Building Effective Teacher Mentors

Credit Validation for DoDEA Educators Only

Research has shown that a quality mentor program can have an increasingly positive effect on the success of a new teacher. An effective mentor program supports the professional development of a new teacher and sustains teacher retention. In this two-hour course, participants will focus on the development of knowledge and skills needed to build positive relationships between mentors/mentees. Participants will engage in the examination of behaviors and skills focused on mentees to enhance teaching and learning as well as participate collaboratively with Administration, Instructional System Specialists, and school teams to improve teacher practice.

In this course, the participants will attend face to face sessions, participate in group discussions, complete independent and team planning, and develop and facilitate sessions on the learning topic/strategy during Mentor Meetings, Focus Collaboration Time and Team Building Time. Participants will also respond to two classmates' lesson plans on Schoology, build a toolkit for new teachers and submit a reflection paper discussing their learning and implementation of mentoring practices.