Lisa M. Dabbs M.Ed. (@teachingwthsoul on Twitter) is the facilitator of Edutopia's New Teacher Connections group. She is also the founder of the weekly #ntchat for new teachers on Twitter, and blogs about supporting new teachers at Teaching With Soul.

Welcome to the fifth week, of Edutopia's New Teacher Academy! I'm excited to be here with you sharing my passion to support and mentor new teachers. This is the final week of our blog series. It's been great to have had the opportunity to provide resources for New Teachers in five key areas:

Lisa M. Dabbs M.Ed. (@teachingwthsoul on Twitter) is the facilitator of Edutopia's New Teacher Connections group. She is also the founder of the weekly #ntchat for new teachers on Twitter, and blogs about supporting new teachers at Teaching With Soul.

Welcome to week four of Edutopia's New Teacher Academy! I'm excited to be here with you sharing my passion to support and mentor new teachers. I hope that you will come back next week for our last post in the series as we provide resources for New Teachers in five key areas:

Lisa M. Dabbs M.Ed. (@teachingwthsoul on Twitter) is the facilitator of Edutopia's New Teacher Connections group. She is also the founder of the weekly #ntchat for new teachers on Twitter, and blogs about supporting new teachers at Teaching With Soul.

Welcome to week three of Edutopia's New Teacher Academy! I'm excited to be here with you sharing my passion to support and mentor new teachers. I hope that you will come back each week and join us as we look at five key topics and provide resources for New Teachers in five key areas.

Lisa M. Dabbs M.Ed. (@teachingwthsoul on Twitter) is the facilitator of Edutopia's New Teacher Connections group. She is also the founder of the weekly #ntchat for new teachers on Twitter, and blogs about supporting new teachers at Teaching With Soul.

Welcome to week two of Edutopia's New Teacher Academy! I'm excited to be here with you sharing my passion to support and mentor new teachers. I hope that you will come back each week and join us as we look at five key topics and provide resources for New Teachers in five key areas.

Lisa M. Dabbs M.Ed. (@teachingwthsoul on Twitter) is the facilitator of Edutopia's New Teacher Connections group. She is also the founder of the weekly #ntchat for new teachers on Twitter, and blogs about supporting new teachers at Teaching With Soul.

Welcome to the first week of Edutopia's New Teacher Academy! I'm so happy to be here sharing my passion to support and mentor new teachers. I hope that you will come back each week and join us as we look at five key topics that will offer resources to new teachers in five key areas.

Lisa M. Dabbs M.Ed. (@teachingwthsoul on Twitter) is the facilitator of Edutopia's New Teacher Connections group. She is also the founder of the weekly #ntchat for new teachers on Twitter, and and blogs about supporting new teachers at Teaching With Soul.

Dear New Teacher,

Congratulations! You made it through the holiday rush, classroom busyness and maybe even some college class craziness. If you've come this far, you should give yourself a hug and feel a great sense of accomplishment.

Lisa M. Dabbs M.Ed. (@teachingwthsoul on Twitter) is the facilitator of Edutopia's New Teacher Connections group. She is also the founder of the weekly #ntchat for new teachers on Twitter, and one of the organizers of #edcampOC.

A few weeks ago while discussing a topic for the next new teacher chat on Twitter, a pre-service teacher sent me a private tweet.

Lisa M. Dabbs M.Ed. (@teachingwthsoul on Twitter) is the facilitator of Edutopia's New Teacher Connections group. She is also the founder of the weekly #ntchat for new teachers on Twitter, and one of the organizers of #edcampOC.

Mentoring matters. It matters, because it offers acceptance, guidance, instructional support, hope, and optimism to teachers -- and particularly for new teachers. The act of mentoring is a part of the fabric of so many educational institutions. Yet it's still a piece that's missing at our schools for those new to the education profession. Why is that? With so many great teachers around, why are we lacking in mentors?

Editor's note: See the full archive of the five-week boot camp.

Welcome to our fifth and final week of New Teacher Boot Camp! Today we're going to be exploring blogging. Not only for students, but for educators as well.