First time mentoring a student teacher... any tips?

[BlossomKill]

I have a student teacher starting in my class next week and have been thinking about what sorts of things I'll need to do; she's observing in class for a few weeks initially then starting to teach...

The provider has said that there will be training for in-school mentors at some point and obviously I'll need to introduce her to my class, go through planning, assessments and other paperwork with her (she did her second placement at the school so will be familiar with some things already) but I was wondering if anyone had any advice to help make sure she gets the most out of her placement with us?

[SansaSnark]

I did my PGCE last year, so I hope some of this is helpful.

I agree with a lot of what others have said- don't forget that at first everything takes ages, that everyone has their own style, and that there are only so many things someone can improve at once. It's also really helpful if you give them stuff like a map of the school (if secondary) and tell them where the printers are and where to get more resources etc.

Stuff my mentors did which really helped:
-Those little bits of praise that kept me hanging on after a tough lesson.
-Acted like a TA to start with especially when I was teaching tricky classes.
-But also backed off and let me stand on my own two feet when they thought I was ready!
-Let me have keys to the rooms I was teaching in- don't underestimate how much easier this makes someone's life!
-Set realistic expectations for planning- mine said 48 hours in advance, which I reckon is fair/workable and allows responsive teaching.
-Offer support when they are doing something like phoning a parent for the first time as this can be really daunting for some people!

Stuff which really wasn't so great:
-Don't blindside them e.g. the mentor who said she was going to grade me good for everything, then suddenly changed my grades at the last minute, without really having a clear explanation why.
-Don't force them to do stuff they are clearly uncomfortable with- e.g. one school made me do a filmed observation, even though it wasn't uni policy and I'd made it clear I was really uncomfortable with the idea.
-Don't model/encourage unhealthy behaviour (I know this is a tricky one). I had a mentor who came into school even when she was clearly quite ill, so when I got ill, I struggled in, and ended up probably getting much iller than I otherwise would have done.
-Try to avoid criticisms that get too far into the personal.

[marriedwithhounds]

Always bear in mind that everything takes a long time at first. What seems like an hour's work to a confident teacher may take 3 or 4 hours for a trainee. Don't knowingly over face someone who is new to a demanding job.

[samlovesdilys]

I meant for them to be friendly to students...not mentor to trainee 🤦🏼‍♀️

[samlovesdilys]

There are some things you do without thinking that will take trainees ages, plan and mark together. Get them to observe as many different people as possible. Build up to whole lessons. Offer tea and biscuits. I'm secondary so my biggest advice is always to be friendly but not friends!

[albertcamus]

I would add to the above, remember that your student may have had a bad experience with her first placement mentor; I worked with a teacher who was a downright bully to several trainee teachers whom she was meant to be mentoring. She crossed the line between constructive criticism and gratuitous bullying for her own pleasure. Naturally they were very hurt and demoralised by her. After seeing this, I can understand anyone being on the defensive in their second placement.

[MidniteScribbler]

Make sure you let them have a go at any assessments. Talk through things like how you organise your guided reading groups and sessions.

Let them write in communication books if you have them and be part of discussions with parents. Talk them through report writing if they are there for that part of the year and get them to provide some input.

[DrDreReturns]

Make sure your trainee understands the administrative side of the job - record keeping etc. When I did my PGCE no one told me any of this in my first placement.

[lampfromikea]

Oh and another. Split your lessons so that you both teach lessons where 'deep' marking is required. The teacher I was training with gave me the majority of the deep marking, so by the end of the week I had upwards of 120 pieces of work that had needed to be marked.
And mark with your student too. That way they will understand the types of feedback you can give and why you give it!

[lampfromikea]

I had a truly horrible experience on my main SCITT placement.

• don't email feedback (particularly if it has a more negative tone) for the weeks lesson plans at 9pm on a Sunday. That almost broke me a few times.
• try not to nitpick. I taught a few lessons that at the end I was really pleased with, only to be given RI for not bullet-pointing success criteria or because I rubbed the board off ready for the next lesson whilst books were being packed away.
• if it all gets too much for your student and they break down in tears, don't give them a speech about how it was more difficult for you as a student because xyz and tell them to go away and sort it out.

It was so bad I had to get the training provider involved because no matter what hoops I jumped through, I was never good enough. So glad I never have to go through it again!

[winewolfhowls]

If your school doesn't do it already create a welcome pack or department handbook including...

Their timetable
School calendar, circle the events you expect them to attend like open evening
Timetables of everyone else in the department
What break duty and what to do
Where to go if...e.g you want to collect photocopying, you need a trip planning form
School policies like behaviour
Who's who, especially the it guys and caretaker.
Log on and passwords for school system, mymaths etc
Their Form list of names, location, what day is assembly
Sow and relevant textbooks for their classes

I know they can pick all this up as they go along but it builds confidence and sets expectations clearly.

[winewolfhowls]

Make them have a lunch, not work through it. Encourage a second subject.

[Faithless12]

Allow them to debrief when you can after lessons and tell them the positives. It's very easy to get caught up in the negative aspects.
Be honest, did the students learn, they are there to learn how they teach not necessarily be a carbon copy of you.

[toomuchicecream]

Agreed x 1000!! The rude and non-proactive student I had for the whole of the autumn term was a SCITT student, so she was with me for 3 or 4 days every week. At the end of the term she agreed that most of her learning had been in our school, not on her day out at the lead school. I spent all of my PPA for the whole term, plus an unmeasurable amount of time before and after school and at lunchtime with her. For that I received precisely nothing. Worse - the school got £342 which came to less than the cost of the supply cover needed for me to attend all of the compulsory training/meetings the SCITT said we needed to take part in. I won't ever be having a SCITT student again.

[financialiasco]

There are some new standards for mentors. Not fully adopted, but an attempt to get some consistency in the way the role is defined. Some training providers are looking at how to add some kind of accreditation.

I will be clicking on the link provided, but also wanted to reply quickly. This is a bit rich tbh. There is no payment for being a mentor, and, more importantly imo, no time given either. I object to the idea of being held to standards without even either of these being in place. I have mentored for the last 8 years and believe I have done a good job, and have always had positive feedback and can honestly say I do most of the positive things mentioned on this thread. I have held many a tearful Sunday night phone call, but I'm not going to be judged more formally unless something is put in place from the other side to acknowledge the work and effort it does take to do a good job. This is a role that takes a lot out of someone, but like so much in teaching, is dependant on goodwill.

[toomuchicecream]

Be very clear about your expectations and be prepared to repeat them again and again, if necessary. I've had some fab students who emailed me all their planning at the weekend so we were able to have a professional dialogue about what they were doing and how it could be tweaked (if necessary). This was on top of our weekly planning meeting of course.

But I had one student who I had to fight really hard to get plans from after the lessons - turned out she wasn't actually writing plans because even though it was her final placement, she'd never been asked to write her own plans before - on her second placement the teacher was apparently a control freak and she just had to teach from his plans. If she'd told me it was a problem we could have sat down together to help her address it, but as she masked it for so long, she ended up dropping out.

And the student I had before Christmas was incredibly reluctant to send me plans in advance too. She started off OK then sort of stopped doing it (ie sent me plans for observed lessons/some subjects, but not others). I reiterated why it's important and she did it for a couple of weeks, then stopped again. She never replied to any of my emails suggesting things she should think about in her planning either - I literally didn't know if she'd read the replies I spent so long writing until I watched a lesson and could see if she'd made any changes to her original plan or not. It's so, so frustrating sitting watching lessons where your class aren't learning because the objective for the lesson was wrong, or the activities don't match the objective, or the work is pitched wrongly. It's absolutely fine for students to make these mistakes - they are students after all. But by sharing planning in advance, the disruption to the class can be minimised.

Don't make any assumptions! Just because you work in a certain way, they aren't going to know that unless you spell it out to them! Good luck - having a good student is great....

[BlossomKill]

Thank you all for the advice! Lots to think about and particularly useful to find out about the mentor standards and other aspects I'd not thought of!

[thethoughtfox]

Get them to backward plan the whole placement of lesson for each class at the very beginning ( you can help if necessary) It is the best way to make sure they actually get the unit or course of lessons finished and have time to do any grading etc and take the piece of work / unit through to completion.

[BakingWithPreSchoolerand6YO]

Lots of great advice here.

I'd add - have a "code phrase" that the trainee can say when he / she is teaching that is a signal that they want you to intervene. Something like "I don't accept that kind of behaviour and I know that MENTOR NAME doesn't either." Or "What do you think about xyz MENTOR NAME?"
It allows the trainee to ask for your help during a lesson without looking like they're flailing.

Also, make sure when you're observing at first you sit near any known to be disruptive children - it'll give the trainee a fairer chance to see how effective their lesson planning is instead of being de-railed by behaviour management. They will obviously have to develop their behaviour management skills, but if they can't plan effective and engaging lessons they've got no chance when it comes to managing behaviour.

[MaisyPops]

Follow the training guide to the letter and keep your own detailed records.
Some trainees are fabulous and others are difficult. One year I had a trainee who ignored feedback, spent lots of time gossiping and complaining wuth other trainees and then tried to argue it was because I was a mean mentor for expecting them to do basic things like follow school behvaiour policy, have mentor meetings weekly, attend team meetings etc.

I give my number to trainees but its sort of on the unserstandinh of quick questions and reassurance. Not texting me wednesday night about planning for thursday.

Otherwise just be kind and honest. Let them know that any criticism is to help them grow.

[ATruthUniversallyAcknowledged]

I agree with the week in advance thing but I'd ask for planning to be in by Friday to avoid the expectation that weekends are for working.

[BoneyBackJefferson]

MrsGuyOfGisbo
why???
If this happened in the real world, we wouldn't see threads about supply teachers coming into classes with no planning done...

Its called jumping through hoops and ensuring that any issues can be picked in time for strategies or interventions to take place.

[partystress]

There are some new standards for mentors. Not fully adopted, but an attempt to get some consistency in the way the role is defined. Some training providers are looking at how to add some kind of accreditation. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/536891/MentorrstandardsreporttFinal.pdf

[Martin1991]

Be kind, chat to them, share planning, and give feedback. My daughter is in her 2nd year placement at the moment and some days the teacher hasn't even acknowledged her. All of the above isn't happening.

[MrsGuyOfGisbo]

you need to see all planning a week in advance
why???
If this happened in the real world, we wouldn't see threads about supply teachers coming into classes with no planning done...
Unlikely that the planning I so awful that it needs to be completely re-done rather than tweaked and just puts unnecessary stress on. If you are employing a 'professional' you can trust them to do the work in good time.