I think that many administrators pay lip service to the new ideas and enthusiasm that young teachers bring with them to the work place, but they still want them to perform much as teachers do with 20 years of experience. In other words, they forget that they are still in their 20's and that they will make mistakes as well as try new things that might not be the norm. We who have been around for awhile need to be more open to the freshness and creativity of young teachers or there will not be any of them around to take over for us!

The mentor in our building is the new "school growth teacher." She had to mentor 15+ new people this year in addition to her many other duties. She is not actively teaching. She is expected to know everything about everything. She conducts staff training on topics selected by administration and acts like a pseudo-administrator.
In past years, teachers mentored teachers either one-on-one or two-on-one. They did away with that system. I was mentored by someone who really could relate to me because she was right there in the trenches with me. That experience really helped me stay in teaching.
I personally mentored four or five other people. No teacher that I mentored has quit to my knowledge. I can't say that for this year's crop of newbies.

Teachers are only assigned mentors if they have to pass the teacher assessment to keep their certificate and the purpose of that mentor is only to help them get the work done for the assessment. the assessment. They are not even teachers working in their own certification area.

Good mentoring could help reduce attrition, especially if the mentors were working with the same type of child as the mentee. Every teacher with less than three years of experience should have a mentor. In the case of first year teachers whose have undergraduate degrees in education and no experience and those with alternate certification and less than 3 years the mentor should have a period each day which is to be spent with the new teacher. After that, if the teacher is doing ok and is still positive about staying in the field, the time can be cut to 2-3 times per week in the second and once a week in the third year. The alternate certified will probably need two years of daily mentoring before cutting down and 4 years altogether (if they last that long). A major task of the mentor should be advocacy and attrition prevention so that teachers with potential remain in the field. They should also do hands on training. If their class can be located next door to the mentee's class, that would be best so that if the inexperienced teacher's class gets out of control, the mentor can be there right away to straighten things out and figure out what is going wrong. This can help prevent the teacher "walking" at Thanksgiving.

Experienced teachers who are new to the system have different needs. What they need is a dependable go-to person who knows how to do that systemm's paperwork, teach them the culture of the school and make sure that mandatory things get done correctly. The Go-to, should have one period per day free where she can see all her experienced new teachers. Special education teachers, in particular, need a special ed Go To because of our paperwork. Sometimes this role could be filled by a quality Department Chair or Lead, but there needs to be a specific time during the day when her only role should be looking after her teachers. The go-to should function heavily as an advocate especially for veteran educators who have had bad experiences in other systems, as opposed to those who moved because of their husband's job or to take care of an ailing parent.

Both Go-tos and Mentors need to ensure that those they work with get scheduled for off-campus professional development that meets their unique needs (such as special inservices in assistive technology for special ed. people) and advocate to the administration if the teacher feels that she is being treated unfairly. She should be able to negotiate against evaluations that have political overtones, prevent good teachers from not being recontracted and be free to call on the union for help when necessary.

All new teachers are assigned mentors for three years at our school. In addition, teachers new to our building are assigned mentors for one year, regardless of work experience.

Our school assigns two people to help out each new teacher. Their mentor comes from their own department, and is often someone teaching some or all of the same classes. They also get assigned a "buddy," someone from a different department, who helps them more with the culture of the school, helping them find their way, helps introduce them around, and generally becomes their friend.

We have two full time teachers on special assignment as mentor teachers in our district. They work with first year teachers, observe them officially twice a year although they have many, many hours in beyond that and actually do their evaluations for the first year. These mentors make a recommendation to a Mentor Review Panel as to whether a teacher should go on to the second year, during which they work with the building administrator. The administrator is only minimally involved with a teacher in the first year.Our district has received awards for this program; a concern that we have though is that with many, many retirements this year the caseload for next year for the mentors may be too large!

Our school has 6 mentors but they also teach a full load and must work around their normal teaching assignments to find time with their new teachers. Another 6 of us have begun training to become mentors and will have the same situation this upcoming year. Because we also teach in teams and are a project based school we invariably have new teachers on most teams annually. Any of us who have had the training find ourselves trying to help new teachers in any way we can.

While mentoring new teachers is an excellent idea, what it has degenerated to in many parts of the Los Angeles Unified School District is just another perk for old-guard teachers who seem to care only about protecting and expanding their privileged position and compensation. Mentors get an additional stipend as mentors whether or not they actually help new teachers.

Several years ago, I interviewed for a position at Venice High School that consisted of being a traveling teacher who taught 3 English and 2 U.S. History courses in 5 different rooms- a formula for burn-out in one year for some unsuspecting first-year teacher.

When the school found out that I had more seniority than most of the present teaching staff and could bump them from their less stressful classes, I was not even considered for the open position that they were interviewing for.

Rather than dividing up these students with poor English skills- that were likely to act out due to the frustration of low academic skills- among the more seasoned teachers- you know, the same ones who are qualified to be mentors -the school just hired a new teacher ever year to deal with the students that the mentor types were unwilling to deal with.

With an attrition rate as high as 50% of new teachers quiting the profession within 5 years, true and verifiable mentoring and sharing of difficult classes should not be a choice for the old-guard with high seniority, but rather an obligation. This would go a long way toward lessening the hemorrhaging of new teachers and the billions of scarce educational dollars that would not have to be spent to constantly replace them.

It is only short-sighted big inner-city school districts, administered by ex-teachers with no business skills, that thinks it is saving money with this constant destablizing turnover, because they do not appreciate that the moderate savings they will achieve by hiring a cheaper new teacher is dwarfed by the costs related to constant teacher replacement.

Every teacher with 3 years of experience or less is assigned a mentor teacher in my school. (This is a state requirement.) These relationships often grow into long-term friendships after the mentoring period has expired. The mentors, who teach a full load of classes, meet regularly--and invidually--with the new teachers, observe them, and provide support in many ways.

At my school, we also have a "buddy" system for teachers who are new to the building, but not to the profession. "Buddies" help these teachers to acclimate themselves to their new setting and to become a part of our school "family."

The school I was at last year provided mentors for new teachers in the district. I've always thought that having a mentor was an excellent idea. I was in a different situation- I was new to the district, but hired through an outside source, so I had no mentor. It was somewhat frustrating because it was my first real teaching job. I found a teacher that didn't mind answering my questions and also offered excellent advice. Sadly, the grant I work through this year has placed me at a different school next year. The good news is that my car pooling buddie has become my mentor. Funny how things work out.