Principal's Orientation Checklist for ALL new teachers in your building (print out for reference)
Following the half day Principal's Orientation training in your building with B.E.S.T year 1 teachers, be sure to fill out this Completion Form to ensure that your teachers get paid for attending the orientation.
In their pivotal role, principals provide sustained support for new teachers by collaborating with the BESD B.E.S.T. Coordinator, building level instructional coach and assigned mentors to guide the new teachers’ development.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
1 . Mentor Selection
A critical task is the selection of a new teacher's mentor. Mentors are a vital component of the success and retention of teachers new to the profession. Mentor qualifications:
A mentor must possess a valid Professional Utah Educator License
A mentor must have successfully completed 3 years of teaching in BESD
A mentor must exhibit exceptional integrity, interpersonal and collaboration skills
A mentor must have outstanding organizational and communication skills
A mentor must agree to abide by the expectations stated as “Mentor Responsibilities”
2. Mentor Assignment
When assigning mentors to new teachers, principals should consider the commonality of content areas, grade levels, common planning times and proximity of classrooms.
Assign a mentor to work with every teacher new to the profession of teaching. One mentor can work with a maximum of THREE new teachers.
Fill in the assignments in the google mentor/mentee sheet for your school.
3. New Teacher Professional Development
Principals should provide professional development, offering support and training:
On the evaluation process including the use of ObserverTab.
Professional Learning Communities (PLC) process including the role and responsibilities of teachers as members of PLC teams.
Communicate and collaborate with instructional coaches and assigned mentors to ensure school-based orientation, services and support are being provided regularly to all new teachers.
District B.E.S.T. Professional development will be assigned to support teachers in their three provisional years. Principals are responsible to support classroom implementation of the professional development.
4. Observations and Feedback
Feedback is the most integral part of helping teachers improve. It is the principals responsibility to complete three observations through ObserverTab followed by formal evaluation conference a minimum of three times a year. See Checklist for Provisional Teacher Evaluation Conferences document for details as described in the B.E.S.D Provisional Educator Quick Guide and Deadlines .
NOTE: Teachers new to your school, but who are veteran teachers should be assigned a formal mentor for only their first year to ensure support as they learn the "Box Elder Way".