Mentoring

Reflect on your work in your PDS this semester. How have you benefitted from the mentoring relationship you have with your mentor teacher? What actions have you taken to be sure that the mentoring relationship is beneficial to you both?

From the beginning of the semester until now, I can tell that I have grown a lot as a teacher and am on my way to becoming an even better teacher. My mentor teacher definitely has a lot to do with my progress so far. I have been able to create and teach lessons that I know I wouldn't have been ready to teach last year and I have better classroom management skills than I ever have. Although a lot of my lessons don't always go as planned, I am able to learn new skills from the mistakes that I sometimes make.
My mentor teacher is very friendly and helpful. She gives me confidence prior to each lesson and provides very nice feedback at the end of each lesson. If I seem to be struggling during a lesson, she always steps in or makes a comment which is beneficial to me and the students. I always know that she is going to be there to help me and I believe that helps me relax and teach a great lesson, along with it benefiting the students. She really has taught me how important it is to be a caring teacher, and that is something I hope to always carry with me.
Although my mentor teacher is very helpful and prepares me in a lot of ways, I do believe that I make great contributions to the class and provide opportunities to make our mentoring relationship beneficial to us both. Mrs. McQuain and I have about 40 minutes of planning each day with one another. She often talks to me about children in her classroom and, because of the knowledge that I have gained from my studies, I am able to provide educational feedback to her. I often help her with certain situations with children and often find other means of solving those situations. I believe our relationship is very beneficial to us both and hope that we can continue to help each other in future semesters.