The Oregon School District Mentoring Program

     As you embark or continue on your professional journey, you will be blending the theory and modeling that you experienced in pre- service practice with the day- to- day realities of classroom teaching. Your mentor, like you, is committed to making a positive difference in the lives of young people.

     Throughout the year you will have many opportunities to establish the norms and habits that will guide your practice for your entire career. Now is the time to develop into a teacher whose classroom practice is ready to meet the needs of children both today and in the future. Along the journey you will, of course, encounter both successes and dilemmas. Your mentor will work with you using a set of Formative Assessment System tools which have been developed by the New Teacher Center in Santa Cruz, California. The tools will provide you information about your work that will help identify your challenges and strengths as you and your mentor connect your work to your professional growth and your students’ academic needs.

     Your mentor will play many roles. Consider how your mentor can support you as a resource, an advocate, a listener, a facilitator, a collaborator, or a coach. You can take the most advantage of time with your mentor if you thoughtfully and honestly reflect on your own strengths and struggles and consider what types of support are most effective for you. A clear understanding of the expectations will also help establish a trusting relationship between you and your mentor.

     The goal of the Mentoring Program is to help new teachers to have empathy for multiple views, demonstrate flexibility, be self- directed yet collaborative, set and pursue their own goals, seek out growth and self renewal, assume responsibility for their teaching.