New teachers shown ropes (and glue) by peer-mentors

Next fall, new teachers in the Albany diocesan schools will have a little extra support when facing their classes for the first time.

The teacher-mentoring program, designed to meet state specifications for public-school mentoring programs, is currently in trial stages at three diocesan schools: St. Mary's Institute in Hoosick Falls, and Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Victory Schools, both in Troy.

In the program, young teachers participate in support groups, and discuss with mentors how to improve their teaching and make them feel comfortable in their new position. The program also acclimates teachers to instructing students about religion, prayer life, values and Catholic doctrine not only in religion classes but also other subjects, such as social studies and bioethics.

Support for teachers

Thomas Fitzgerald, assistant superintendent in the diocesan Catholic School Office, said, "This is a program to provide support for beginning teachers, and to impart skills in classroom management, instruction and dealing with the Catholic identity within the classroom."

Mentors provide teachers with partners who are available to speak "one-on-one," according to Tracy Brady, the mentoring coordinator at Sacred Heart.

She believes one of the mentor's roles is to "push [teachers] to take ideas and run with them" in their classrooms.

Seeking help

Denise Cusack, a computer technology teacher at Our Lady of Victory who began her teaching career this month, said, "There's so much that I want to do:" developing a computer club, for example, and introducing long-term projects.

While her training gave her the proper technical and methodological skills to do those things, she ran into a slew of questions while attempting to do something that was, ostensibly, simple: drafting a permission slip to explain the computer club to parents.

"It's nice to have someone to go to," she said. "Even for the little things -- like, how should I address this letter?"

Sue Fiore, a fourth-grade teacher who is Ms. Cusack's mentor, noted, "With a mentor, you learn all the practical things that you don't get in a methods class. As we get to know each other, we share ideas."

In tandem

Liz Ferro, a pre-K teacher at Sacred Heart, and her mentor, Nancy Donahue, have been working together since the beginning of the school year. Their current discussions center around conducting parent-teacher conferences -- a new skill for Ms. Ferro -- and subjects as basic as what kind of glue to use for a certain project.

"Nancy is my 24-hour craft store," she said. "I'll come into school not even knowing that I'll need something -- and she'll open her closet and there it is. She's my backup."

Ms. Donahue laughed, saying: "Well, I have 16 years' worth of stuff."

Assisting each other

Mentoring, however, isn't only for new teachers. At times, experienced educators need a helping hand, especially if they've been away from the profession for a while or are switching grade levels.

For example, Sacred Heart teacher Annette Mooney just made the jump from pre-K to fifth grade. "Everything was completely different," she said, "extraordinarily different."

She had to adjust to a longer attention span, longer lessons, a fifth-grader's facility to guide him- or herself during lessons, and a greater ability of the child to express him- or herself.

"I have never felt alone since I started," said Ms. Mooney of her mentor.

Adjusting

Sacred Heart educator Elaine Scruton has been teaching since the late 1960s, but she's entered the mentoring program to help her adjust to life as a third-grade teacher after teaching fifth-graders for a long time.

Her mentor, remedial reading teacher Cathy Ingalsbe, is currently assisting Ms. Scruton with modifying social studies tests to fit the educational needs of younger children.

"Third-graders usually haven't had formal testing yet; in fifth grade, they're more familiar with that," Ms. Ingalsbe commented. "This mentoring program is helping Elaine to cut down on some of the adjustment time."

"Cathy is full of things that I haven't tried," Ms. Scruton said. "At first, I was expecting too much of the third-graders. I expected them to adjust as quickly as fifth graders did to the workload. When they didn't, Cathy was there to tell me that this was normal. She's the best; I'm so lucky to have her as my mentor."

(10/16/03) [[In-content Ad]]