key areas | support & grow | mentoring
Mentoring
Mentoring is an essential component of career development, and can improve retention rates, facilitate succession planning, and provide opportunities for professional and personal growth. Whether new to education, new to a district or school, or having changed content area or role, mentoring can support each educator’s unique journey in their career. Explore this section to learn how to create integrated support systems for both new and experienced educators.
Ohio’s Mentor Program Opportunities
The Ohio Department of Education and other professional organizations offer a variety of opportunities for educators to serve as a mentor and to seek support as a mentee. Check with local- and state-level professional organizations to find existing opportunities in addition to those highlighted below.
Resident Educator- Assists beginning teachers with mentoring and professional development and provides opportunities for experienced educators to give ongoing instructional support.
Beginning Administrator Mentorship (BAM) Program- Assigned mentors work with new administrators for two full years, providing guidance and coaching on many different aspects of their role, including instructional leadership, OTES and OPES evaluations and how to manage personnel.
New Superintendent Transition- Assists educators assuming the superintendency for the first time.
Superintendent Executive Coaching- Pairs superintendents who are new to the position or new to the state with experienced Ohio superintendents to offer support and guidance.
Mentoring for School Business Officials- Open to new and experienced Business Managers, Food Service Supervisor/Directors, Treasurers, and Transportation Supervisor/Directors to serve as mentors and protégés.
Professional Learning Opportunities for Mentors
Ohio offers a variety of professional learning opportunities for those looking to become mentors and instructional leaders. Enroll in learning through your Ohio Department of Education SAFE account.
Online Learning
Download instructions for enrolling in online learning here. Send questions to InstructionalTechnology@education.ohio.gov.
Learn to Lead- Engages Resident Educators (RE) in exploring and thinking about leadership through readings, presentations, video clips and interactive activities. Instructional Mentors, Facilitators, Program Coordinators, Building Administrators and anyone else associated with RE Programs will find this module beneficial to their thinking about leadership as well.
Coaching for Self-Reflection and Instructional Change- Enables participants to personalize strategies for coaching and develop an action plan for implementing new coaching strategies.
Resident Educator: Mentor Refresh- Designed to provide mentors the opportunity to refresh and deepen learning developed during their required Resident Educator Mentor face-to-face training.
Face-to-face Learning
Resident Educator Mentor Certification– Become a mentor to a beginning teacher.
Toolkit
Mentoring facilitates the sharing of knowledge, skills, expertise, and experiences through collegial conversations and collaborative learning. Whether new to the profession or transitioning to a new role or district, all educators can benefit from mentoring. The resources in the Mentor Toolkit Resources can be downloaded and customized to support the unique needs of your mentoring programs.
Implement & Evaluate- Design and monitor your mentoring program.
Recruit & Select- Identify mentors and mentees.
Develop & Support- Set mentors and mentees up for success.
Voice from the Field
Listen to Jonathan Juravich, 2018 Ohio Teacher of the Year, describe the impact mentoring had on his own professional career.
Join the Movement to Mentor
Educators are using social media tools like Twitter to form supportive relationships with other professionals using specific hashtags. Consider using social media as a way to promote formal and informal mentoring opportunities with educators to help each educator meet their unique professional goals:
Follow specific users or professional organizations like @OHEducation, @BASA_Supt, @OASBO, @OESCA, @OEA, and @OFTadvocate
Join scheduled Twitter chats by searching for and using hashtags like #ohioed, #educhat, #edchat, #suptchat, #leadered, #engchat, #mathchat, #scichat, #principals, #teacher, #superintendent, and #lrnchat