Most+important+sentences

Here is the rendering of most important sentences by article for all four groups:

1. Effective schools research has linked collaborative activities and collegiality among teachers with gains in student learning. Mentoring usually includes peer coaching but is a more extensive and formal approach. They should be the type of teacher who creates a positive climate for learning, holds high expectations for students, and has the abilitty to reflect on and articulate the reasons for their instructional decisions, both short term and long term. Both peer coaching and mentoring require additional skills beyond those used in teaching, among them knowing how to work with adults, carry out observation and conferences, solving problems, and be an effective agent for change. Finally, providing adequate time, training, and funds so that collaborative activities are not viewed as an additional burden on teachers is essential.

2. Another view of mentoring is that the mentor's job is to show the protege that professional are always learning, always seeking solutions to new problems, and always struggling to be their best. Mentors can help to create these types of schools by serving as brokers of the resources of the school, helping the protege to connect with others, and find the best ways to meet the needs of the protege. Effective mentors are also important for much more than showing a curriculum to a new teacher because becoming an excellent educator is much more than learning a curriculum. All mentors have many other strengths besides content knowledge and these other areas will become the focus of your mentoring efforts. An important lesson we have learned is that you will find greater success as a mentor if you perceive mentoring as a team activity, not as a job for one person.

3. The good mentor is highly committed to the task of helping beginning teachers find success and gratification in their new work. Committed mentors understand that persistience is as important in mentoring as it is in classroom teaching. Veteran teachers unwilling to participate in a quality training program are often indicating their lack of dedication to the role. I often ask mentors-in-training whether they could imagine helping someone improve a tennis serve or golf swing without seeing the athlete play and with only the person's description of what he or she thought was wrong. the quality of instructional support that mentor teachers offer is largely influenced by the degree of value an entry-year program places on such support. Good mentor teachers recognize that each mentoring relationship occurs in a unique, interpersonal context. Good mentor teachers are transparent about their own search for //better// answers and //more effective// solutions to their own problems. It will attract teachers who demonstrate their hope and optimism for the future by their willingness to help a new teacher discover the same joys and satisfactions that they have found in their own career.

4. Successful mentoring benefits all stakeholders. For school administrators, mentoring aids recruitment and retention; for higher education institutions, it helps to ensure a smooth transition from campus to classroom; for teacher associations, it represents a new way to serve members and guarantee instructional quality; for teachers, it can represent the difference between success and failure; and for parents and students, it means better teaching. Mentoring is not an enterprise for those who prefer to work alone, either as individuals or as organizations. From the placement of first-time teachers, to finding time for mentoring, to strategies to fund programs, to issues of confidentiality, to the policies that assemble the nuts and bolts of programs, mentoring works well when everyone with a stake in its outcomes is fully involved in its planning and implementation. When ms. Deever's principal invied her to serve as a mentor, she stated up front, "I'll consider taking the position, but I want you to know that I will not hold conversations with you about any of the proteges." They need to be confident that the dialogue they have with their mentor is safe and secure and that they will get nurturing and supportive feedback from that mentor. Successful mentors speak of helping proteges expand their repertoire--skills, strategies, and knowledge useful in different teaching situations and settings. A skillful mentor works with a protege to determine what level of assistance to provide and when to provide it. An effective mentor collaborates in this process (and can serve as an advocate for proteges) but should not be held solely responsible for ensuring that proteges have a full understanding of a school's instructional program. Mentors, for example, help new teachers understand that certain rites of passage--such as finding a first bird's egg in the spring--are deeply significant moments in children's lives, or that a Yup'id girl may raise her eyebrows to respond "yes" to a teacher's question.