I think that my mentor relationship has by far been the most reliable and strong relationship I have at my PDS. I have had a wonderful experience gaining insight and suggestions from my mentor teacher, and I hope I have extend new techniques and different strategies or technologies to her classroom. Many times we will both construct a lesson for a day that I visit my PDS, and we will collaborate by fusing our lessons together or choosing which lesson the students are better prepared to learn. She has also set up an account on the site Delicious that allows both of us to bookmark useful websites and share them with each other. I believe this type of practice is extremely helpful in a mentor and student relationship; it extends outside our meetings together and outside the classroom, but still allows us to connect our ideas. I also believe my mentor teacher is extremely receptive to what I would like to do for a lesson and allows me the freedom to teach my lesson. I have never had felt stepped-on while I am teaching a lesson when she is offering more information. Many times I will help my mentor teacher decide what unit is best to cover next. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity to have a say in the material and feel like more than just a pre-service teacher in the classroom.
I am also appreciative of the respect that she demands from the students when I teach a lesson or I am briefly in charge of the class. It is often extremely difficult to gain respect from students when they know you are young and inexperienced to some degree. It seems at times it is students' only goal to take advantage of their student teacher's authority. Every single time I have had difficulty maintaining my classroom, my mentor teacher has helped by reminding them of my authority. I am so thankful for this support, as I believe it really has contributed to my development as a teacher this year.
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Sara, it sounds like you and I were both very, very blessed in our placements at our PDS's. It also seems like there is that aspect of trust in your relationship with your mentor teacher, just like I have with mine. It's so important and completely changes the work atmosphere! I love that you have a place where you save and share helpful sites. That's awesome! You'll have to show it to me sometime because I think that'd be such a great tool to use with my mentor teacher as well. I do have a question for you. When you say that you both plan lessons for a day, what do you mean? Does your mentor teacher give you the topic and you plan a lesson and then you decide how to fuse it/whose you want to use? Or how do you know what to plan the lesson on? Just curious. Also, I know how great it feels when your mentor teacher looks to you for input and actually wants it. It's so great that your teacher has you help her plan units. My mentor teacher will turn to me during class and ask me what I think about this or that or ask me a question about her upcoming lesson, etc. At first I was thinking, "Wow! You're asking me?? Really??" but now I just see how much she trusts and values me. It makes me feel really great and like I'm truly growing in my teaching abilities.
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit nervous for next semesters switch to a high school, but just in talking with my new mentor teacher some, I know it's going to be great. I think that if I just continue to take the initiative and continually communicate on all levels with her, it'll go just as well as it did at Suncrest Middle. We'll see how I do with high school students...