What supports can school leaders provide to develop effective and committed special education teachers?
Page 10: Responsive Mentoring
Responsive mentoring is a critical feature of induction and is often the primary source of support for new teachers. Mentoring is a formal or informal relationship usually between two people, one with experience in the field (mentor) and one just entering the field (mentee). Mentors assist the development of the new teacher’s expertise by focusing on improving the mentee’s ability to provide effective instruction. Mentors’ work can be structured in a number of ways. Click each link below for a description.
Generally, full-time mentors are veteran special education teachers who devote 100% of their time to mentoring multiple teachers, earning a regular teaching salary plus a supplement. Some advantages of having full-time mentors is that they can:
- Focus solely on mentoring
- Be matched to new teacher’s characteristics and needs
- Be more available and flexible for scheduling mentoring sessions
- Meet with other mentors and provide support to each other
Part-time mentors are typically veteran special education teachers located at the new teacher’s school. They are assigned the responsibility of mentoring in addition to their regular teaching duties. Compensation usually is provided through a stipend. One advantage to this structure is proximity. New teachers have direct access to a mentor who likely has specific knowledge of the context of the teacher’s own school.
Typically, in group mentoring, a veteran special education teacher serves as a mentor for a group of new special education teachers. These mentors may be full or part time. The group works together on common professional development needs or to address immediate instructional needs or behavioral concerns. One advantage to this structure is that the new teachers develop a collegial network of support that might extend beyond the first year.
In this structure, the mentor uses technology to support the new teacher. They might do this through email, blogs, discussion boards, chat rooms, or video conferencing. It can be particularly helpful for new special education teachers in certain locations (e.g., a rural setting where they are the only special education teacher, an urban setting where there are no veterans). An advantage of this structure is that mentors can be selected according to their expertise and matched carefully to the needs of the new special education teacher. Moreover, there is great flexibility in correspondence.
One way to meet the needs of new special education teachers is to provide a variety of mentoring structures. For example, a district might have a full-time veteran special education teacher to serve as an instructional mentor and a part-time mentor (of any subject or area) to assist with navigating the school culture and helping to avert immediate crises.
The Content of Mentoring
One essential, but often overlooked, topic for leaders is the content of mentoring. Mentors are often hired and expected to “help” new teachers without being given guidance in the content of the assistance they are expected to provide. To alleviate this issue, mentors should be offered some direction to help them provide appropriate supports. There are three types of content support mentors often provide: instructional, emotional, and school culture and procedural.
Instructional Support
A primary role for mentors is to provide instructional support for new special education teachers. Instructional support does not always occur in a focused mentoring conversation. It can also take place in other contexts such as those described in the table below.
| Co-planning | Co-planning might be helpful for new special education teachers struggling to create successful lesson plans. It is important for mentors to help new special education teachers link lesson goals to both district and state goals/standards, as well as individual IEP goals. The mentor can also support new special education teachers in using data to plan classroom practice. |
| Modeling | Some new special education teachers need to see an effective practice in action before they can implement it in their own classrooms. Prior to the lesson, the mentor and new teacher can discuss the strategy to be modeled. After the mentor models the practice, the new special education teachers is given an opportunity to practice with feedback. |
| Developing and implementing an action plan | Action plans can help guide a new special education teacher to make instructional progress. The mentor and new special education teacher work together to establish goals, objectives, and timelines. The teacher then independently implements strategies to achieve the objectives and later receives corrective feedback from the mentor. |
Emotional Support
Emotional support is among the forms of support most highly valued by new special education teachers. Emotional support includes providing reinforcement in a difficult situation, sharing similar experiences, and listening. Mentors can supply emotional support through:
- Positive affirmations (e.g., “What a great idea for dealing with that problem.”)
- Active listening (e.g., maintaining eye contact, nodding, summarizing what the speaker has said)
- Focusing on challenges that lead to actionable situations (e.g., finding a solution to a frustration)
Although emotional support is critical for new special education teachers, some situations are not appropriate for mentors to tackle. For example, new special education teachers with personal difficulties, financial concerns, or legal problems should look to trained professionals for assistance in those areas.
School Culture and Procedural Support
New special education teachers often feel isolated at their schools and overwhelmed by procedural demands. Mentors play a crucial role in helping new special education teachers to navigate their school culture and to feel confident in performing procedural requirements. Mentors can help new special education teachers:
Connect with colleagues: Mentors can help new special education teachers to connect to key faculty and can encourage continuing collegial relationships.- Communicate with parents: New special education teachers might need assistance in effective written communication strategies, timelines for communication, and the best way to run meetings.
- Understand policies and procedures: Mentors can encourage new special education teachers to attend all district professional development on policies and procedures and can answer questions about their roles and responsibilities.
- Master IEPs: Mentors can offer assistance in time management skills, co-planning and drafting special education teachers’ paperwork, and identifying partnerships for assistance.
- Link to Resources: Not all new special education teachers have the curriculum and resources they need to plan instruction. Mentors can help by providing connections to available resources.
Activity
Jamal has no experience writing IEPs. How could a mentor support him throughout the year while he learns this skill? Be sure to address both the content and the approach(es) the mentor might use.
The development of IEPs is often challenging for new teachers. Mentoring that covered these skills is a form of procedural support. Because the subject is new to Jamal, the mentor will probably engage in a good deal of direct mentoring, with some reflective mentoring used when appropriate. Other supports the mentor should consider include:
- Providing written guidelines for writing IEPs (e.g., published or local guidelines) and reviewing them in detail with Jamal
- Showing Jamal a model IEP, pointing out those things that make it a good example
- Asking Jamal to observe an IEP meeting, providing Jamal with a list of guidelines for leading an IEP meeting, and discussing the extent to which he observed these things after the meeting
- Co-leading Jamal’s first IEP meeting with him, providing support as needed
- Reviewing the first IEP Jamal develops and providing feedback
Approaches to Mentoring
Because new teachers have unique needs and different levels of knowledge and experience, mentors need to be flexible in their approach. Mentors can use the following three approaches to facilitate high-quality mentoring sessions. Click on each label below to learn more.
Definition: An approach in which the mentor typically asks a series of questions to provoke thoughtful reflection by the new teacher to improve classroom practice; also called cognitive coaching.
Recommended for: New teachers who have a strong command of basic teaching skills and are thoughtful about their classroom practice. It is not recommended for teachers who have limited knowledge and skills entering the classroom.
Examples of reflective mentoring questions:
- How will you know whether the students met your goals for the lesson?
- If you were to repeat the lesson, what would you do differently and why?
- Let’s take a look at your student data. What does it tell you?
Click the video below to view a demonstration of reflective mentoring (time: 1:00).
Transcript: Reflective Mentoring
Mentor: So as you think about your year with these students and using that same sequence, what would your data say in support of that sequence or changes that need to be made in that sequence?
Teacher: Well, my data would say that it was being effective in terms of the amount of time spent on-task, making the transition. I’ve got so specific where the students know when they come in they go get their journals. They go to this, they go get that. And then as we’re transitioning from one type of activity to another, I mean the amount of time spent off-task is decreased significantly.
Mentor: So it supports their learning, plus the structure helps them stay on task, which increases your instructional learning time.
Teacher: Absolutely, absolutely.
Mentor: Okay.
Teacher: And so test scores have have gotten increasingly better, so…
Mentor: From the beginning of the year? Okay, good.
Credit
Mentoring video courtesy of the National Center to Inform Policy and Practice in Special Education Professional Development (NCIPP).
Definition: An approach in which the mentor takes on the role of problem-solver by providing specific feedback to the new teacher on how he or she can improve classroom practice. The mentor provides new special education teachers with explicit answers and advice to questions or problems they are experiencing.
Recommended for: New teachers who are struggling with solving problems on their own. Ideally, the mentor should work towards establishing a more reflective or collaborative relationship with the new teacher over time. Mentors using this approach should have strong skills and experiences that match their new special education teacher’s classroom placements.
Examples of direct mentoring language:
- If that happened to me, I would…
- I tried this strategy in my classroom and it worked…
- You can look for help with this by going to…
Click the video below to view a demonstration of direct mentoring (time: 2:01).
Transcript: Direct mentoring
Mentor: Here’s what I’d do. It sounds like your documentation is in place. What I love is that you haven’t just thrown up your hands and given up. It would be very easy to do that. First year in the building, don’t want to upset anyone, don’t want to rock the water, don’t want to make anybody mad. I totally get that. But what I respect is the fact that you’re still seeking this parent out. Love that you’re documenting. That doesn’t surprise me at all. I know you very well. Continue to do that. Make it a goal. It it’s April. Make it a goal that in the last month of school that you, however you feel comfortable, email, the note in the mailbox, phone call, whatever it may be, that you contact her at least once a week just to check in. Just wanted to check in. Your daughter’s still doing very well. Here’s a concern I may have, whatever it may be. Here’s what we’re doing for the OAA prep. Just to check in. Something above and beyond what you’re doing for all the other parents. So I know you send home your newsletters, that that type of thing, but something above and beyond so that in your mind kind of plan that out. That way, you’re still trying. She may not appreciate it now, but she will, and I think it’s important to that you let Miss Cook know that as your building administrator.
Teacher: Okay.
Mentor: Just say, “I meant with my mentor. She’s aware of the situation. We’re going to, you know, hold off on trying to schedule a meeting until the parent replies because that’s what your administrator said to do.” But with all that being said, I think you still contacting her in an appropriate way, just checking in. “Is there anything you need? If you have any concerns about the homework last night…” Just real basic types of…
Teacher: To keep the communication…
Mentor: To keep the lines of communication open. If she’s choosing not to, that’s her choice. You, though, don’t stop.
Teacher: Okay.
Mentor: Okay?
Credit
Mentoring video courtesy of the National Center to Inform Policy and Practice in Special Education Professional Development (NCIPP).
Definition: An approach that combines reflective and direct mentoring. The mentor and mentee discuss the new teacher’s experiences as colleagues. The approach is often referred to as instructional coaching. Collaborative mentoring generally requires a high level of comfort in the mentor and mentee relationship.
Recommended for: New special education teachers who have moved past survival mode and have begun to reflect on their teaching practices.
Examples of collaborative mentoring language:
- When that happened to me, I handled it this way…What would you do?
- Let’s think about how we can change instruction to impact Frankie’s writing.
- Okay, so tell me what strategies you used in that situation. I will jump in with my ideas, too!
Click the video below to view a demonstration of collaborative mentoring (time: 1:42).
Transcript: Collaborative Mentoring
Teacher: Follow up with unexpected behaviors, and we have to pick a new place. So they’ve done…
Mentor: Well, what about like a birthday party?
Teacher: To do unexpected? That’s a good idea, because I wonder how many of them get invited to birthday parties other than families. Okay, I’ll just assign the place and don’t give them the option to choose.
Mentor: Yeah.
Teacher: Okay, because I let them pick this.
Mentor: And even because we’ve got the dance coming up on Friday.
Teacher: We could do a school dance.
Mentor: Yeah.
Teacher: Interesting, because I have to pick, so tomorrow just to review like expected and unexpected behaviors, so I could tell them we’re going to do a school dance and then what five behaviors do you think I should have them…like today we did them falling out of the chair, like dancing.
Mentor: Picking your nose.
Teacher: Picking your nose. Okay.
Mentor: Yelling and screaming. It is okay to yell and scream, and if if they’re in the…they are allowed to, like, play basketball and stuff. So in the gym.
Teacher: Interesting. Okay.
Mentor: They they could do it there.
Teacher: Do they not dance at these things?
Mentor: They do.
Teacher: So they dance, they play…
Mentor: They…so there’s usually a DJ that comes.
Teacher: Okay.
Mentor: And they have the spinny lights and stuff.
Teacher: Yeah.
Mentor: And so they kind of…and they do karaoke too.
Teacher: Wow.
Mentor: So they have these stations. So they have to get in line.
Teacher: Okay, so maybe we could do something with getting in line, waiting your turn.
Mentor: Waiting your turn.
Teacher: So maybe I could…maybe my instruction could be line up from smallest to tallest.
Mentor: Yeah.
Teacher: Just give them instruction on lining up. So picking your nose, dancing…
Mentor: Yelling.
Teacher: Yelling. How about standing in the corner?
Mentor: There you go.
Teacher: Because that would be an unexpected behavior. Okay, so we’ll pick those five.
Credit
Mentoring video courtesy of the National Center to Inform Policy and Practice in Special Education Professional Development (NCIPP).
Kristen Zimmerman, a full-time mentor, describes how she moves between a direct mentoring approach (i.e., expert or consultant model) and a reflective mentoring approach (i.e., coaching). Next, Margaret Kamman summarizes key aspects of responsive mentoring.
Kristin Zimmerman
Full-Time Mentor, Special School District of St. Louis County
St. Louis, Missouri
(time: 2:22)
Margaret Kamman, PhD
Project Coordinator, CEEDAR and NCIPP
University of Florida
(time: 2:21)
Transcript: Kristin Zimmerman
When we first start working with beginning teachers, our default is to coach and to ask beginning teachers questions and get them thinking down their own path. That really increases their ownership of what they’re saying. What we find especially with beginning teachers at the beginning of a school year is you have to have some prior experience and prior knowledge to be reflective, and when you don’t have that it’s hard to be reflective. And so even though we start with that default as coaching a lot of times, it might lead to an expert or a consultant kind of role that we take on especially when they first start in our induction program.
You can usually tell when you ask a question about reflecting on data, or reflecting on an instructional practice that they’re using, and they just kind of stare at you blankly then you know okay I might need to switch. So you might ask them a question “would you like some suggestions?” or “would you like some examples?” or “would you like some ideas?”. And usually you get a yes and then you provide those suggestions. Then you switch back to coaching to increase their ownership.
So then you talk about so how do those sound, what might be ones that you would be able to use in your classroom? Again, that increases their ownership of it, because it’s not somebody coming into their room telling them what they need to be doing. It’s them using their own words and their own conversation to arrive at a solution or at a starting point or next steps. And we repeat this pattern. We might come back in a week or two, and again we default to coaching, and we move them through those conversations.
The coaching conversations can switch between a reflective conversation and a planning conversation. What we find is, as they move through our three-year induction program towards the beginning of the second and definitely the beginning of the third year, they’re really able to just roll with the coaching model, a reflective conversation, a planning conversation, and they’re able to use their prior experiences to continue those conversations. We start using the consultant and expert roles less. We see that we’re giving suggestions less and less as they move through the induction program. They’re starting to use their own experiences and toolboxes, if you will, to start answering those questions and start planning and using data to drive instruction.
Transcript: Margaret Kamman, PhD
Mentoring is often seen as the most important and integral part of induction. There’s a variety of ways we can structure mentors. There can be full-time mentors that that’s their only position, part-time mentors that may be paid on a stipend. Group mentoring is a new emerging way to mentor beginning teachers, and then there’s some online mentoring going on, which is really great for teachers who might be in remote locations or who might be teaching in low incidence categories where there might not be someone nearby to help with their teaching assignment.
Mentors provide lots of different kinds of support. They don’t just provide what we would consider to be emotional support where they pop in and ask how things are going and cheer them on. That is a part of mentoring, but it’s just a small part of mentoring. We want our mentors to provide, first, instructional support. The goal is the students to be improving academically or behaviorally, and so we want to provide support in that area.
We also want to provide support in the school culture. We know those beginning teachers need to be a part of that school community and need to navigate different environments. They may be co-teaching and so navigating the relationships that they have with those co-teachers. They need to navigate relationships they have with other school staff or parents. All of that is part of the school culture, and then they’re undoubtedly going to need help with procedural support. We know that new special education teachers have paperwork demands. And so they’re going to need help writing IEPs and making sure to meet those deadlines and have the goals written appropriately and make sure they’re following the rules and the laws that go along with being a special education teacher. So having responsive mentoring is really a key piece of a comprehensive induction program and as you can see it involves a lot of areas in order to be comprehensive.
