A Sense of Belonging - The Mentor Side

I started reading Jennifer Allen's A Sense of Belonging: Sustaining and Retaining New Teachers with the mindset of learning ideas on how to best support new teachers, but quickly realized that I would be reading it through two lenses. I gained just as much about supporting other teachers as I did for ideas in my own classroom through her specific examples. I will do a post for each side.

AS A MENTOR

I am not currently in an official mentoring position, but in our small school we have frequent collaboration and time to discuss what we are doing in our classrooms. I imagine that throughout the year every member on our small staff, new or old, will feel that they are mentoring other colleagues in one way or another. Even in a casual mentoring role, Allen's suggestions are very beneficial. As Allen mentions, "I see it as our job as educators to support one another and create learning environments that will nurture and support new teachers" (131). I will definitely revisit Allen's book from time to time to evaluate how I am doing in supporting other teachers, especially if I eventually move into an official mentoring position.

Throughout the text some common mentoring themes emerge, which stuck with me as important components to my personal emerging mentoring philosophy. I will put some specific places where she mentioned these concepts in parenthesis, but there are many other locations in the book where the concepts emerge.

*The importance of listening and facilitating reflection (4, 70, 77)

Over and over Allen discusses the importance of time - time to process information, time to think through practices, time to talk with colleagues... Her school implements many components that demonstrate a value of time in order to support new teachers.

*Recognizing that teachers need multiple exposure to topics (33, 86, 105)

I enjoyed her comments in this area because it helped me reflect on my own teaching journey, and realize that what I have experienced is common for teachers. Allen reflects on first learning about reading inventories, "I am sure the literacy specialist tried to explain to me all that I could learn about a student through the assessment, but all I heard and took in were the literal directions on how to administer it" (33). In my own experience I have often thought about how something finally clicks after hearing it multiple times once I hear it at the right phase of my teaching career. Now, when colleagues ask me about how I do certain components in my room, I have to remember to give suggestions based on what is feasible to implement as a first step in order to make sure that the implementation will be successful, rather than overwhelming. I appreciate how Allen brought up many times that it takes years to get a firm grasp on all the pieces of classroom instruction. I have definitely noticed this in my process and it was nice to have that validated.

*Provide resources and options, but let teachers make the decisions for their own classrooms, and always remember that there is not just one right way (51, 106).

Allen stated, "I try to work within the learning environment that the teacher has established" (51). Thinking back to all of my excellent education mentors, this has been a common quality. Our new instructional coach met with each teacher individually for teachers to discuss their own personal goals. I appreciated this approach. Last year when we started doing professional development on data as a full staff, our facilitator always looked at her trainings and suggestions through the perspective of our school culture rather than having a one-size fits all approach, and we all appreciated that effort. We quickly gained an added level of respect and excitement for what she had to offer us because of this mindset. Allen reaffirmed the importance of keeping this in mind.

*Being respectful with suggestions (both for the teacher that you are directly mentoring and for other staff in the building).

One of the core philosophies at our school is integrity. Allen highlights the necessity of being a good colleague in her book as well. She references a quote by Dorothy Neville, "The real art of conversation is not only to say the right ting at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment" (55). Allen said that at times she needed to hold back from expressing some of her opinions in order for teachers to evaluate their own effectiveness (56).

Allen's books gives a comprehensive overview of an example of a very thorough teacher support framework. It shows what it looks like for teachers in their first year and how that support changes in successive years.

***Right now there is an on-line book discussion. Find details here and the discussion here.