Quality Mentoring Is a Well-Choreographed Dance

by Kimberly Kyff, 2006-2007 Michigan Teacher of the Year

The teaching profession has changed dramatically over the years. Higher standards require teachers to learn new skills, as well as sharpening those they already possess. Life in the classroom brings new challenges and constant change. Possibly, as a result, approximately 40 percent of novice teachers leave the profession in five years or less. How will schools continue to make quality gains in educational reform with the loss of valuable novice teachers? The answer lies in partnership building.

New teachers enter the classroom full of idealism and knowledge of the latest educational research. They are eager to begin practicing their craft and improving their skills. Unfortunately, veteran teachers, administrators, and parents often expect new teachers to accomplish the same tasks as veteran educators without the experience and real-life knowledge. To compound the problem, many veteran educators adopt a “sink or swim” mentality toward new teachers.

Research demonstrates that having an effective mentor teacher in the first years of teaching increases a novice teacher’s job satisfaction, confidence, and likelihood of remaining in the profession (Smith & Ingersoll, 2004). Mentoring not only benefits those entering the profession, but offers an opportunity for veteran educators to hold a magnifying glass to their own teaching practices. Self-evaluation questions such as, “Why do I do the things I do?” and “Does this really impact student learning?” are just part of the process in developing effective mentoring skills. Mentoring, along with providing validation for the veteran teacher, also leads to renewal and regeneration of teaching practices.

Through mentoring, experienced teachers are able to improve and increase their instructional techniques and knowledge. Veteran teachers also can learn from novice teachers about current educational research in the field and how to apply it in the classroom setting. Through this collaborative “give and take” relationship, student achievement inevitably improves. Michigan is fortunate to have a unique resource that provides practical resources, strategies, and tools to promote effective teacher induction and mentoring. The ASSIST Web site—http://assist.educ.msu.edu/ASSIST—offers research-based frameworks and professional tools for on-the-job learning representing best practice in instructional leadership and effective classroom teaching. There are more than 1,000 pages of tools and resources available on the ASSIST site. The veteran and the novice teacher are able to explore these tools together, strengthening their skills and relationship.

Relationships are integral to the education process. Mentors develop positive relationships with teachers by applying their coaching skills through the art of listening, asking questions, and providing non-judgmental feedback. It is through mentor/teacher relationships, as well as teacher/student relationships, that true learning takes place.

To paraphrase Parker Palmer in his book, The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life, mentors and novice teachers are partners in an ancient human dance. One of teaching’s great rewards is the daily chance it gives us to get back on the dance floor. It is the dance of the spiraling generations, in which the veteran empowers the novice with experience and the novice empowers the veteran with new life, reweaving the fabric of the community as they touch and turn. To everyone in the teaching profession: it’s time to dance.

Outside of fulfilling her duties as Teacher of the Year, Kimberly Kyff is a fifth grade teacher at Detroit Public School’s Jamieson Elementary. For more information, contact: kyffk@michigan.gov.

Reference
Smith, T.M. & Ingersoll, R.M. (2004). What are the effects of induction and mentoring on beginning teacher turnover? American Educational Research Journal.