To whom are your new teachers turning for support? Are they your marigolds?
Laurie King
How do you support your teacher leaders to mentor newbies?
Jennifer Gonzalez wrote a blog post for new teachers called, “Find Your Marigold: The One Essential Rule for New Teachers” using the metaphors of marigolds and walnut trees. Marigolds are companion plants that help surrounding plants thrive and she tells new teachers to surround themselves with positive models.
Your new teachers are probably going through some sort of induction and mentoring process to help them master the competencies needed to be effective in your school and district. Yet, sometimes new staff members have “unofficial” mentors.
Have you guided both your official and unofficial mentors in some of the ways to help new staff members develop their competencies? Are your mentors skilled in the competencies? When we aren’t trained as coaches, we often revert to advice-giving. New teachers are grateful for advice, but we also want to help mentors support new teachers to develop competencies to be the best version of themselves rather than clones of us. Have you had personal conversations with teacher leaders and mentors and do you have incentives to encourage your marigolds to accept and stay in mentoring positions?
Read the full blog post or make it available to your new teachers.
