As a mentor it is important to differentiate and bring novice teachers together. Many beginning teachers want to meet other novice teachers. The two videos in this category demonstrate two types of groups.  The video titled Problems to Possibilities is led by a district mentor and includes novice teachers who are new to the school, first time in the profession, and career changers. Seeing how these beginners learn how to solve common problems together is inspiring.  CLICK HERE to see the agenda for this group session. How could you organize a group like this? Would it be helpful to the novice teachers in your school district?

Sharing Best Practices shows a novice teacher leading a group! This novice teacher is taking on a leadership role and her mentor helps her organize the meeting behind the scenes. The mentor does not attend this meeting. CLICK here to see the agenda for a Sharing Best Practices group mentoring session. This is self – mentoring in action!

Many districts use group mentoring in the 2^nd and 3^rd years of teaching to continue the mentoring program support in a more cost effective way.

The First Year Matters book (see BOOKS on this web site) also has a novice teacher group mentoring agenda template for each month.  Using these pages can support a district in documenting group mentoring meetings to support teacher evaluation requirements.

Group Mentoring: Problems to Possibilities A mentor leads a problem solving session with novice teachers using a protocol that is repeated each week. Refer to PDF Group Mentoring for more information. Prompts: What was the topic of this meeting? How does the mentor leader structure the meeting so participants can talk? Could a meeting like this be useful in your school?

Sharing Best Practices: Emerging Teacher Leaders A novice teacher leads a group session with her colleagues. Her mentor works behind the scenes to support her in organizing the agenda and aligning the discussion to the state standards. Refer to PDF Group Mentoring for more information. Prompts: How could a process like this work in your school or district? Why is it important for novice teachers in their first three years to take on leadership roles?