Mentoring new teachers
This year approximately 600 teachers in Tulare County are working with emergency credentials which means they have college degrees, but haven’t taken teacher preparation classes. This means mentoring becomes a critical component of their training.the Tulare County Office of Education (TCOE) offers a Teacher Induction Program (TIP) that used to be known as Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment Program (BTSA).
Last week, Barbara Leal from TCOE hosted a “Mindful Mentoring” class for those who are coaching new teachers this year that featured strategies from Elena Aguilar regarding the arc of a coaching conversation. Aguilar, author of three books about coaching teachers said, “If I’m confident, compassionate, grounded, and present, I know I can create a learning space for someone to explore his beliefs, behavior, and being.” When supporting new teachers, mentors are encouraged to build rapport and meet weekly. Aguilar feels these meetings or conversations work best when planned out in advance. It’s helpful if the conversation has a focus so coaches are encouraged to generate a few key questions ahead of time that offer the one being mentored a chance to reflect on their teaching.
When the coach has been in to observe the new teacher in the classroom, the debrief conversation involves questions about what was seen. Having another set of eyes in the room can be scary, but it can offer more options when problem solving. As new teachers reflect, the mentor can be a sounding board, a shoulder to cry on and just-in-time help. Mentor’s work to empower and inspire improvement.
Before the meeting, Aguilar reminds mentors to get grounded. She takes stock of her own mood and makes sure to shift it if she’s tired or worried by taking a quick walk, doing some deep breathing or listening to music. She uses exercises that activate her compassion by imagining the newbies day and focusing on their potential. Good mentors are nonjudgmental and monitor facial expressions as well as tone of voice.
A conversation begins by checking in regarding the week and chatting a bit about what’s been going on. Though questions may have been drafted in advance, it’s important to be flexible about using them as conversations can take interesting twists and turns. Often starting with “What’s on your mind?” generates critical talking points.
Then the conversation can move to reviewing the last action step. What task did they agree to try before this meeting and how did that go. A new action step is determined and resources and support are offered.
Coaches pick one goal at a time. They focus on one with the greatest instructional consequences first such as classroom management. TCOE uses the six California Standards for the Teaching Profession (CSTPS) as a roadmap along with a pacing guide for addressing them. One of the first standards is about creating and maintaining an effective environment for student learning.
One action step for the new teacher might be to focus on how to ask questions that involve all students yet don’t result in shoutouts. This takes practice. When offering feedback, coaches should be generous with positive feedback and limit the constructive feedback to one or two impactful comments.
At the end, the coach asks for feedback such as “What from our session today was most helpful for you?” Afterwards, reflection on the coaching session helps to determine if the three critical stances were offered: support, challenge and being vision oriented.
The point of being mentored is to improve. New teachers may feel hesitant to admit when they don’t know something, but being brave enough to ask specific questions really helps. They aren’t expected to know everything right a way. Learning to teach is a process.
As mentors meet with their new teachers each week, it’s important to listen and encourage. If mentors remember it’s a privilege to witness growth and are grateful that they have been trusted to get the new teacher there, they find the experience more rewarding.
Planning a coaching conversation involves determining the goal and how to get there, plus anticipating potential challenges as well as helpful fixes. Thoughtful questions can help skillfully guide the conversation to a meaningful outcome focused on the needs of students.
If the one being mentored feels more optimistic and self-sufficient by the end of the conversation, then it’s been a good mentoring session.