Ideas for mentoring and co-planning

Beginning teachers can learn a lot from planning with more experienced teachers. If you teach the same grade-level or subject matter, you may want to develop a yearly, unit or daily plan that you both intend to teach. If you teach in different areas, you may meet occasionally to plan even though you both work on your own content. Simply having another person present to bounce ideas off of can be helpful even if you aren’t doing the same work. If your partner is willing, you may also work with your beginning teacher on a yearly, unit or daily plan for his or her own classroom. Mentors can also help beginning teachers by walking them through yearly or unit plans that the school or district may have in place.

Tools for long-range planning:

Seeing the "Big Picture"

Exploring content expectations

Identify broad learning goals

Brainstorm planning ideas

Design a year-long plan

Tools for unit planning:

Identifying Big Ideas

Exploring content expectations

Plan one content area

Plan across content areas

Know students culturally and linguistically

Respond to culture and language

What kinds of "smart" are my students?

Respond to multiple lntelligences and learning styles

Examine ways to differentiate