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Home : 2005 : Mar : 5

    mentor problems
    By liz
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    I am currently a mentor for a first year teacher. This my first formal mentor situation so I am also learning what makes a good mentee/mentor relationship. (BTW, this is voluntary although we did get a couple days of in-service and time is given for classroom visits.)
    It sounds as if you have many differrent issues that should be addressed. Working conditions generally do not vary to the extent that you have described. If prep time is part of your Collective Agreement you should be receiving it. Does your union have a grievance officer or is it necessary to work only through the president? Is your local union part of a larger state or provincial body that could offer you assistance or advice? Do you have a union steward at your school who could help facilitate a fairer workload for you?
    What about your school admin or other tachers on staff? Can they offer you some advice, help, recommend workshops (to help get some training and access to resources)? Can you find another teacher in your board or district who teaches in a similar situation with whom you can have an informal mentor relationship? Hopefully there is someone else who can listen to your concerns and offer you some practical suggestions. Supervising educational assistants is a big job by itself, let alone planning and delivering a programme for your special needs students.
    My understanding is the role of a mentor is one of support, listening to concerns, questions etc. It is not to create clones of ourselves nor is it to evaluate our mentee. Teacher evaluation is up to admin and it is absolutely against our union rules, policies (whatever you want to call it) to evaluate another member. So in my opinion a list of things that "you are doing wrong" is inappropriate unless you have asked for that type of feedback. For example if you felt something had not gone as well as you hoped for or wanted some advice on class management or working with EA's then it would be appropriate for your mentor to help you with the area of concern that you had identified. I also think the mentee/mentor relationship should be one of give and take. My mentee has given me some great new ideas and perspectives. Don't give up on teaching too soon. You have lots to offer.
    You have a tough situation and you must be absolutely exhausted. Perhaps you are going to have to look beyond your mentor for support.

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