Mentoring: Professional Growth
through Helping Beginning
Teachers
Barbara Allan and Jane Ewens
Workshop Outline
This workshop will explore:
• The purpose and roles of mentor teachers
• Maximizing professional development opportunities for
leadership for experienced teachers
• The qualities and skills of effective mentoring
• Organizational and personality issues.
Who is a mentor?
“experienced teachers who have mastered their craft
and who are dedicated to promoting excellence in the
teaching profession. …. Guide, role model, sponsor,
counselor, coach, resource, colleague.”
(Jonson, 2008)
In what contexts or roles may/do you have the
opportunity to be a mentor?
Difference between mentoring and
appraisal/assessment roles:
Mentoring Evaluating
is collegial is hierarchical
is on-going visits are set by policy
develops self-reliance judges performance
keeps data confidential files data and makes it
uses data to reflect available
value judgments are made by uses data to judge
the teacher judgments are made by the
supervisor.
Responsibilities of a Mentor
• Meet regularly with mentee, formally and informally
• Guide mentee through daily operation of centre
• Arrange mentee to visit different settings
• Demonstrate practice
• Observe mentee teaching and provide feedback
• Role model all aspects of professionalism including being a learner
• Develop your skills as a mentor and teacher
• Support and counsel, provide perspective when needed
Is not a judge or evaluator, but a guide
Relationship needs to be one built on common experience, trust, and a non-
judgmental stance.
Qualities and skills of
effective mentors
A skillful teacher (5yrs plus)
Effective pedagogy and up to date curriculum
Able to model, provide feedback, challenge, and model
reflective thinking
Able to transmit effective teaching strategies
Have thorough command of curriculum
Good listener & patient
Able to communicate openly with beginning teacher
Sensitive to needs of beginner
Understand effective teaching results from more than one style
Careful not to be overly judgmental
Sense of humour
Motivating and willing to be motivated
• Key to success is being non-judgmental.
– when mentee teachers believe they are not being
judged they are willing to share ideas, take risks, and
develop their skills to the fullest.
Mentor rewards
Strengthening and pride in the profession
Professional sharing
Heightened prestige
Visibility
Expanded career role
Rejuvenation
Helping novice grow
Cutting edge training
Self-examination and confidence growth
(Jonson, 2008, p.161 and others)
Mentoring Continuum
Information sharing Reflection and Critique and co-
and modeling shifting responsibility construction
Relationship building
Use informal opportunities
The first meeting - ensure your own preparation is done so
you have time available should help be required.
Identify mentee’s biggest short-term concerns and set time
to address together.
Ensure you are thoroughly familiar with relevant course
requirements e.g. home tasks, readings, discussion points,
or Registered Teacher criteria, and when assessor coming.
Set up a contract including roles and responsibilities,
timeframes, goals, recording method, communication,
confidentiality and privacy, & conflict resolution
Effective Feedback
• Planned
• Specific & focused
• Evidence based & non-judgmental
• Credible
• Credit based & strengths focused
• Encourages mentee input – is learner
focused
• Explores alternatives, rather than gives
solutions
•Provides guidance and structure
Feedback Techniques
Sit side by side
Begin with mentee recollection
Keep to plan
Give mentee notes
Focus on behaviour not person
Share ideas rather than give advice
Give only as much feedback as they can use
Provide feedback valuable to receiver not giver
“Cognitive coaching model”
Traps for young players
Pitfalls Mitigations
Overextending or lack of time management, frank discussion,
confidence re giving preparation, use of technology, share
enough or right “stuff” responsibility
Not clarifying roles and clarify, familiarize with documentation, set
responsibilities first up action plan and contract
Assuming too much Treat as competent and capable, check policy,
responsibility for the seek advice, set boundaries and expectations
mentee who is and stick to them, listen carefully and actively,
untrained or unwilling avoid doing all the talking, and encourage
reciprocal learning relationship
Personality clashes, careful matching, spend time building trusting
one-sided relationships relationship
Being reactive rather Ensure ready availability – e.g. same centre;
than proactive plan regular meetings with goals; stick to your
contract
Assuming intent Check it out, seek information
Why should management invest in
mentoring?
Reinforces and fosters professional development; both for the mentors
and the mentees
Positively impacts child learning outcomes, and the teaching practice of
the whole school (Pavia et al 2003)
Builds leadership capacity within the centre by developing the intellectual
and professional capacity of its staff (Timperley et al 2007 p193)
Teaching practice improves through integrating new learning
Promotes a climate of collegial teacher learning within the centre
Beneficial for teachers at all stages in their career
Increases staff retention
How can management support?
• Provide non-contact time for mentoring, individual
research and professional development
• Fund attendance at courses specific to the mentoring role
• Support attendance at professional networks including on-
line possibilities
• Provide public recognition of mentoring role
• Provide peer-coaching with experienced mentor teacher
Playing “cupid”
Develop criteria which should take into consideration:
• Physical proximity
• Same or close child-age group
• Same or related subject/research interest
• Common lunch break time
• Similar or complementary personality
• Shared educational philosophy – point of connection
A good teacher of children is not necessarily a good
teacher of adults. If pairing emerges as not serving
needs of mentee then ensure a system is in place for
making new pairing without placing blame.
“never lose sight of the focus: to provide beginning
teachers with the most help possible to enable them
to make a transition to the professional world during
their first years on the job.” (Jonson, 2008, p.29)
Exercise
Knee to knee
Influences and Active Listening
References
Jonson, K. F. (2008). Being an effective mentor: how to help
beginning teachers succeed. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks,
California: Sage.
Katz, L. (1977). Talks with teachers. Washington, DC:
National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Pavia, L., Nissen, H., Hawkins, C., Monroe, M. E., and Filimon-
Demyen, D. (2003). Mentoring early childhood
professionals. Journal of Research in Childhood Education
17(2), p.250-260.
Timperley, et al (2007). [Best Evidence Synthesis]