It was 4 pm during the last week of school here in upstate New York as I clicked to join the “Tips for Supporting and Retaining Your New Teachers” webinar. Mentoring and induction has been one of my passions over the past decade and the lack of recent research has been perplexing. Often the mentor coordinator is one person in their district who has many other responsibilities. As the webinar began, I soon realized that I wasn’t alone. I was in a national community of educators with similar concerns about our novice teachers in our teaching profession.
Here I share an adaptation of the 3-2-1 Bridge Thinking Routine to reflect on the webinar.
3 Thoughts:
- A school/district plan and program for supporting new teachers is essential for novice teachers, our schools, and the teaching profession.
- Losing teachers is expensive to systems, draining for those who invest hours in mentoring, and heartbreaking for the novice educator.
- We need to create ways to build joy and strengthen practice through coaching, establishing support cohorts for novice teachers, and providing the tools.
2 Questions:
- What is working to attract, support and retain teachers in schools?
- How can we stay connected to continue to learn from one another?
1 Image: You are not alone.
Joining this well-planned, comprehensive webinar was a great opportunity to validate some of my thinking, add to my resources, and gain ideas from others.
