Teacher to Teacher: A Guidebook for Effective Mentoring

by Jane H. Fraser

This is a book about the growth and change that can be achieved by teachers, new and experienced, when they work together. Adults learn best when they are interested. They need opportunities to practice and time to integrate and modify new ideas to fit their belief system. Most of all, they need input from a sympathetic peer--a mentor who is there to help a prot g through the rough spots. This is the kind of guidance Teacher to Teacher...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0325000123
• ISBN13: 9780325000121
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books
• Length: 108 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.9" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 5 to 10 years
• Grade Range: Kindergarten to Grade 5

Customer Reviews

Teachers as Mentors

The author Jane Fraser, takes the reader through the process of beginning and maintaining a mentor relationship with another teacher who may be new to the field or in need of some guidance. Jane stresses that the key to a successful mentor/protégé relationship is dependent on how it is begun. Much how a garden's success is determined by its soil, seeds planted, cultivation and care, a mentoring relationship needs the same attention. When getting things started the mentor often begins by intently listening to the needs of the protégé, and then providing professional development materials to assist in meeting the needs of the protégé. The brief chapters contain information about parental involvement, the importance of reading aloud to students and how teachers are encouraged to reflect on their interactions with students. She provides crucial information about structuring the time spent between mentor/protégé, by encouraging that the mentor provides not only one on one support but also real time classroom support through modeling teaching strategies and student/teacher interactions. Due to Jane's extensive work with writing and reading in the classroom a majority of the mentoring examples that are used reflect her expertise in guiding the protégé to the use of unique classroom management techniques, workshop teaching and the importance of record keeping as it pertains to student progress. The examples used in this book would be most helpful for a teacher in the K-8 grade level, but the basic principals about beginning a trusting mentor relationship, and it's maintenance provide the reader with enough inspiration to seek out a new teacher. I also found this book to contain a lot of helpful hints as a practitioner that I would like to try in the classroom. This book is littered with examples that allow the reader to see the importance of careful cultivation, seed planting and tending to the new blooming teacher and the easy to read format of concise information, truly makes it a Guidebook for Effective Mentoring.

Mentor as nurturing "gardener"

This book was an easy read and insightful in many ways. Jane Fraser is a former elementary teacher with many years experience and an honest desire to share her wisdom and help guide new teachers (or proteges, as she refers to them)in successful classroom practices. While the theme of the book is about developing a successful mentoring relationship the book is filled with advise about such things as classroom environment, parent conferences, record keeping, and classroom discipline. The author's area of expertise is in language arts and there are many excellent practices that are detailed in the book. Jane Fraser's use of gardening metaphors to describe a mentor relationship were very effective in relaying her beliefs about successful mentoring. Phrases such as; "planting the seeds...", "...time for roots to grow, deepen, and become strong", "...staking the plants", convey her sense of nurturing and committment to the mentor-protege relationship. The book is filled with thoughts from her journal that detail the ups and downs of creating mentoring relationships with various teachers. She is honest, sincere and straightforward in her words. The key components for developing a successful mentoring relationship focus on the needs of the individual not necessarily a particular set of skills. The author feels that a close, honest relationship and the goal of lifelong learning are essential for a successful relationship. Other important components that she provides and encourages are: trust and confidentiality, feedback, quality time, skilled observation, availability, flexibility, reflection, and mentor as model. This is a wonderful book for either the mentor or protege/new teacher to read. Even an experienced teacher can gain insights and be reminded of the true focus of educating people; to nurture, inspire, collaborate and learn from one another.