Do's and Don'ts for Teacher Mentorship (Teacher Talks)

It’s no secret—retaining great teachers is hard to do. 

DO
1. Do provide mentoring for a minimum of two years.
2. Do make thoughtful matches when pairing mentors with mentees.
3. Do provide stipends (or salary increases) for mentors.
4. Do scaffold the transition into full-time teaching and planning for mentees.
5. Do relieve mentoring teachers of all or some typical teaching duties.
6. Do create collective activities and collaboration opportunities for mentees.
7. Do encourage mentees to build external networks.
8. Do prepare mentees for plenty of constructive observation time.
9. Do encourage mentors to focus on the big picture.
10. Do give mentors and mentees room to make mistakes.

DON'T
1. Don’t prematurely end mentoring before maximum effects are achieved.
2. Don’t expect randomly chosen or mismatched pairs to be as productive as mindful matches.
3. Don’t add responsibilities for mentors without some sort of recognition (preferably monetary).
4. Don’t overload rookie teachers.
5. Don’t contribute to teacher burnout and subpar mentoring by overloading your mentors.
6. Don’t isolate rookie teachers.
7. Don’t limit teachers to building- or district-level development.
8. Don’t make observations nerve-wracking; instead, instill a coaching culture.
9. Don’t use the mentorship program as a way to nitpick new teachers into a pre-existing mold.
10. Don’t rush in to save the day.