Mentor Resources
North Carolina Mentor Teacher’s Handbook -- The North Carolina Mentor Teacher's Handbook is a collection of information and tools to be used by mentors in understanding their responsibilities to beginning teachers and in coaching beginning teachers through various professional growth processes and stages.
A 'Do List' for Mentees --What should a protege do to get the most out of mentoring? Share these with your protege to encourage his or her growth with you during the mentoring experience.
Mentor Roles --Teacher mentors wear many hats. This list shares what proteges need mentors to do to support them.
Phases of First-Year Teachers --Understanding what beginning teachers are going through can help mentors meet their needs. This article can help.
Possible Mentor Activities for External and Community Factors --Lists of activities to work with new teachers in areas like curriculum frameworks, evaluations, standardized assessments, the INTASC standards and UNITE principles, TSIP and ISLIC standards, community members, community resources, community issues and needs, and community expectations.
Possible Mentor Activities for School, School Culture, Classroom, and Personal Factors --Lists of activities to work with new teachers in areas like school structure, access to school resources, school priorities and programs, relationships in the school, teacher expectations in the classroom, instructional quality, classroom climate, reflective practices, creating partnerships with families and the community, self-perceptions, and self-efficacy.Training and Conversation Guide --These instructions for using the Santa Cruz mentoring model's Collaborative Assessment Log offer a good outline for conversations with proteges. The conversation starts with assessing what's working for the protege and moves to challenges he or she is facing. As a result of this ongoing assessment, both you and your new teachers will commit to next steps or an action plan.
Types of Contacts --This resource introduces 6 types of contacts a mentor might have with a protege. A mentor should strive to balance all six types to support the protege fully.
Raising the Bar Training Materials --The Raising the Bar mentor training is required for mentors to be state certified in Tennessee. Here are training materials from the 24-hour workshop.
Reflective Journaling Topics --Many mentors encourage their proteges to participate in reflective journaling as part of their growth. The protege may write independently or the mentor may respond to the protege's journal entries. This list provides some reflective writing prompts for proteges. The topics could also be used to start reflective discussions with beginning teachers.
The Tennessee Model for Teacher Mentoring Web page --The page contains information on the background of the state mentoring program, the program vision, and acknowledgments.
On Preparing Teachers for Urban Contexts --This article summary from the "Raising the Bar" training offers a list of five attributes needed to teach in the urban context. Mentors could use the summary to start a discussion with proteges about the importance of students' communities to the classroom and to learning and about how teachers succeed in urban schools.
Tips for Assisting Novice Teachers in Creating Success on Standardized Tests --Accountability in the form of standardized testing can be a significant threat to beginning teachers. Mentors can help alleviate some of the anxiety by sharing their perspectives on how to attend to the test in constructive ways and how to create "success" conditions for students. This tool will assist the mentor in orienting the beginning teacher to expectations related to standardized testing and should be used early in the school year.
