Teacher Mentor and Support Provider

I mentored Luis Contreras and Christine Mercado this year, two math teachers at Locke High School. Through observations and coaching sessions throughout the school year, I helped them set and meet instructional goals, as they progressed towards clearing their Single Subject Credential through UCSD.

LC MC pic

I. Project Overview

Why I chose this project

I chose to mentor Luis Contreras and Christine Mercado because they are two math teachers and good friends within my department at Locke High School, and are both also clearing their Single Subject credential this year through the University of California, San Diego. I have also taught alongside and worked with Christine for the past 2 years and Luis for the past 3 years as the Math Department Chair, so I am already familiar with their instructional styles, goals, and needs.

Project Plan

In anticipation of mentoring Luis and Christine, I planned to collaboratively set instructional goals with each teacher at the beginning of the school year and support them in monitoring and reaching those goals using the College Ready Teaching Framework (CRTF) as a guide. Aligned with the requirements for the UCSD program, I also planned to observe and coach each teacher several times over the course of the school year, assessing their instructional improvement in specific areas along the way, and focusing on the Math Practices that are aligned with the Common Core State Standards framework. I would also provide continuous support as necessary, in the form of advice, sharing research and best practices, and modeling instructional strategies.

Summary

$Math Practices$ As the school year comes to a close, both teachers have successfully completed their coursework for UCSD, and I was happy to sign off on their evaluations. Over the course of the school year, Luis improved in his questioning strategies (CRTF indicator 3.3A), scaffolding his instruction for students of all levels, and adjusting his instruction based on checks-for-understanding" (CRTF indicator 3.4A) as I detailed in the attached letter of recommendation. Christine learned to more effectively and explicitly define her behavioral expectations and communicate them to students (CRTF indicator 2.2A). She also has improved in using strategic grouping strategies and roles to enhance collaborative learning in her classroom (CRTF indicator 3.3B) as also detailed in her attached letter of recommendation.

Recommendations for Clear Credential
Luis Contreras	Christine Mercado

II. Main Activities

Over the school year, I collaborated with each teacher to support them in progressing towards their instructional goals as outlined on the following log sheets (also attached in the appendix for closer review). In summary, I had a goal setting meeting with each teacher at the beginning of the year, during which instructional goals were collaboratively selected. Then I met with each teacher on a monthly basis to share resources, and to develop and monitor an action plan to meet these goals.

Mentor Support Logs

I also observed each teacher twice per semester in order to provide direct feedback and to identify strengths and areas for improvement in their instructional practice. Over time, the project changed as each teacher met their previous goals and focused on different instructional needs. For example, Luis initially was focused on questioning strategies, but after a semester of refining ways to scaffold and hold students accountable for answering high level questions, we shifted our focus to checks-for-understanding.

Christine's initial focus was on setting, communicating, and maintaining behavioral expectations. After reviewing the CHAMPS framework, and practicing the reinforcement of these expectations with the students for several months, we shifted our focus towards effective group structures.

III. Reflection

Challenges and Successes

My role as teacher mentor was to provide instructional supervision to these two teachers and to help them identify and reach their teaching goals. One major challenge included finding the time to meet with each teacher since we had different prep periods. Even as an administrator, I imagine it would be difficult setting aside the time to debrief with various teachers without consuming large amounts of their preparation time. Perhaps an online forum, or speaking over the phone can be vaild alternatives in certain cases to respect everyone's time.

Another challenge was finding time to observe the teacher in various contexts. I only conducted observations during my prep period, period 3, which only gave me access to Luis' Trigonometry class and Christine's Geometry class. However, Luis also teaches AP Calculus and Christine, Trigonometry, yet I was never able to find time to observe them in these contexts. Even as an administrator, I imagine it would be very difficult to observe all teachers in the different contexts, classes, and groups of students that they experience over the course of a semester.

I enjoyed many successes in being a mentor for Luis and Christine. It made me very proud to see each teacher progressively improve in their instruction, with my assistance. I also was able to observe different teaching styles in action, and build on the strengths that came with each one. Finally, observing two other math teachers at our school gave me a broader perspective of how the curriculum looks at each level, and allowed me to more effectively establish a clearer sense of schoolwide math curriculum as Math Department Chair.

What I would do differently

When I mentor teachers in the future, I would look forward to doing the following things differently. I hope to mentor teachers from different subject areas in order to understand the nuances associated with each subject area. Also, Luis and Christine are both ambitious individuals who are open to feedback. I look forward to working with teachers of different dispositions and figuring out how to motivate others in different ways, who perhaps are not as self-motivated, or receptive to feedback as Luis and Christine.

IV. Connection to CAPES (California Administrator Performance Expectations)

mentor capes

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