Jeffrey Glanz (2006) states, Find a mentor.

Find someone
whom you respect and who is a ood listener. !his person should
also ha"e a positi"e disposition. !he person should #e a creati"e
pro#lem sol"er, not someone who merely listens$ (p.%22).
&lthouh Glanz is spea'in to administrators, this (uote holds
true for teachers as well. )y role as mentor not only allowed me
to help the new teacher, #ut it also opened my own eyes to the
way * was doin thins within my classroom, rade le"el, and
school. &s a mentor * was e+pected to meet with my mentee at
least once a month. ,urin these meetins we were to discuss
strateies, #est practices, discipline issues, oranization,
secretarial tas's, assessments, reportin to parents,
differentiation, -!*, and many, many more thins. * would meet
with my mentee at least twice a wee' durin our rade le"el
plannin. *t was durin this time that we would #ounce ideas off
of one another and * was always a"aila#le if she needed
additional assistance.
!here were a few thins that went well throuhout the process.
* thin' the thin that * am most proud of is that * let my mentee
find some thins out on her own. * 'now that this was (uite
frustratin and that she thouht * was the meanest person
around. howe"er, she has mentioned that she is "ery than'ful
that * forced her to come to her own conclusions. !his not only
a"e her an opportunity to learn from her mista'es, #ut it also
allowed her to understand that she is capa#le of ma'in
decisions for herself. !his was "ery important for this particular
new teacher #ecause she often wanted thins handed to her and
this forced her to wor' hard.
&nother thin that went well was that my mentee and * had a
"ery ood relationship with one another. /he 'new that she
could trust me and she oftentimes came into my room, shut the
door, and too' time to "ent. !his was an important aspect of this
relationship #ecause as a new teacher you et frustrated and you
need an opportunity to tal' with someone in a non0threatenin
and trustin en"ironment. * 'new that * had fostered this 'ind of
en"ironment since my mentee felt comforta#le enouh to come
into my room and tal' to me.
!his e+perience was #y no means perfect and there were
definitely thins that * did wron. !he first thin that * did wron
was that * did not schedule meetins that were for the two of us.
1e were e+pected to meet twice a wee' as a rade le"el and this
was the time that * spent with my mentee. &lthouh this helped
her in some ways, * do not feel li'e * a"e her enouh support in
this limited amount of time.
* also did not spend enouh time in her room. * thin' that
o#ser"ation is 'ey and * thin' * missed out on some areas of
wea'ness #ecause * was not in her room to see thins first hand.
*f * had made sure that * was in her room more often then * would
ha"e #een a#le to catch thins which would then allow me to
wor' with her to de"elop strateies and routines that would help
remedy the pro#lem.
*f * were i"en the opportunity to do this o"er aain * would
definitely do thins differently. !he first thin that * would do
differently is that * would ma'e sure that * had scheduled meetin
times #efore or after school to discuss thins with my mentee in
a one0to0one settin. !his would #e separate from my rade le"el
meetins #ecause * thin' that ha"in the entire team toether
pre"ented my mentee from feelin comforta#le enouh to as'
(uestions that she may ha"e felt were silly$. &nother chane
that * would ma'e is that * would as' my principal to wor' with
me so that * could spend time in my mentee2s classroom. * thin'
that it would ha"e #een more #eneficial if * had #een i"en the
opportunity to spend an e+tended period of time in her room at
least once a (uarter. !he final chane that * would ma'e is that *
would ha"e wor'ed with the other mentors in the #uildin to
create a hand#oo' and to hold support sessions where the
mentees could meet as a roup. * thin' that this would help them
#uild their own networ' so that they had additional people to
reach out to when frustrations ran hih.
3"erall * thin' that this was a positi"e e+perience and one that
definitely impacted my mentee as a teacher. * 'now that as a
future administrator * will definitely include a mentor4mentee
proram within my school.
-eferences
Glanz, J. (2006). 1hat e"ery principal should 'now a#out
operational leadership. !housand 3a's, 5&6 5orwin 7ress.