Some See Benefits of Mentoring Teachers

Alan Borsuk:

Dion Haith was observing a new teacher and decided to make a chart of what she was doing. When the class was over, he showed it to her. She spotted something right away:
All the questions she asked were directed to girls. It wasn’t something she did intentionally. But she did it.
Haith’s observations drove home a lesson: You need to draw all your students into what you’re doing. That’s the kind of lesson Haith is supposed to be teaching as a full-time mentor for young teachers.
But the lessons go well beyond classroom tips. Stephanie Gwin-Matzat said her job requires her to be a bit of a marriage or relationship counselor, a bit of a financial counselor and a bit of a lot of other things. She’ll tell the people she works with how to open a credit union account or how to get photocopies done efficiently.