The Mentoring Matters
1. Supporting Early-Career Teachers
The first three to five years of teaching can present the beginner with a number of challenges, but they are not necessarily the same challenges every year. The school environment can change from year to year, the new teacher’s personal life and response to teaching can change, and the interplay between person and environment can evolve. As Steven T. Bickmore cautions in this issue’s column, it is hard to predict what the challenges will be, and mentoring efforts will have to be responsive to the current needs of a new colleague. Steven reveals that Tag Heuer Replica working collaboratively, both within a school and in connection with a network of colleagues outside of a local district, is healthier and more rewarding than working in isolation. His case study illustrates that the conditions that one might assume as necessary for teaching, such as having one’s “own” classroom and protected private workspace, can actually work against a teacher’s efforts and undermine a sense of community that enriches teaching.
2. Do I Stay or Do I Go?
“I don’t know if I am going to teach again next year,” Anna reported. I was surprised but not shocked to hear this. Anna was a thoughtful, collaborative, and diligent student and one of the first to receive a job offer. Her mentor teacher hustled her over for a job interview when a sister school in the district had an opening. After a year and a half of teaching, what has happened to Anna? Did she really select the wrong career?
3. How Others Perceived Anna’s Progress
I had contact with Anna during the first two years of her job. I checked on her progress as I observed preservice teachers. As part of my dissertation research, I interviewed Anna during her first year of teaching. She shared the anxieties of many new teachers. She worried about unit planning, grading, time management, and her progress. Based on our discussions and interviews, I thought Anna was making excellent progress.
The reports about Anna’s work from administrators, the department chair, and other teachers were glowing. She performed well during scheduled observations, she fit in with the English faculty, and she worked hard. The department chair was especially complimentary about Anna’s progress and Omega Replica Watches contribution. Her evaluating administrator, a former English teacher, recommended continuing employment and spoke highly of the activities she observed in Anna’s classroom. Even a student teacher visiting Anna’s classroom described Anna’s lesson and student involvement as the most impressive she had observed. No problems; she was doing just fine.
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