Mentor Update 11 -
January 29, 2024
Dates of Interest
Friday, February 2, 2024 - January Mentor Logs Due
Tuesday, February 6, 2024 - Report Cards Published
Friday, February 9, 2024 - Two-Hour Early Dismissal (Professional Responsibilities)
Monday, February 19, 2024 - President's Day (All Schools and Offices Closed)
To subscribe to the Induction Program Google Calendar, visit the Induction Site Home Page. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the blue box at the base of the calendar.
Message from Heather - The Reluctant Mentee
I gathered from the mentor mid-year feedback that mentee reluctance is a struggle for many mentors. So I prepared a mentor support session to explore the causes and possible mentor actions to combat the struggle. There were many conflicting professional development opportunities last week, so I thought I would use this space to provide a taste of the session.
Before a mentor can address reluctance in their mentees, they must understand the reasons. As mentors, we need to consider the mentee's perspective and look beyond the actions or unspoken pressures causing a reluctance to participate in mentoring. During the live sessions, mentors expressed a range of potential reasons their mentees are reluctant, including feelings of inadequacy, perfectionism, and a lack of understanding of implementing suggestions in their classroom. We discussed that the first step is determining what we, as mentors, can control: our actions and thoughts. The participating mentors reflected on how they approached their mentoring time and how that might have contributed to mentee reluctance.
Upon reflecting on their skills and approach, mentors can begin to explore the thoughts of their mentees using confirmatory paraphrasing and other coaching language skills from the Skills for Coaching and Mentoring Course. (Resources are also posted on the Mentor Resources tab.) Showing an interest in a mentee's motivations while reinforcing the mentor's commitment and role can restart the process and build on the foundation of trust between peers.
Remember that I support the needs of mentors just as much as the needs of the non-tenured teachers! Email if you need anything! hlhusk@smcps.org
Preview the slides. If you or your mentor team want to participate in a school-specific version of this Mentor Support Session, please contact Heather Husk at hlhusk@smcps.org.
Next, the participants in the session shifted gears to explore potential mentor actions that could successfully address the reasons for mentee reluctance. Starting with focusing on small, practical, and chunked strategies that will provide opportunities to celebrate small successes. In addition, plan mentor meetings that have less discussion and more activity. If a mentee struggles with a specific student's behavior, do not just discuss it. Have the mentee act out the behaviors while you role-play as the teacher addressing the concern. If a mentee is overwhelmed with planning, use mentoring time to assist with planning.
Finally, the session participants explored frequent reasons for mentee reluctance, including needing a mindset for change, loss of control, veteran experience, power dynamics, and more work. With each reason, the groups shared ways to combat the reasons with concrete actions while considering that there is no magic one-size-fits-all solution.
Have a wonderful week! And remember . . . You've Got This!
Heather
Articles of Interest
As you plan your time with your mentee, consider using these resources.
Instructional Ideas: 3 New Tricks for Veteran Teachers by Stephanie Smith Budhai, Ph.D., Tech&Learning
Highlighted Phrases:
New Instruction: TikTok Influencer
New Engagement: Embrace AI
New Assessment: Podcasting
Note from Heather: These technology-supported strategies may be a great way for veteran mentees to go beyond their comfort zone. And maybe a few mentors, too!
Professional Learning: Implementing Peer-to-Peer PD by Darcy Bakkegard, Edutopia
Highlights:
Ensure Relevance
Provide Options
Ensure Implementation and Follow-Up
Note from Heather: Your mentoring and coaching experiences are a form of professional development. Engage your mentees in professional learning through your interactions.
Recurring Items - For Reference
Mentor Discussion Topics - January
Topics that are discussed between mentors and mentees during individual and team meetings can vary depending on the needs of the non-tenured teachers. Non-tenured teachers are encouraged to direct their mentoring experience to their specific needs. However, mentors also want to be prepared to support their mentees. The list of topics and possible questions is intended to ensure that the mentees are focusing on upcoming and present needs in addition to those that are self-identified. This list is not the limit of possible discussions.
Mentors - If you have additional topics that you encounter this month, please share them in the Mentoring Schoology Group.
Elementary
Pacing
Consider your long-range planning. What standards will be your focus moving forward?
What skills are your priority?
End of Semester Report Cards
Does there seem to be a pattern of low performances in SBRCs in particular standards?
What strengths have your students demonstrated in the first half of the school year? How can you build on those strengths?
What data collection techniques did you use during this marking period?
Did you struggle with collecting any data for particular standards?
Assessments
What kinds of assessments have you used in your classes?
Did the assessments provide information for your SLOs?
Revisit Classroom Management
What rules or procedures might you want to revisit and adjust?
How are you revising your classroom rules and procedures for the second half of the school?
Are there rules or procedures that you plan to re-teach or revisit with students? How? Why?
Differentiation
What strategies have you found to be successful for ESOL students?
How are you accommodating students with IEP/504 plans during the instruction of new material/content?
How are you communicating with your support staff to meet the needs of your students?
SLO Data
The mid-year review of your SLO progress is coming soon. Consider the following as you review the status of your data.
What data have you been collecting?
How are you using data for instruction, intervention, and extension?
Have you found additional complexity factors that are impacting progress?
Do you need to consider any changes to your document before your mid-year SLO conference?
Secondary
Pacing
Consider your long-range planning. What standards will be your focus moving forward?
How does your pacing compare to the curriculum documents provided by your supervisor?
What skills are your priority?
End of Semester Report Cards
Does there seem to be a pattern in low performances in standards or skills?
What strengths have your students demonstrated in the first half of the school year? How can you build on those strengths?
Review your MP2 grade book. Did you provide sufficient opportunities for students with your assignments?
Assessments
What kinds of assessments have you used in your classes?
Did the assessments provide information for your SLOs?
Revisit Classroom Management
What rules or procedures might you want to revisit and adjust?
How are you revising your classroom rules and procedures for the second half of the school?
Are there rules or procedures that you plan to re-teach or revisit with students? How? Why?
Differentiation
What strategies have you found to be successful for ESOL students?
How are you accommodating students with IEP/504 plans during the instruction of new material/content?
How are you communicating with your support staff to meet the needs of your students?
SLO Data
The mid-year review of your SLO progress is coming soon. Consider the following as you review the status of your data.
What data have you been collecting?
How are you using data for instruction, intervention, and extension?
Have you found additional complexity factors that are impacting progress?
Do you need to consider any changes to your document before your mid-year SLO conference?
Mentoring Expectations
A comprehensive list of mentor expectations can be found on the Mentor Teacher Resources tab of the Induction Site.
Highlights of expectations:
Meet with each mentee for approximately 40 minutes each week. (Some meetings can include combined mentees, but individual times should be included.)
Participating in (at least) monthly mentor team meetings.
Mentors should collaborate to plan the topics and host the mentor team meetings.
If a mentee in your building is being mentored by a specialist teacher outside of your building, the mentor team should be sure to include the mentee in team meetings and school-specific initiatives that would not be known by an outside mentor.
Mentors working with mentees outside of their building are not responsible for attending mentor team meetings outside of their building.
Completion of weekly mentor logs. (Logs will be sent to mentor teams sometime this week and the links will be posted on the Mentor Log tab of the Induction Site.
Completion of Quarterly Instructional Walkthroughs with each mentee. Walkthroughs are brief, planned visits to classrooms with pre/post discussions. Substitute coverage is available. Details about walkthroughs and substitute coverage are available on the Mentor Resources tab of the Induction Site.
Attendance at two mentor training sessions for additional pay at the negotiated agreement rate of $40 an hour. The Fall training session will be in person in the BOE Meeting Room at the Moakley Offices at 4:30 PM on September 21, 2023. (A calendar invitation to follow.) The January session will be virtual with a date TBD.
Mentor Schoology Group
Based on mentor feedback from last year, a Schoology Group for Mentors has been created. Mentors have been manually added to the group. If you have not been included, please contact Heather Husk at hlhusk@smcps.org. All group members have permissions to upload resources and discussions to collaborate and share. If you are a Lead Mentor, please share your team meeting agendas to provide ideas to other teams!
I hope that is resource is useful to mentors as they work to support their mentees.
