Fostering a free one on one interaction between experienced teachers and the new teachers amicably helps in quick masterly of the key roles and professional expectations. Mentoring as a strategy for new teachers’ induction, works perfectly when the mentors are well acquainted with the knowledge pertaining to the responsibilities and roles expected of them. The mentor’s main responsibility involves helping new teachers in their survival as opposed to continuous professional learning aimed at fostering effectiveness in teaching.
Therefore, mentoring forms a component of induction and not the vice versa. A combination of mentoring and other components vital for induction process are used alongside in many new teachers’ orientation programs. For teachers to succeed in the new profession, they normally need a lot: not just jobs. They desire to make differences in their profession. They are thirsty to realize success through experience and the establishment of their recognition. Mentors’ awareness of such desires is of paramount importance.
During the mentoring sessions, such desires feature frequently. Learning possibilities increase whenever the learners realize that the topics they seem eager to hear the teacher address them have a priority allocated to them. Well-experienced personnel administer the mentoring task and further acting as trainers in other induction components. New teachers consequently uphold the need for working hard on the strategies proposed by the mentors to become effective just like them.
For example, in Maryland in the county of Prince Georges, mentors spend a 40-hour training session about the missions and goals in the mentoring province. The example exemplifies magnificence in knowledge wealth requirement for a mentor, which with no doubt will ultimately find its way to the inductees.
Since mentoring entails one on one exchange of teaching expertise, it enables the new teachers to translate anxiety to confidence. Essentially, enormous confidence is required to guarantee success of the other induction strategies. Mentoring requires fewer resources compared to comprehensive induction and has the capacity to respond to anything that might arise. Thus, it forms a crucial strategy in the induction process.
The model of induction comprises three aspects: mentoring, comprehensive induction and professional developments. As priory discussed, mentoring constitutes a part of the induction process. Transition between college environment and practical work environment is crucial. Comprehensive induction provides mechanism that facilitates such a noble task. In the work environment, storms exist that tend to lift the newly hired professionals off the ground and therefore they need to be strongly anchored.
Personal, motivators of the profession such as satisfaction, achievement of the anticipated results: Excellence of students and hiked hopes of probabilities in retention in the job demands several glances. Enhancement of Proper information flow provides one of the crucial strategies to ensure the newly hired teachers reduce work related stress considerably. Once contract signing takes place, orientation into the profession follows. The process of orientation encompasses many activities taking place possibly in different venues.
The new teacher, not only needs adequate information on schedules of the activities but also prompt invitations. During the orientations, it seems vital to inculcate the spirit of group work by involving the new teachers in social forums especially during the first few days after which, subdivision of the social groups permit the teachers to meet their mentors individually.
The last element in the induction process entails professional development of which comprehensive induction constitutes one of its key elements. This phase borrows majority of its help from support seminars. The support seminars ensure that the teachers do continue to master aspects of the profession after having taken up their duties since virtually not everything obtains attention during the orientation period.
To monitor the level to which new teachers have embraced the induction programs, reflective reports preparation are necessary. During the mentoring and comprehensive induction phases, the new teachers prepare reflective learning logs. The logs provide room for entry of date and venue of meeting, the lessons learnt and the perceived benefit of the lesson to the student. At the end of the log, signature of the appropriate induction personnel is appended satisfying that.
“The Board of Governors confirms, on the recommendation of the Principal and in the light of a satisfactory report on induction which meets the criteria for the completion of the induction described in the Teacher Education Partnership Handbook that has completed the induction stage of teacher education, and may begin an early professional development (Breaux & Wong, 2003, p.94).
In the professional development phase, new teachers prepare reports featuring descriptions of their experience with regard to the needs of the students in comparison to the priorities set out by the teachers.
In the report, the teaching strategies adopted by the teacher to achieve the goals of the lessons are indicated followed by a personal evaluation satisfying whether goals were actually achieved. Where the goals seem unattained, the teachers indicate the areas where improvement needs to take place. Upon gathering the information, the observers allocated to the inductees scrutinize it thoroughly thereby giving recommendations.
Reference
Breaux, A., & Wong, H. (2003). New Teacher Induction: How to Train, Support and Retain New Teachers. Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications.