Mentoring Activities

Mentor Information

Supporting Beginning Educators

Supporting Early Career Special Educators

1. Personal impact in a new environment.
2. Discipline and motivating students.
3. Curriculum and instruction for a variety of students.
4. Assessing student work.
5. Collaboration with Others.
6. Organization and Management.
7. Coping with the workload.

1. Personal impact in a New Environment.

Concern: Beginning special educators are uncertain how they fit into the school and district culture, it's mission and values?

Support

• Provide information on the district’s special education procedures and guidelines.
• Discuss the school's expectations and provide information concerning the school’s history and culture.
• Provide specific examples of special education paperwork.

2. Discipline and Motivating Students

Concern: Beginning educators often look at discipline as their problem, not as a student problem. They have not yet developed or tested effective strategies.

Support: Mentors can:

• Assist in establishing realistic expectations for student work and behavior.
• Share management strategies for particular children and ways to develop behavioral strategies within the classroom.
• Share regional resources for assisting children with challenging behaviors.

3. Curriculum and Instruction

Concern: Early career educators have not built a range of experiences in working with a variety of students’ needs and developing curriculum to meet those needs.

Support

• Model teaching strategies.
• Provide curriculum materials and instruction appropriate for their caseloads.
• Assist in determining modifications needed for individual students.
• List textbooks, curriculum guidelines, and grade level expectations.

4. Assessing Student Work

Concern: Early career educators often need assistance in developing methods to review student progress along with how to collect this information.

Support

• Demonstrate how to evaluate progress and make changes within a student’s program.
• Together, review testing materials and procedures
• Have beginning educator observe you in a testing situation.
• Give information on state testing and expectations for special education students.

5. Collaboration with Others

Concern: Early career educators are learning how to establish and maintain positive relationships with parents, other teachers and key staff members.

Support

• Provide ideas on how to conference and work with parents, regular education staff and administrators.
• Have the early career educator observe an IEP meeting.
• Attend a parent meeting that the early career educator conducts to offer support and consultation.
• Provide a checklist to prepare for IEP meetings.

6. Organization and Management

Concern: Early career educators are discovering how to best utilize assistant time and how to schedule the day.They may require assistance to find time for planning and meeting within their schedules.

Support: Mentors can:

• Share your method of organization.
• Describe how you manage the school day.
• Review the early career educator’s schedule of daily routines, working with itinerant staff, regular education staff and paraprofessionals.
• Offer feedback.

7. Coping with the Workload

Concern: . Early career educators are learning how to balance personal and professional time, establishing realistic expectations. Prioritizing tasks amid a multitude of deadlines becomes of critical importance.

Support: Mentors can:

• Share your method of organization and how you manage the school day.
• Review the early career educator’s schedule of daily routines, working with itinerant staff and paraprofessionals and offer feedback.

Mentor Reflection Questions:
1. What are the needs and concerns of your early career educator?

2. What are three specific actions that you can take to address your early career educator’s needs/concerns?