Mentoring Teachers

A useful guide for teacher mentors as they face new and difficult challenges in their work New teachers often struggle to apply their knowledge in real-world settings, and the idea of mentoring these teachers during their first years in the classroom has captured the imagination of schools all over the world. Drawing from the more than twenty years of experience of the New Teacher Center, Mentoring Teachers illuminates the subtleties and struggles of becoming an excellent and effective mentor. Step-by-step, the book outlines how people develop and grow as mentors, and the authors share the following five "tensions" as the key areas of focus: Tension 1: Building a New Identity Tension 2: Developing Trusting Relationships Tension 3: Accelerating Teacher Development Tension 4: Mentoring in Challenging Contexts Tension 5: Learning Leadership Skills Praise for Mentoring Teachers "The authors deeply understand what it means to be a mentor in all its complexity. Written with compassion and insight, they face the tough issues." —Jon Saphier, founder, Research for Better Teaching, Inc.; author, The Skillful Teacher "A compelling view of what it means to teach and help others learn to do so. This book should be read not only by teachers and mentors but also by administrators, policy makers, and legislators." —Anna E. Richert, professor, Mills School of Education; director, Mills Teacher Scholars A useful guide for teacher mentors as they face new and difficult challenges in their work New teachers often struggle to apply their knowledge in real-world settings, and the idea of mentoring these teachers during their first years in the classroom has captured the imagination of schools all over the world. Drawn from the experiences over the last twenty years of the New Teacher Center, the book illuminates the subtleties and struggles of becoming an excellent, effective mentor. The book discusses the five big tensions of mentoring: developing a new identity, developing trusting relationships, accelerating teacher growth, mentoring in challenging contexts, and learning leadership skills. Describes in-depth the most common challenges of the mentor role A wonderful guide for both new and veteran mentors Includes engaging firsthand narratives written by mentors working in a variety of settings This book is from the New Teacher Center, an organization whose highly respected mentor training model has served over 50,000 teachers nationwide. The New Teacher Center is dedicated to improving student learning by accelerating the effectiveness of teachers and school leaders through comprehensive mentoring and professional development programs.