HAMLET — With a new school year starting and new teachers fresh out of college beginning their careers, it can be intimidating for first-, second- and third-year educators who are just starting out.
Bess Shuler has been in charge of the Beginning Teacher Program in Richmond County for eight years now, and she can still remember what it felt like to begin a new semester and having students who had been at the school longer than she. This program is a way for those new teachers to build a support system around them, Shuler told county Board of Education members Tuesday night.
Shuler said it’s a state board mandate that every beginning teacher be given a mentor during the first three years of his or her career. They are in the program for three years, she said, and the majority of it is governed by state board policies.
“There are no funds given by the state,” said Shuler, “so we’re very lucky in Richmond County that our administrative leadership, the superintendent, the school board, think it’s important enough to pay retired folks to mentor our teachers.”
Those “retired folks” Shuler is referring to are retired or part-time teachers who have the extra time and effort to check in on their new teachers on a weekly basis.
Each mentor is a paid position, and Shuler works with principals at each school to narrow down a list to 14 people who will work with the new faculty members and show support. They are also required to take mentor training, no matter how much experience they already have. In 2010, Shuler said, new training was introduced, rendering the old methods obsolete. No matter how much or little training, the program is a plus in her eyes.
“I go to schools and check on beginning teachers and support them,” said Shuler. “I tell new teachers that it’s a tougher job than ever, but it’s a rewarding job. We’re all about supporting those new folks as much as we can.”
Title II, a federal program, is where the money comes from to pay the highly qualified teachers, said Shuler, but pay isn’t the biggest perk for a lot of them. It’s a chance for more tenured educators to pass some of their knowledge on to those just beginning. Because of that, Shuler tries to pair up mentors and beginning teachers from the same field.
“Retired folks, they’ve had the mentor training, but they’ve had 30-plus years of teaching experience,” said Shuler. “We work real hard to find a mentor that’s certified in what the new teacher is teaching. If someone is mentoring elementary teachers, most were elementary teachers themselves. At the high school, if it’s a math teacher, then we try to assign them to a math mentor. Our mentors are one piece of the multi-tiered support system. Between the administration, the central office, academic coaches, all of those are support for the new teachers.
“It’s a system approach to supporting not only our new teachers, but all teachers. I like to say that the mentors are a very important piece to that, but not the only piece.”
Reach reporter Matt Harrelson at 910-817-2674 and follow him on Twitter @mattyharrelson.