Brand new teachers come bearing fresh, innovative ideas and interesting approaches to classic high school lessons and methods. But, along with refreshing visions come the predicted inexperience, expected from anyone new at their jobs.
To combat this, new teachers are assigned a more experienced teacher mentor to guide them and teach them the ropes of working with high school students.
The teacher mentoring program is part of a larger program in FCPS called Great Beginnings that help new teacher ease their way into the county.
French teacher Matthew Hanlon is in charge of the mentoring system and makes the decisions on which teachers are assigned as mentors.
“Teacher mentors are assigned at the end of the school year and over the summer as new teachers are hired, whether they are new to teaching or just new to Marshall,” Hanlon said.
English teacher Apoorva Johri has taught for six years and was recently assigned as a mentor for fellow English teacher Brenna Killeen.
“I love working with new teachers because they always come bearing fresh and innovative ways to teach lessons,” Johri said. “It’s really a mutual relationship; I learn just as much from her and she learns from me.”
The school created the mentoring program to serve as a way to harbor different teaching methods and techniques as well as introduce new teachers to Marshall.
“We try to pair the new teacher with a teacher mentor in the same department, and if possible the same subject,” Hanlon said.
The mentoring experience is experimental; new teachers lead lessons during classes and introduce their own unique teaching style and other times they will simply observe how their mentors lead discussion during periods.
“Personally, I view it as practice rather than a strict teaching program,” Killeen said. “I’m picking up little things that are going to make a lasting difference in my teaching.”
The structure of the mentoring program can also benefit students, as it results in having an extra set of eyes to rely on during class.
“Having Ms. Killeen in class is so great because if Mrs. Johri is busy with another student and I really need help, I can ask her,” sophomore Sally Pedrozo said.“I can also get two different opinions on my writing which is always really helpful.”
Having new teachers and their mentors cooperate on an extended basis results in extra help and influence for those still adapting to a new environment, which is especially helpful for a class like English, due to the freedom in analysis that the course offers.
“It’s all in an effort to make our school the best it can be,” Johri said. “The mentoring system is most definitely doing just that.”