ERIC ED448139: Millennium Mentoring: 1st Year Teacher Statewide Mentoring Programs in the United States, 1993-1994 & 1999-2000.

206 Pages·2000·2 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
SP 039 657
ED 448 139
French, Karen Lea
AUTHOR
Millennium Mentoring: 1st Year Teacher Statewide Mentoring
TITLE
Programs in the United States, 1993-1994 & 1999-2000.
2000-00-00
PUB DATE
204p.; Cover page varies.
NOTE
Frenchy's Publishing House, 1510 Shore Drive, Anchorage,
AVAILABLE FROM
Alaska 99515.
Descriptive (141)
Reports
PUB TYPE
MF01/PC09 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
*Beginning Teacher Induction; Beginning Teachers; Elementary
DESCRIPTORS
Secondary Education; *Mentors; Teacher Collaboration
ABSTRACT
This book examines research on what is occurring in the
United States with mentoring for first-year teachers, focusing on statewide
mentoring programs. After an introduction, "Why Mentoring?", the four
"Mentoring Definitions" and "First-Year Teachers";
chapters look at:
(2)
(1)
"State Department of Education
"Procedure for This Mentoring Research";
(3)
Addresses," "Status of Statewide Mentoring Programs," "Specifics of State
Charts," and "Mentoring in the United States (1993-1994 state-by-state and
"Conclusion." (Includes references.)
1999-2000 state-by-state); and (4)
(SM)
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
Millennium
Mentoring
IstYearreacher
Statewide
entoring Programs
in the United States
1994 & 2000
Karen Lea French,
Ph.D.
"Frenchy"
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
BEEN GRANTED BY
CENTER (ERIC)
O This document has been reproduced as
received from the person or organization
originating it.
O Minor changes have been made to
improve reproduction quality.
2
TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)
Points of view or opinions stated in this
document do not necessarily represent
1
official OERI position or policy.
Millennium
Mentoring
1st Year Teacher
Statewide Mentoring Programs
in the United States
1993-1994
1999-2000
Dr. Karen Lea French
"Frenchy"
Frenchy's Publishing House
Anchorage, Alaska
3
Copyright A 2000 by
KAREN LEA FRENCH, PH.D.
"FRENCHY"
All Rights Reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition
Frenchy's Publishing House
1510 Shore Drive
Anchorage, Alaska 99515
This book is dedicated to:
Reuben Little III
sharing.
for your support, love, caring and
All teachers in the United States.
Mentors everywhere.
About the Author
Dr. Karen Lea French
"Frenchy"
1510 Shore Drive
Anchorage, Alaska 99515
907-522-1400
Fax:
907-522-1998
[email protected]
e-mail:
Karen Lea French was born in Jamestown, New
She began her teaching career at the
York, July 21, 1953.
age of 19 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, teaching emotionally
She moved to Simi
disturbed students in grades 6-8.
Valley, California three years later, where she taught
She loves the outdoors and
special education for 3 years.
wide open spaces, which is why she relocated to
Anchorage, Alaska in 1979.
Dr. French received her B.S. from Buffalo State; her
M.A. from Northridge, California, and her Ph.D. from
The Fielding Institute in Santa Barbara, California. Her
She will end
favorite teaching assignment is first grade.
her public school teaching career June 2, 2000.
"Frenchy" will then consult around the world in the
She has presented
area of mentoring and motivation.
several lectures and workshops internationally in Kenya,
She has a wealth of knowledge in the area of
Africa.
mentoring and is highly energetic and enthusiastic in her
discussions and presentations.
Dr. French is currently working on two other books:
The Mask of Strength: Strong Women Who Have NOT been
Mentored; and Helping the Helper :. Allowing Help for
Yourself as You Help Others.
U
CONTENTS
Introduction
Why Mentoring?
Chapter One
Mentoring Definitions
First-Year Teachers
Chapter Two
Procedure for this Mentoring Research
Chapter Three
State Department of Education Addresses
Status of Statewide Mentoring Programs
Specifics of State Charts
Mentoring in the United States
1993-1994 State by State
1999-2000 State by State
Chapter Four
Conclusion
References
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INTRODUCTION
Mentoring can be a powerful way to provide learning,
guidance and support, especially for first-year teachers who graduate
from student teaching to a classroom of their own, and are expected
Without
to perform at the same level as experienced colleagues.
guidance and support, the first-year teacher can feel adrift and may
be at risk for failure.
Such feelings characterized my first year of teaching in a large
I asked for assistance and received none.
junior high school.
Instead, I received a pat on the back with the advice, "Do what you
think is best". How could I know what was best, when I had neither
the experience nor specific strategies to attempt? Even last year,
when I taught a new grade level, I again felt like a new teacher.
I have strongly
Once again I had no mentor to guide or support me.
encouraged mentoring programs for first-year teachers and have been
a mentor to many because of my own experiences.
When I began teaching in Florida in 1972, I was 19 years old.
I felt I could conquer the world and wanted to prove it. What I
I selected the most difficult
faced, however, nearly conquered me!
position imaginable, teaching socially maladjusted students in grades
I was given the worst students in the school, placed in a small
6-8.
house beside the school with no lights, no chalkboards, and not
I needed and
enough room for all the students in any one room.
It was as if I and
wanted (begged for) a mentor, guide and helper.
my students were off limits. When I asked for help, the other
teachers just said, "Oh, honey, you just do what you think is best."
I thought to myself, "What would that be? What would that look
Could you perhaps give me some clue, even one idea, one
like?
I did it my own way.
I had to do it myself.
tidbit?"
I had a new grade level;
In 1994 I had a similar experience.
and even after 22 years of teaching, I once again felt like a
Other teachers
beginning teacher. Once again I asked for help.
listened politely but were of little assistance. From my personal
experience of not having a mentor, I have become interested in
mentoring research.
The goal of this research has been to learn what is happening
This
in the United States with mentoring for first-year teachers.
research focuses on statewide mentoring programs for first-year
teachers.
CHAPTER ONE
Mentoring Definitions
Mentoring has a variety of definitions.
Most definitions do,
however, emphasize the aspect of the relationship between the
mentor and the mentee.
"A developmental, caring, sharing, and helping relationship
where one person invests time, know-how, and effort in
enhancing another person's growth, knowledge, and skills,
and responds to critical needs in the life of that person in ways
that prepare the individual for greater productivity or
achievement in the future...anyone who has a beneficial life -
or style-altering effect on another person, generally as a result
of personal one-on-one contact; one who offers knowledge,
insight, perspective, or wisdom that is helpful to another
person in a relationship which goes beyond duty or obligation"
(Shea, 1994, pp. 13-14).
Mentors are guides.
They lead us along the journey of our
lives. We trust them because they have been there before.
They embody our hopes, cast light on the way ahead, interpret
arcane signs, warn us of lurking dangers, and point out
unexpected delights along the way. There is a certain
luminosity about them, and they often pose as magicians in
tales of transformation, for magic is a word given to what we
cannot see, and we can rarely see across the gulf...We have
much to learn from the mythology of the mentor" (Da loz,
1986, p. 17).
"Mentoring relationships should be mutually respectful,
mutually beneficial and mutually valuable, with the mentor
willing to supply both academic information and emotional
support and the mentee able to respond as an equal" (Gaffney,
p. 1).
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