Advanced Mentor Trainings

Can you believe it's the final day of January? I'm not sure where the month went....or the past few months since I blogged, but we've been very busy with mentoring and teacher leadership initiatives. For the readers out there, I hope you enjoyed the holidays and are gearing up for a successful 2013! I enjoyed spending time with family and friends during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season, and I'm excited about all the possibilities the new year holds for each of us to make a difference! I'm excited about the work we have been able to accomplish over the past couple of months with our mentoring initiative. On November 29, we launched the statewide Program of Alternative Certification for Educators (PACE) Advanced Mentor Training with Newberry College ReTAIN Center of Excellence and the SC Department of Education. The training is designed to provide mentors opportunities to consider ways we can tailor support for career changers who are entering the profession. The induction and retention of new teachers is one of the most important challenges facing education today, but we can allow the challenge to inspire us to make dramatic improvements in the way we support new teachers and provide for their ongoing learning. 

Mentors engage in a coaching conversation at PACE Mentor Training

A couple of weeks ago we launched the Coaching and Observation Mentor Academy for certified mentors! This training curriculum is provided by the New Teacher Center. CERRA is fortunate to partner with New Teacher Center to bring this work to mentors in South Carolina. This two-day advanced professional development workshop, designed for certified mentors, builds participants’ data collection, analysis, and interpretation skills. It walks through a classroom observation cycle and conversation protocols that become the foundation of coaching from observational data. Mentors learn how to use teaching standards and various formative assessment tools to record data that can improve new teacher practice. 

We have another advanced mentor training scheduled for March 6-7 in Columbia. We are pleased to bring the New Teacher Center's Analysis of Student Work to South Carolina mentors. This two-day advanced professional development workshop, designed for certified mentors, provides essential tools and processes for collaboratively analyzing student work, identifying student learning needs, and differentiating instructional next steps to meet identified needs. Participants will learn how to prepare new teachers for the Analyzing Student Work (ASW) process and develop their habits of mind and practice for differentiating instruction.

This workshop is designed for those who support beginning teachers and teacher teams: mentors, subject matter coaches, teacher leaders, cooperating teachers, intern supervisors, principals, assessment coordinators, and administrators of induction programs that support beginning teachers. Registration is available until February 15, 2013 for the Analysis of Student Work Training! We hope to see you in March!