Mentor Program Purpose and Selection Process

It  takes a whole district to raise a teacher.

Modification of an African Proverb

     The Gananda Central School District recognizes the importance of welcoming and supporting our new teachers. We believe that everyone in the school community needs to understand their responsibility for reaching out to new teachers and providing them with the encouragement, resources, beliefs and attitudes that will contribute to their success in the classroom.

     The focus of the Gananda Mentor Teacher Program is to provide new teachers with support from experienced teachers in the district. The role of the mentor will not be one of evaluator and is strictly confidential. The mentor will serve as a role model, coach, advisor, and advocate to the new teacher.

Mentor Selection Process

     Mentor teachers must be tenured and hold permanent or professional certification. The mentor must demonstrate outstanding teaching and instructional abilities, effective written and oral communication skills, content area mastery and knowledge of a variety of instructional and classroom management techniques. A mentor candidate must submit a letter of interest to the building principal by April 30th for the following year. The mentor candidate will be selected by an interview team comprised of: at least one administrator selected by the superintendent and at least one teacher from each building selected by the building principals.

     Every attempt will be made to match mentors with new teachers in the same subject area or at the same grade level. A mentor teacher shall not be assigned to  more than two new (Level 1) unit members in any given year. Principals will also work with mentors to arrange release time for classroom visitations to their assigned teachers.

New Teacher Designation

   There are two designations of teachers served in this program:

Level 1- For teachers who have three years or less of teaching experience and who are new to the district, and other non-tenured teachers as recommended by administrators.

Level 2-  For teachers with more than three years of teaching experience who are new to the district and teachers who successfully completed Level 1.

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