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Every year, more than 15,000 teachers vie for the chance to become certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Although the process is voluntary, National Board Certification is a widely recognized mark of distinction and is increasingly tied to leadership opportunities for teachers, salary increases, and improved student learning in classrooms. Mentors provide supportive services for teachers during their candidacy, offering strategies for standards-based analysis of practice, constructive criticism, advice, and moral support. These mentor groups have grown from informal groups to organized networks of expert teachers in every region of the country. Mentoring Teachers Toward Excellence is the first book to document the common challenges facing these "support providers," presenting a variety of brief cases of typical mentoring dilemmas in both one-on-one and group settings.
This book provides thirteen succinct cases of mentoring teachers who are going through the National Board Certification process. Each case, written by practitioners, is accompanies by commentaries and teaching notes. The narratives highlight challenges encountered in the mentoring relationship. Topics include: - Mentoring teachers toward rigorous standards for classroom practice
- Maintaining personal and professional boundaries
- Working through personality conflicts
- Defusing negative group dynamics
- Providing constructive criticism, and more
Mentoring Teachers Toward Excellence shows that mentoring is not only a social role but also a complex professional practice aimed at a vision of accomplished practice aligned with rigorous teaching standards. These cases will also be useful professional development tools for teacher educators, staff development professionals, and supervisors, as well as mentor teachers.
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