I learned/confirmed the importance of having a mentor and not being afraid to ask questions, seek guidance and rely on those who've walked in your shoes.
Having a mentor is crucial to success. The example of the new culinary instructor having all these responsibilities that she probably wasn't fully aware of in the beginning. If she didn't have a good mentor she would have invested more time and energy into coming up with a solution because she wouldn't have understood the inner workings of the school and who she should contact to help. Her mentor helped her solve her problem.
I have been blessed with good leadership and mentors so I lean heavily on them to navigate the maze called Post secondary Education. :-)
I had the same type of experience that the scenario lady had. I came into a new school year from a retired teacher. She was able to give me a very good run down of the curriculum. I however did not have a CTE mentor but support from the CTE staff at the district office. We have a small advisory committee, regrettably it doesn't help my program.
I am so thankful that my school system provided me with a mentor that has gone above and beyond!!! She has been available and always either answers the question or finds me someone that can. She has, on several occasions, stopped what we were doing and called another teacher or resource person who can answer a particular question. This is especially true because my mentor is not a CTE teacher, but she is very experienced and goes the extra mile to make sure the question is answered (she doesn't just say "ask this person").
I have seen the value in having a district assigned coach for classroom strategies. I have been actively seeking a mentor and my requests have been acknowledged but this module definately confirmed the need for a mentor. Thank you!
I learned about school support and non school support for CTE teachers, The different kinds of support. How to ask the expectation questions. Whos the boss. Professional Learning Communities. I intend to use the different ideas I have learned in this module to better my teaching methods and to build better student teacher relationships.
While CTE teachers are experts in their fields they may have difficulty making, what can be, a drastic change in career. I hope to build strong and lasting relationships with fellow teachers and colleagues.
It is nice to know that my school facility already has much of this in place for me and other new teachers that come along. I feel comfortable to speak with a colleague or principles about my needs. We have monthly staff meetings and PLCs with others in my field monthly.
Having a mentor will help you, especially in the first years of teaching. Having an Advisory Committee will also help and let everyone come together with new ideas and support for the programs.
MENTOR MENTOR MENTOR! I never thought about the importance of them in this field because I feel like teaching is such an independent thing. I can look at it completely differently now like I don't have to do this alone, even if I am alone in my classroom.
Finding a mentor my first year was important and helped. Now in my second year I have become the mentor for a whole new staff that is under me.
I learned the importance of having a great support system!
It's always nice to have both Teacher friends who can help you with Teaching Strategies and "Industry friends' that can help you with the knowledge of your program.
I would not have survived either in this field without my mentor. Having a professional community to bounce ideas off of is critical and TAC's really do provide the industry standard at which we teach.
Having a mentor teacher can be crucial in the success of a new teacher/program in CTE.
I was blessed to have a wonderful cooperating teacher that later served as a mentor. She taught me how to mentor and now I get to fill those shoes to our new CTE teacher.
Be prepared, used your mentor to assist with things beyond one's control.
My takeaway is building a solid advisory board; this has been a struggle for the last few years.
I am halfway through my 2nd year of teaching, so this module did not teach me much. I had a mentor and it was definitely appreciated.
Mentorship in my first year of teaching was CRITICAL. Understanding the value of mentorship and understanding resources available to new CTE teachers is the primary focus of this section.
I see a great positivity in an advisory group for support. I do have a mentor but I think that he is not necessarily a good fit. I need to be looking for somebody that I connect with better and can instruct me more as a teacher.
