework researched in this study was Mertz’s Hierarchy of Mentoring Intent and Involvement Levels Framework (Harris, Hobson, Buckner-Manley, and Smith, 2012). Mertz’s hierarchy differentiates the types of mentoring required by the level of the mentee (Harris, Hobson, Buckner-Manley, and Smith, 2012). The base of the pyramid was Psychosocial Development; it illustrated role model, peer pal, or supporter (Harris, Hobson, Buckner-Manley, and Smith, 2012). The next step up was Professional Development. The lower level of this was step was teacher or coach but more developed mentors at this level

At the MCIU, Dr. Donna Gaffney, Director of Professional Learning is charged with designing and implementing a teacher induction program for all staff including both teaching and non-teaching professionals. During an employee 's first year of service, he or she must attend five orientation meetings, three of which are with the whole organization and two of which are department specific. This allows trainings to target the direct needs of the new employee. The is allotted for these meets cannot extend over 7.5 hours due to the current union contract (D. Gaffney, personal communication, January 28, 2016).

Every year college graduates walk across the stage, receive their diploma, and enter the job market looking for a teaching position. These future teachers desire nothing less than making a change, impacting lives, and serving as a role model for students. However, what happens when after a few years, that same hopeful graduate now finds himself or herself burned out and despising their career choice? To revitalize that same youthful energy upon entering the teaching profession, could becoming a teacher leader invigorate their sense of purpose and renew their motivation to continue the pursuit of becoming that idyllic educator? This paper aims to shed light on how teacher leadership can positively impact a teacher’s experience as an educator and thus directly enhance their performance.