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THE NEW TEACHER MENTORING PROCESS: A WORKING MODEL
Barry Sweeny, 1992 

The stages of the mentoring process usually require about two school years to evolve and to mature to a conclusion. Some mentoring relationships, however, take more or less time depending on the relative strengths of the protege and the mentor. During those two years the mentor and protege meet on a regular basis. Usually the frequency is:

• Daily meetings during the week just before and the week school starts
• 3-4 times a week until the end of September
• 1-2 times a week during the rest of the year, and
• About 4-6 times a month during the second year.

It is interesting to note that the personal style of the mentor & protege may impact how the mentoring process and relationship evolve. In some cases the mentor & protege may be very social and outgoing and so may quickly build their personal relationship early in the process and more gradually develop their professional dialogue. In other cases, the demands of the tasks of teaching and mentoring may be the initial priority of more task-oriented mentors & proteges. In the later case the mentoring pair may first build a professional relationship and then, through their professional work, continue to deepen and strengthen their mutual trust and personal relationship. Experience has shown that as long as the mentor and protege are aware of the dual (task & relationship) nature of their work, the transitions they must make, and the overall mentoring process, either approach seems to be effective.

A tougher challenge occurs when the mentor and protege are not of a similar style and one person wants to emphasize building their relationship while the other is more task-focused. Considering this situation as one to be avoided, some programs think the best solution is to match mentor and protege by personality type or educational philosophy.

Experience however, has taught mentor experts that the best solution is NOT to match for styles because such matching seems to reduce the opportunity for mentor & protege to learn from each other. Instead, mentors must adapt their mentoring style to remain appropriate to the needs of the protege throughout the mentoring process. Usually this means that the mentor is more directive early in the year when there is lots to learn and much of it is "one right answer" kinds of information. Later in the process, as the relationship grows and the protege develops skills and some professional maturity, the mentor can become more a "explainer" and later a "supporter and encourager" and less a directive leader.

In addition to working with the assigned mentor, the protege also is led (by the mentor) to connect with other teachers who are effective models of continuous professional growth, of effective teaching, and of collaborative and collegial staff relationships. In this way mentoring becomes a "team effort" that promotes interdependence and collaboration, not isolated teaching and trial & error professional growth. Such an approach to "team mentoring" fosters the norm that we all can learn from and support each other. Using a mentoring process like this has been shown to facilitate professional growth of new teachers and mentors alike and to promote the more collaborative school culture we need to create to improve student learning.

PROCESS STAGES	MENTORING ACTIVITIES	THE PURPOSE
INTRODUCTION	Introductions, sharing of backgrounds, interests & personal information.	CREATE A CONNECTION
FOUNDATION	Explain mentor-protege roles, relationship & the mentoring process. Explain expectations.	CLARITY OF PURPOSE
ORIENTATION	Orientation to the school, grade, department, staff, district & community. Orientation to new job responsibilities, curriculum & expectations	REDUCE THE STRESS & INCREASE THE TEAM FEELING
COLLABORATION	Work together to prepare classroom for start of school. Mutual sharing of ideas, discovering how room layout, management plan, and good instructional environment support each other & promote learning.	GOOD START, BUILD TEAM, MENTOR SEEN AS A CARING HELPER
PROBLEM SOLVING	Joint analysis of issues and problems Development of options, strategies & plans to implement & evaluate results	DEVELOPMENT OF THINKING & KNOWLEDGE
PERSONAL FRAMEWORK	Building a strong mentor-protege relationship Reinforce protege self-esteem & confidence Explore each others dreams for teaching, views & strengths as teachers & as persons	MENTOR IS SEEN AS TRUSTWORTHY & AN OPENNESS IS CREATED
PROFESSIONAL FRAMEWORK	Discovering the "big picture" such as: 1. planning activities as a sequence 2. assessing learning and adjusting instruction 3. worrying less about following lesson plans & more about accomplishing a lesson's purpose	MENTOR SEEN AS A MODEL & PROTEGE IS INCREASING SKILL, INSIGHT
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT	Building a 2-way coaching relationship where mutual feedback and support for learning is the norm.	PROMOTE MENTOR & PROTEGE GROWTH
TRANSITION	Building a peer relationship, promoting the protege's ability to work independently, but maintaining support for each other's growth. Promoting learning & support links with other staff, creating a broader team concept	PROMOTING MENTOR & PROTEGE INTER-DEPENDENCE