The advice I would give my mentee is to be flexible at all times and have an organized classroom. Many things come up throughout the school day and you have to be flexible with your schedule. I have a pretty organized classroom and this helps me get through my day and week. If you are not organized your students will see that. I would also share with them to have a strong classroom management system set up the first day of school and stick with it. i would share my strengths and weaknesses with the mentee and collaborate ideas together to improve both our classrooms.

2009-2010 TSS Blog: Roles and Responsibilities of Mentoring

2009-2010 TSS Blog: Roles and Responsibilities of Mentoring
One thing I will discuss with my mentee is organization. Being well organized is essential to avoiding many stressful situations.
I want to provide encouragement and support, and help her to focus on why she chose to be a teacher.

2009-2010 TSS Blog: Roles and Responsibilities of Mentoring

After discussing strengths and weaknesses with my mentee, I would discuss the importance of being flexible. Being flexible is one of my strengths. If my mentee is not very flexible then, I would definitely give her some tips on how to remain as flexible as she can. Also, I would try to express the importance of never losing sight of why she started a career in education. 2009-2010 TSS Blog: Roles and Responsibilities of Mentoring

2009-2010 TSS Blog: 2009-2010 TSS Blog: Advice for New Mentee

Advice that I would give a New Mentee would be to make sure a classroom management strategy is in place the first day the students walk in your classroom. A strong classroom management strategy in place will make your life a lot less stressful. 2009-2010 TSS Blog: 2009-2010 TSS Blog: Advice for New Mentee

2009-2010 TSS Blog: Advice for New Mentee

2009-2010 TSS Blog: Advice for New Mentee
I would tell my mentee the first year of teaching is an important one. All beginning teachers want to be seen as a good teacher in the eyes of their students, parents and fellow teachers. The choice is to survive in style or end up emotionally drained wondering if you made the right decision. However, if you are proficient, teaching will be an exciting career - if not it can be a depressing occupation.

Advice for New Mentee

I would tell my mentee to remember to breathe and take everything one day at a time. Heck, take it one hour at a time if it's one of those days. This mantra has helped me survive 15 years of teaching. As educators we can easily become overwhelmed with our responsibilities but everything is manageable with a little organization and prioritizing of tasks. One of my strengths is organization. I can help my mentee establish a system to manage the many types of paperwork educators deal with on a daily basis-- if it be student work, documentation of standards, commentary, parent notes, or office correspondence. It is extremely important to work on tasks daily rather than procrastinating and letting things pile up. All procrastination will do is create even more stress. I don't leave school each day until my desk is clear, my board configuration is done, materials for the next day are ready, and my to-do list is on my desk for the following day.

Roles and Responsibilities of Mentoring

After our first class and discussing roles and responsibilities of mentoring with your colleagues, think about your strengths as a mentor. Also, think about things you need to do in order to improve in order to become the best mentor. Given what you have learned about new teachers, what is one thing that you can discuss with your new mentee?