As new teachers leave the world of the University for the world of teaching, they often do not fully understand what is expected of them. The roles and responsibilities of a teacher can be vague and hard to understand when a new teacher is unwilling to ask questions of a mentor teacher, or the mentor teacher is unwilling to aid the new student. As Cathrine Le Maistre states in her paper, titled “Mentoring Neophyte Teachers: Lessons Learned from Experience” there is a much higher level of attrition after the first year of teaching than in any other year (2000). She believes that new teachers should be taught how to use their own minds, and not simply be given “manila folder of notes” (La Maistre, 2000. p. 84) and be expected to follow …show more content…
Also, if you plan on teaching someone, it is not enough to hand the student a set of notes and expect them to understand; a mentor teacher should look at their student teacher as a student, which is what they still are and explain the process to them like they are a student. Student teachers and first year teachers are very similar, and should not be treated the same as experienced teacher; they should be given more guidance so they are better able to become experienced teachers in the future. Since new or student teacher will not understand fully the roles and responsibilities of a teacher, it is up to the mentor teacher and other experienced teachers to guide them through the process of becoming a teacher. Most schools that hire first year teachers will have a mentor program in place, however, according to Thomas M. McCann and Larry R. Johannessen, authors of “The Role and Responsibility of the Experienced Teacher” explain how simply having a mentor program is not enough to guarantee the success of a first year teacher. McCann and Johannessen explain what makes a poor mentor program; one in which there is an over emphasis on specific meeting times, and the time commitment of such a program is actually counter-intuitive as both sides of the mentor relationship will become frustrated
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.
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,
Once an individual becomes an educator, it is their duty to coach and help demonstrate as mentors. Mentors then become involved in the fundamentals of student growth where the art of learning is never over, especially for the teacher. Teachers can use a lesson plan to help facilitate student learning in which students collaborate with their mentors to establish a relationship with the mentors and then teachers and students become active participants in the learning community. There is always something to learn from the students, from other educators, and from the world in general. Dedication is at hand in order to establish a clear baseline between the students and the teachers. The relationship between them helps the educator meet
Mentorships can be great for both new teachers and veteran teachers because each can learn from one another. New teachers should be paired with good veteran teachers so that they have a chance to really learn. These have to be caring, dedicated, organized, and successful teachers for the new teachers to really learn from them. Through these pairings, new teachers will find comfort while they struggle at times in knowing that they are not alone. They will also gain great wisdom from those who have been in
“Mentoring and induction programs will only produce these benefits if they are well designed and well supported” (Darling-Hammond, 2003, p. 4). Me: Describe what a well designed and supported mentoring program entails. Such mentoring programs benefit both veteran teachers and the novice teachers they serve; Villar & Strong (2007) pointed out that veteran teachers acquire new skills and leadership training through mentoring. In addition to an 8% cost-savings return on investment, a cost-benefit analysis of California’s Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment program revealed the strongest outcome of this highly-structured mentorship program was to increase first year teachers’ impact on student achievement as measured by student interest in school, attendance and drop-out rates, and AP and college course enrollment (Villar & Strong,
Teaching, no matter the age of students, subject, or teaching environment, is a complex profession that needs excellent preparation programs to create efficient teachers. When people go to become teachers the teacher preparation/credential programs usually consist of two overlapping parts. The teacher candidates get a formal education in the classroom as well as being able to practice teaching in the practicum portion at the local schools. During the practicum part of the credential programs each teacher candidate has a university supervisor to help give feedback and guide the teacher candidate’s learning experiences while they are in the classroom. The university supervisor’s feedback ideally would have the teacher candidate see the positive teaching skills they possess, see the areas of growth they need to work on, and be able to reflect on their lessons. Due to how important the university supervisor’s feedback can be to the teacher candidate and their overall teaching career there has been research looking at how feedback is given, the type of
Once quality teachers who share the goals and vision of the District are hired, a strong mentoring and new teacher support program must be implemented. Quality teachers are hungry for mentoring and support to help them remain focused on achieving and using essential skills and strategies necessary. Mentoring and support needs to be available on a continual basis, encouraging new teachers to take risks and try new
It is not known if and to what degree teacher development influence the self-confidence of beginning mentees. This study will address the problem of mentor teacher’s impact on novice teacher’s self-worth in the classroom. The aim is to ascertain whether the relationship of teacher, mentor and novice teacher impact will produce effectiveness for the novice teacher. Novice teachers are continuing to leave at an alarming rate after their first year because of self-worth of being is down.
This book is dedicated to all student teachers and for those becoming student teachers who believe that there are better and more effective ways of teaching and teaching is more fun and challenging.
Is there a difference in the change of novice teachers who have gone through the mentor development?
Pairings may be mentor/novice or experienced teacher/experienced teacher. In the first case the focus will be more clearly on helping the novice to develop their teaching skills both by observing and being observed by an experienced colleague. In the second case, the objective is to provide opportunities for experienced teachers to reflect on their teaching in a calm and private environment.
The key to being a mentor for students, is trust. It is important to have a connection with the students. The way to create the connection is by showing your students that they can trust you. I specifically brought up bullying, when I was interviewing my English teacher. He responded by saying that if he notices unnatural behavior in students, his initial approach is to talk to the students involved personally, rather than calling them out in front of everyone and putting them on the spot. If the students continue to act out, then unfortunately he has to report the incident to the administration. All of this comes with the territory of being a teacher. With all jobs, sometimes you will be forced to face a decision that almost seem impossible. The key is to simply use your own judgement, without doubting yourself.
Darling-Hammond (2012) stress that new teachers should leave teacher education programs with the understanding of the fundamental and well-established principles of learning. This author stress that above all, new
All public school educators are held to very high standards of behavior because they are entrusted with the well-being of our children. The public expects for teachers’ behavior to exemplify ethical and moral integrity. Teachers serve as role models to our children they should be aware of the conduct they display both on and off the job. The conduct displayed can have a great impact on their professional image. When educators make poor judgment this can adversely impact students, damage teachers’ integrity and corrupt public trust in school systems and their profession. With the advances in technology and access to social media, the challenges have increased significantly for all educators. Educators must stay focused and develop a keen sense of awareness to a variety of problems and circumstances that they may encounter in their daily contact with students, families and the community. It is very important that teachers and administrators make moral decisions to ensure that their professional preparation meets the highest possible moral principles of conduct.
Mentors play a critical part of support for teachers in this profession. Having many outstanding mentors throughout my preservice years and even now as a first year teacher, I have witnessed amazing support from all of my mentors. There are a plethora of ways a mentor can support a preservice or new teacher to enhance their planning, instruction, and content knowledge. One way a mentor can support is with consistent engagement and encouragement. Another way is by serving as a collegial and emotional support during this challenging phase of his teacher’s career. And additionally by orientating new teachers to the school community and teaching in general.