When you started out in education who was there to help? A friend from your undergrad? A new colleague? For me, my experience was a little lonely at first. I had a teacher assigned to me as my mentor, but the relationship was minimal and I'm an "all in" kind of person who would have really appreciated having someone invest some time in me. But there were others on staff who made up the difference. The night before school started, the band director and her husband invited me over for spaghetti dinner. The first time I called in sick, only a few weeks into my first year, the school secretary showed up at my apartment with popsicles and gingerale. The special education teacher invited me to carpool to PD events with her. Parents and school board members invited me to sit with them at sporting events... the whole community was supportive. But I still would have liked to have that one on one relationship with a true mentor - a go to person. Now, in my 5th year, I find myself a bit of a "go-to" for the new recruits and its fun! I remember all the questions I was too embarrassed to ask anyone during my first year and try to help in anyway I can. I would love to help revamp our "mentor" program because even though it's not often we have new teachers, for the ones that do come, it would make all the difference:)
Source: Mentorship: Teaching the Teachers
I know how you feel, mentor programs need to be more inclusive...Not only do they need to mentor you as a teacher they need to mentor you as a person, because your first year of teaching is a lot to take in. I know I could have used a good mentor my first year, instead of being my own mentor. Now with my experience in mind am a "go-to" person as well. I check in on teachers new and old to see how they are doing and if they need any help.
ReplyDeleteI think it also helps to be connected with other new teachers. I know we had monthly new teacher meetings during first semester to cover specific topics related to the district expectations and standards. To this day my best teacher friends are the people I was hired with 5 years ago.
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