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Heather Cowart

Mentors Teach Your New Teachers These Tips


Mentor having a conversation with new teacher about several back to school teaching tips

News Flash 😬🤯 a report released in 2015 by the Georgia Department of Education claimed that almost half of educators leave the profession in their first five years of teaching. But why, when teaching is one of the most important jobs in the world? Teachers are overwhelmed with responsibility, underappreciated, stressed, and tired. However, mentors, we can help. We must teach new teachers strategies to reduce stress and save their sanity. So, what are you waiting for? Mentors teach your new teachers these tips! Keep reading below for three tips mentors should teach new teachers.

Tip # 1 to Teach Your New Teachers

Mentors teach your new teachers to take care of classroom projects and set up as much as possible during the summer. As veteran teachers, many of us know that pre-planning is filled with many meetings, tasks to complete, and lots of distractions. That said, to truly "plan" during pre-planning, get the classroom setup stuff out of the way. You can do classroom projects and decorations during the summer.

Tip # 2 to Teach Your New Teachers

Mentors teach your new teachers about "good for the group" questions and comments. These questions are the ones that many teachers (or co-workers) in the group would benefit from knowing the answer to. Of course, a way we grow is to ask questions. This is true for new and veteran teachers. However, there are "good for the group" questions and comments and ones that we could simply ask some other time.


Imagine sitting in that two-hour (for some longer) beginning of the year meeting. By the end, many teachers are frustrated and ready to go, thinking about all they need to do in their classroom to be ready for Open House and the first day of school.


Questions like "how long do the students have at break" or "where should I get a pack of copy paper" are questions most teachers in the meeting know the answer to. Imagine the looks our new teachers get from the pessimistic teachers in the back, ready to bolt! If it's not a "good for the group" question, I jot it down on my faculty meeting agenda and ask someone after the meeting. This saves me the dirty looks from others and gets me a more descriptive answer. Yes, ask "good for the group" questions. But jot down others and ask them to your mentor.

Tip # 3 to Teach Your New Teachers

Mentors teach your new teachers to prepare for the first day of school the night before. Be prepared limits the mishaps, reducing stress and anxiety. Here's a list of some things I do the night before:

  1. Pass out papers and create stacks or folders for the students. For your classes, if you have a lot of papers for your Routines and Procedures, create folders with the stuff, then pass the folder out. Routines and procedures yes to success.

  2. For the papers I can't pass out, I stack them in order on the front table, ready to go. Don't forget to put the stack back, so it's ready for the next class.

  3. Tape the bell schedule on the corner of your desk, podium, or where you will spend a lot of time.

  4. Check the technology and place the remotes in an easy-to-access location.

  5. Write student names on the table with a dry erase marker or use a notecard so students will know where to sit.

  6. Make a daily agenda slide with directions for students to read and know what to do as soon as they enter the classroom.

  7. Plan additional activities in case you finish early. Do everything possible the night before school starts back.

What else do you do the night before the first day of school?

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