http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sat/2008/06/20/mentoring-new-teachers/ Tue, 2 Dec 2008 06:19:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.2.4 http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sat/2008/06/20/mentoring-new-teachers/#comment-1531 E. Hand Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:02:52 +0000 http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sat/2008/06/20/mentoring-new-teachers/#comment-1531 I teach at Prairie Hill School in S. Beloit, and we have had a mentoring program for 7 years. Unlike Rockford or Belvidere, our mentors are current classroom teachers. I have always wondered how helpful a retired teacher can be when they are not facing the same current problems those first year teachers are. Or what a full time mentor actually does? How can mentors be effective if they are now out of the classroom? It is hard for a new teacher to feel like you relate when you are not in the trenches too? I am happy to say that our rentention rate is 100%. The teachers the district hire and choose to keep have stayed. It has been a wonderful resource for our new teachers, and being in an awesome district doesn't hurt. I teach at Prairie Hill School in S. Beloit, and we have had a mentoring program for 7 years. Unlike Rockford or Belvidere, our mentors are current classroom teachers. I have always wondered how helpful a retired teacher can be when they are not facing the same current problems those first year teachers are. Or what a full time mentor actually does? How can mentors be effective if they are now out of the classroom? It is hard for a new teacher to feel like you relate when you are not in the trenches too? I am happy to say that our rentention rate is 100%. The teachers the district hire and choose to keep have stayed. It has been a wonderful resource for our new teachers, and being in an awesome district doesn’t hurt.

]]> http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sat/2008/06/20/mentoring-new-teachers/#comment-1492 marilu bechard Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:29:08 +0000 http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sat/2008/06/20/mentoring-new-teachers/#comment-1492 I was a first year teacher in RPS#205 last school year and I had a mentor. He was the only thing that stood between me and insanity. He witnessed how unresponsive the administration was to my pleas for books, a phone and a computer in my room and removal of disruptive and sometimes dangerous students. I was hit and cursed at by students. He could do nothing to change my abusive circumstances. I came to teaching late in life (my 50's) and I will not go back to teaching. Sometimes mentors are not enough. I was a first year teacher in RPS#205 last school year and I had a mentor. He was the only thing that stood between me and insanity. He witnessed how unresponsive the administration was to my pleas for books, a phone and a computer in my room and removal of disruptive and sometimes dangerous students. I was hit and cursed at by students. He could do nothing to change my abusive circumstances. I came to teaching late in life (my 50’s) and I will not go back to teaching. Sometimes mentors are not enough.

]]>