Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Mentoring teacher Programs
Knoxville High School has recently started a mentor teacher program. Although it has a good purpose at heart, teachers have expressed concerns that the program is not reaching the needs of the beginning teachers. The main complaint seems to be a lack of time at school to meet with one another. Our principal has tried to address this by placing the teachers with a mentor whose room is in close proximity. This has opened up the communication lines, however it has not evolved into the formal mentoring program we wished it to become. What have other schools done to aid their programs? What are the main problems you have encountered?
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2 comments:
In our school we have encountered the same type of problems with the mentoring program. The main problem with our program also stemmed from the time that was used to meet (after school). This was a problem for a number of the teachers who were also coaches and had supervising duties before practice. Another aspect of our mentoring program that was a problem was that it never addressed the tough issues that a new teacher would encounter (or ask about). Some of this may have been due to the fact that the person that was charged with leading the program only taught one class the entire year (and spent the rest of their time in the technology department). It was difficult for someone "out of the game" to relate to the problems a new teacher faces and is sometimes hesitant to ask...
As a beginning teacher I am in a mentor program. It has seemed to work well to have common planning time together. Also, the administration got substitute teachers for each one day to actually go in the classroom and observe.
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