Our School District (SD #59 Peace River South) is taking
part in the New Teacher Mentoring Project (NTMP) in partnership with UBC, the
BCTF, and the BC School Superintendent’s Association. This is an important project that involves 17
mentoring pairs in schools around our District.
Recently I had the opportunity to take part in the first
two-day gathering of the mentors and mentees.
What struck me was the energy of the pairs and the enthusiasm they
shared when talking about working together throughout the next two years.
The opportunity that this project
presents is especially important, as the demands on teachers and the complexities
of education in general seem to be increasing exponentially. In a recent report by the Alberta Teachers’
Association, “Teaching in the Early Years,” (2013) they point out:
“The notion that new teachers
should “sink or swim” is deeply embedded in the teaching profession despite
compelling evidence that such an approach drives some promising new teachers
out of the profession altogether and negatively affects the careers of many who
stay. “
Our role as members of the local steering committee is to
ensure that the mentors and mentees have opportunities to work together over
the length of the two-year project.
My role as a principal with new teachers in our building is
to make sure that they do not sink. I
need to communicate my expectations clearly, and ensure that I provide an
orientation to the school’s norms, routines, rules and idiosyncrasies. I need
to provide a manageable teaching assignment and reasonable limits on
extracurricular expectations, along with ample formative feedback.
I can remember my own first year of teaching and would have
benefitted immensely from having a formal mentoring relationship. The importance of the opportunity provided
here by the project can not be underestimated.
Thank you to the partner groups for helping to make this project
possible.
