Critical moments in teacher mentoring by Mentor SHOOC

False sense of confidence

mentorshooc — 2019-02-17 11:36:40 UTC

A few years ago I had a mentee come to us for their 2nd placement. At the first placement, they had received little support or feedback and had been left to their own devices. This had led to a false sense of confidence and understanding of their progress. She was full of confidence and wanted to spend all her time setting up extra-curricular clubs, creating initiatives to get girls into computing etc.

I asked her to hold off with clubs and spend her time concentrating on the classroom and her practice until she was settled into the school; in the hopes this would gently deter her and enable us to focus on that.

However she was unable to do that or see the need to submit lesson plans or evaluations etc as she had not been required to do in the first placement and had received good feedback. I made the expectations of the course/university/school very clear without trying to come across as patronising or nasty.

For the following few weeks I identified continually identified 4-5 key areas of development in lesson observations. Sometimes just 1 others 3 etc. We then sat down with her university tutor and started to identify with her, areas of development and come up with SMART targets in achieving this. A big part of this process also included observing colleagues in the department and in other departments to identify strengths of learning and teaching. We also recorded several lessons and watched them together or she would watch it before and identify areas that she wanted me to watch.

Although throughout this process there were tears, very difficult conversations and frustrating times; it was also very rewarding in the end for both of us.

Poor subject knowledge

mentorshooc — 2019-02-17 11:37:32 UTC

Recently I mentored a second year student who was struggling. She had very poor subject knowledge, expected lessons to be planned for her and was having problems with discipline. She spent a large amount of time complaining that everyone she knew was getting more support than she was. I met with her before school, dinner time and after school, this included being at school at 5.45pm on a Friday!
I’d asked for lesson plans to be given to me for Mondays lessons by Friday of the previous week. On the Sunday I still hadn’t received lesson plans but a text asking what an Haiku was and did I have any old plans she could use.
We had a very difficult, frustrating and tear filled start to the week. I restarted what the expectations of the school were and her responsibilities. She explained that her last placement had not made any demands on her and that they had provided all lesson plans. We jointly set SMART targets for her relating to organising herself, planning lessons, how to increase her subject knowledge and different strategies to help with behaviour.
After a few weeks when she could see how being organised helped with discipline and we celebrated every success no matter how small it was. She started asking more questions and realised mentors support not do everything for a student.

Unconfirmed assumptions

mentorshooc — 2019-02-17 11:38:22 UTC

I've had to work to re establish dialogue between a frustrated mentor and overwhelmed mentee, to build bridges and ensure the mentee was able to continue to teach and complete her placement. Both parties had made assumptions about themselves and each other that were not supporting the trainee. The mentor was expecting too much and not allowing for the trainee's vulnerabilities where the trainee felt unwelcome and overwhelmed. Through listening, without being judgemental and feeding back both sides of the issue as well as reiterating my expectations, (of both mentor and mentee) and setting out clear next steps both were able to move forward With small shifts in the mentoring: a focus on positives and small kindnesses showing awareness of well being, the trainee was able to move forward and beyond her initial issues, being able to discuss issues without wallowing allowed her to shift her focus back to teaching with a new objectivity.

Confidence in communicating

mentorshooc — 2019-02-17 11:45:59 UTC

A few years ago I had a mentee who struggled with the articulation of the English language. This was due not to English as a second language but partly slang and local colloquiums. The mentee was aware of this from our initial observations however, it was evident that there was no improvement in the following observations. I timetabled an additional mentor slot with the mentee and we discussed this in depth. Firstly the mentee was not very confident about how she spoke, also she was not clear on which words were slang and or the incorrect use of words during teaching, finally it had not been identified in her first placement. We both discussed the next steps and added this to the weekly targets on her ROLO. We identified and removed the slang words, next I modelled a lesson broken down into 3 parts using clear concise language for my mentee to observe, we then team taught the lesson sequence and finally my mentee taught the introduction building on the main and then the plenary. I also timetabled for the mentee to observe English lessons in all key stages.

When the university mentor came to visit the following term he was very positive about the mentee's progress and in particular their teaching of English and phonics. We where both delighted and my mentee had now become confident in her teaching practice. As a result the mentee was able to identify and personalise her own teaching style.

Making an action plan

2019-02-17 12:46:07 UTC

A mentee had received a grade of 3 on a midpoint review and this knocked her confidence. We had an honest discussion and the mentee was clearly upset by this as she was only seeing a small part of the picture. I was able to help her see he whole picture and remind her of other progress that she'd made. We created an action plan together so we knew we were both "on the same page" for assessment. This grade was awarded after an observation and the mentee didn't identify the issue during feedback so it was a tricky situation as the key learning point was to highlight the issue but not bring the rest of the positives down. In the end we went down the route of discussing different ways the adults in the room could be effectively deployed as the issue was that key children were left up supported, the mentee then realised where the issue was as she couldn't say whether those children had made progress or not.

Difficult relationships

2019-02-17 12:47:05 UTC

A mentee had a difficult relationship with their line manager. They worked remotely and conversations by email appeared to be being misinterpreted. The line manager was new and inexperienced and the mentee felt they were being bullied. There was a lack of trust between them and the situation was rapidly spiraling out of control towards becoming a disciplinary issue, from something that was actually quite minor and in a face to face environment would have been sorted over a cup of tea.

I advised the mentee to talk to another manager within their team to ascertain if their behavior was unacceptable and if the response was appropriate. The other manager was then able to intervene and support the inexperienced manager.

The outcome was a face to face meeting (with tea and biscuits!) at which they were able to discuss the bigger picture and it was recognized that there had been misunderstanding between them. They also set up regular catch up meetings going forward to ensure that they talk regularly and can raise issues in a more constructive way in future. They have recognized that a big part of the problem was using email to communicate and for messages to be misinterpreted.

The outcome is a much improved relationship.

Overwork

2019-02-17 12:47:42 UTC

A mentee had a buildup of overwork leading her to panic about being able to do all she needed to do. I was able to take her out of the office situation to a quiet, neutral space to let her talk about her worries. She expressed her worries to me and through conversations we identified some key aspects that she could drop or delegate.

I talked to her about similar situations I had been in and how I was able to delegate to others, and how it helped me be more effective rather than less. I also was able to model good workload management by taking notes as she spoke and converting them into a bullet pointed list of to-dos.

I think if I were in that situation again I would have asked the mentee to take a more active role in creating an explicit to-do list and identifying areas to delegate or drop - in this meeting I was quite active in suggesting who to delegate tasks to, for example.

We identified learning points for her such as: ask for help before you become overwhelmed; be honest with yourself and others about how long tasks will take; build in periods of downtime each day so that you can rest and gather your thoughts.

Seeing the wood for the trees

2019-02-17 12:48:30 UTC

Though I have not been an official mentor I have tried to find a relevant experience. Carrying out a peer observation of a session on “How to succeed in your examinations” I found that, although there was a lot of really good material (which I learned from too) there was also a significant amount of material in relation to purely organisational details (where to go for the exams, arrangements for students with special needs, etc) which was boring for me to listen to (and during which I could see that the students were not engaged either). At the end of the session we discussed how the whole session had worked, starting with what I thought was working well, and then addressing the part that I thought needed change. It emerged that my colleague had been equally dubious about the value of including this information in a face-to-face session, but had been told by the course lead that this material had to be communicated during this session. In our discussion we explored alternative ways of providing the organisational information effectively, and also ways to approach the course lead with suggestions for altering the session for future, in order to retain and extend the material which was interactive (so kept the students engaged) and focused on strategies for examination success (thus of interest to and use to students) whilst making sure students knew where to locate the necessary details for their upcoming exams. I think having this discussion increased the confidence of my colleague that his own viewpoint (which I shared) had merit, enabling him to feel able to approach the course lead with his suggestions for change.

Need to gain experience

2019-02-17 12:49:39 UTC

Mentee wanted to gain experience of expanding their professional network beyond their usual work team and line manager. The mentee and I had a discussion about whether they were working on anything that might provide an opportunity for them to come into contact senior managers. After a period of discussion and reflection the mentee realised that a review that they were working on might be a relevant subject to discuss with the senior management team. I asked the mentee whether they would be comfortable presenting the findings of their work to the senior team to which they answered yes. I told the mentee that there was an additional opportunity because at the next meeting the Chair of the Board of Trustees would be attending so it could be a good opportunity for them to meet and for the Chair to see the mentee in action. The mentee prepared for the meeting. On the day the mentee turned up but the Chair did not manage to attend due to a meeting clash. Apart from this minor disappointment the presentation went well and the senior managers were impressed with the performance.

Over-rating oneself

2019-02-17 12:50:42 UTC

A recent mentee had reflected on the SHU targets and rated herself as amber and one red on the RAG rating criteria. I was very surprised as was the ULT who was able to read these reflections on their visit. With discussion between the 3 of us the student was able to describe why she had rated herself thus. Although she had reflected critically she was focussing on the things she couldn't do and not on the things that she could do- of which there were many. Her awareness of the standard she wanted to reach and that she was at the beginning of her training was a huge drain on her self confidence. We had a discussion about reflecting realistically and being mindful of her abilities at this stage of her development and all the ratings became green.

Learning point- it may be a huge challenge when seen as a whole but breaking something into manageable steps and seeing/feeling progress takes us along the journey and we may even enjoy it along the way!

Over-teaching

2019-02-17 12:51:27 UTC

Following an observation of a mentee I first asked them to reflect on how they thought that the lesson with a high ability group had gone. They thought it went really well, this mentee had had behaviour management issues before and this group had given them the chance to 'teach'. However, what they had done was simply lecture the class; the class were quiet and had become very passive.

I asked the mentee to give me some examples of where the class had made progress and it was from this question that the mentee realised there was more to being an effective teacher than having a class full of quiet children. Once the mentee had realised this we were able to explore active engagement strategies for the class. As a result the next lesson wasn't quite as quiet but clear progress was being made.

Bring over self-critical

2019-02-17 12:52:02 UTC

Before one of her first big teaching experiences, my mentee shared her anxiety and low confidence associated with a class she was due to lead. I asked her to talk through her lesson plan, which was excellent, and provided lots of positive feedback to promote her confidence beforehand. I observed her teaching and whilst it was very good, her anxiety was obvious, especially in the speed with which she talked to the class.

Afterwards she was extremely disappointed and hard on herself. She was aware of how her anxiety had come across and feared it would happen again. I reassured her that it was her first session with a huge class and that most of us have had a similar experience. Indeed, I shared my own experiences of anxiety and reassured her that it would improve quickly with more experience. From a practical perspective we then considered strategies to help address teaching anxiety in the future. These included a breathing technique which I use myself and a timing strategy to force slower speech. This, coupled with continued reflection and positive feedback (including my written feedback on her subsequent teaching episode) was very effective in building confidence and overcoming self-doubt.

Being overwhelmed

2019-02-17 12:52:54 UTC

One trainee had started to become very anxious, quiet and was late handing in plans to host teachers. This was unlike her. I asked her to stay behind after a meeting so that we could find somewhere private to talk. I asked her what the matter was and she said that she was feeling overwhelmed with the work load now there was a university assignment to complete and that she was upset about something that was happening at home.

I got some A3 paper and asked her to write down what jobs she needed to do and prioritise them. We did this and compiled a timetable to ensure that everything could be done whilst making sure that she had time to deal with the issues at home and still lead a healthy lifestyle. Then I offered some advice on her university assignment and pointed her in the right direction for some reading. I then asked her if she wanted to talk about her other problems. She said that she did.

After half an hour, she said that she felt a lot better and that she had realised that she just needed to ask for help if she needed it. In the weeks to come, when there were sticking points she did exactly that and started to enjoy the placement as she had done at the beginning.

Other staff over-reacting

2019-02-17 12:53:48 UTC

No critical incidents with mentees (yet) though in my role as Behaviour/Safeguarding Lead, I have had some tough discussions with staff when reviewing behaviour incidents and how they were handled by staff. In these circumstances I have found it is important to listen first and then to respond with regard to policies and procedures, drawing out key learning points so that all involved can improve practice in the future. Honesty, clarity and objectivity are important and try to keep personal feelings and emotions out of it. However, at the same time, it is important to acknowledge feelings - these can never be wrong, it is only our interpretation of events that can be off track.

Going back to basics

2019-02-17 13:00:53 UTC

I am currently working alongside two mentors who have struggling mentees. I have supported in putting together a support plan with the mentors and the mentees to help them pass their NQT years. This has meant putting together targets which are often going back to basics and often very structured small steps. This has included directing the mentees to staff experts on things like behaviour management and marking so they have WAGOLLs and something to model their own style on. I have often taken the role of the shoulder to cry on when things are tough and given advice where needed as sometimes it is easier to speak to someone other than the mentor. Lesson Observations have had to be regular to ensure progress is being made and so the support plan can be updated to show where it is going well and where things still need work.

These mentees are still a work in progress one is working really hard to pass the year and is making progress whilst the other really isn't coping well.

Need to watch the students

2019-02-17 13:02:06 UTC

I have not mentored anyone for a while. But when I was observing teachers I would often be impressed by a teacher 's style; if they had good pace, engaging activities etc. It was then pointed out to me that maybe I should observe the students rather than focusing so much on the teacher. What were the students doing? were they learning or were they just being entertained? This approach meant that I could then pick up on details such as differentiation and the need to look at individual students' needs. With that it would then be useful for going deeper into the actual teaching and learning

Not wanting to change

2019-02-18 07:19:08 UTC

Sometimes no matter how much you want to help someone in the classroom they have decided that what they do is perfectly OK and of a good enough standard. Ths is not really an over-confidence as such, the person knows they are just going through the motions. It’s more a ‘I’m ok and I am pulling up the drawbridge’

Talking over the kids

2019-02-18 07:23:21 UTC

One problem I observed is where the teacher spoke at too high a level for the learners. It was kind of lecturing of a really good standard and the teacher was really well prepared and the resources were excellent. It was more that the plenary did not give any concrete examples to help the children and the level was above them at all times, rather than them challenge them and scaffold their learning.

I explained this to the teacher and we looked at the planning to help them see where topics had to introduced and then built on. We used the idea of spiral to revisit concepts and deepen them. This helped her see what the effects of this was through careful questioning and formative testing

Students finding it difficult to understand a trainee teacher

2019-03-19 00:49:04 UTC

Students struggled to fully understand a mentee due to their accent and were falling behind, leading to behavioural issues. This was challenging as it was clearly have a negative impact on teaching and learning and pupil progress. It was important to identify this to the mentee in a sensitive manner but also to give some guidance on how they could improve their pronunciation of key vocabulary during a lesson. Eventually the mentee identified it was an issue and students were able to slowly start understanding the mentee when instructions were given

Job Dream?

2019-09-22 14:46:24 UTC

Sometimes people come to teaching with little experience of the job from the front of the class and base all their ideas on their memories of how it was when they were a student. Although this is usually not a big issue I recently had a ITT on second placement who was like this and always thought he knew best, ignored advice and overrated the progress in the lessons.

He often used language that was too technical, talked for too long and give inappropriate level tasks mostly focusing on copying the work of the board even when he'd been advised to avoid copying.

We did manage to turn him into a good teacher however we needed to go all the way to the beginning. The job he initially envisaged was a long way from the job he could do when he left us.

Lack of relationship between mentor and mentee

2020-01-08 14:59:15 UTC

My mentee was challenging to work with as she didn't see that she needed to improve and change. This became a critical moment when SLT got involved and spoke to her about being more receptive to my mentoring. After the conversation with SLT she started to have weekly meetings with me and improve her practice.

Driving the conversation in the wrong direction

2020-01-19 12:40:50 UTC

I started a meeting by being to vague and my planned questions went straight out of the window. Because I was not specific enough with a critical incident the conversation unravelled and the mentee was viewing the lesson completely differently to me. This damaged the trust of our relationship and made me reflect on my strategy for future meetings.

Lack of subject knowledge

2020-01-19 20:15:49 UTC

One issue I came across when mentoring a ITT student in Year 1 was a real lack of subject knowledge. When teaching a capacity lesson, she used visual representations to show full/ half full / empty. The visual representations did not match the answers she was expecting the children to say. At first I wondered whether this was a mistake but when co-reflecting on the lesson it quickly became apparent that she didn't understand the concept. She was adamant that she was not wrong and after an intervention made by SLT we had to put a cause for concern into place. As a mentor this was a really difficult move to make however I learnt to always stick to your guns.

Subject Knowledge

2020-01-28 15:23:44 UTC

Sometimes a mentee's own subject knowledge is not accurate and this can lead to them teaching something incorrectly. While we want mentees to reflect on their own practice after the lesson, sometimes it is essential that, if we are observing, we do step in to ensure that the children are not mislead. While you can reflect on this critical incident after, it might cause problems with the relationship for a while.

Dealing with covert bullying

2020-01-28 19:56:02 UTC

A PGCE student was having a real crisis with their confidence and their stress levels were increasing dramatically. This however, didn't tie in with their actual ability. They were instinctive with their teaching, their lessons had a lot of thought and were well planned. They had a natural rapport with the students and they had a good subject knowledge. After what appeared to be a good start, they started to be over critical of themselves and doubting their own judgement. For a few weeks during during our conversations, it was difficult to draw out why things had changed. Despite reassurance that lesson observations were going well etc. the student was becoming more and more despondent, taking longer that they should over their planning, questioning their own knowledge etc. I then receive a complaint from a teacher that this student was taking a lesson for, it was for trivial things, but they said the PGCE wasn't quite performing to their expectations - it was just for one lesson a week. This necessitated the need for conversations with the other teachers, none of whom had an issue and in fact were very encouraging regarding the young person. It needed to be asked 'what was occurring?' I approach this in a positive way, I took all the positive comments received by all the teacher bar the one who had made the complaint during our meeting I made a point of stating all the comments. I then led into a conversation which included the negative comment, but before I did, I asked them how they thought that particular class/lesson was going. At first they were reticent in discussing the issues within that lesson, and then I carefully bought in the remarks made by that teacher, and then it all flooded out. How due to that one class, one teacher they had thought about giving up teaching. There was no support, the content was new to the PGCE student, so extremly challenging. This was their first placement, but they had been expected to go straight in and teach for the full hour and they were expected to be an 'expert' teacher from the start. Any mistakes were jumped on and questioned in a way that belittled the student and had them doubting their own ability.

A plan was put in place, focussing on the positive aspects. The complainant was reminded of what was expected of the PGCE, extra support was put in place in the planning of that one lesson. The student soon resumed their natural confidence and built up resilience also how to be wary of those less than supportive teachers within the profession. That PGCE student is now the HOD of a nearby school and is extremely supportive of their staff and new teachers.

Change of career.

2020-01-31 13:31:53 UTC

A challenging situation that may occur is when a mentee feels deflated and wants to leave the school or the profession. This could be challenging as you feel that you should encourage the mentee to stay either with the school or in the profession, but on the other hand, are you doing what is right for the mentee. This is why a mentor should not venture opinions during the conversation and mentees need to put forward their own ideas.

It's all about me !

2020-02-02 19:15:45 UTC

A challenging incident happened when working with an mentee who was finding it very difficult to 'read' the behavior of the pupils. Lessons were overloaded with 'teacher talk' and despite suggestions of different strategies the mentee just seemed unable to assess the pupils attention levels, understanding of concepts or needs as learners. It became very clear that mentee was so heavily focused on their own needs within the classroom they were unable to reflect on the needs of the learners . Eventually the mentee was recommended to gain more experience of working with children before processing in their ITT.

What have I done? There is a period in everyone's teaching career when we say 'What have I done?' Whether it is at the start and we have trained or retrained and assume it to be rainbows and flowers or when we become jaded and perhaps need more challenge in our day-to-day. In reality, teaching is a lot of hard work, long hours and lots of tears. But, ultimately, that in itself is the reward. If you stick at it - what else would you want to do? The light bulb effect when something clicks. The rare 'thank you.' Knowing you have made a difference. Not everyone can teach, but those who stick at it are rewarded

2020-02-02 21:08:28 UTC

Not prepared to change

agraves19 — 2020-02-03 01:05:08 UTC

I challenging situation has been with a colleague who despite lots of support and guidance, is still unprepared to accept and make the changes needed to improve his practice. As an experienced teacher, he has the mindset of 'I have done this all before' and is reluctant to make changes. They changes he makes are superficial and he will resort back to old practice. This has been particularly challenging for me, as I do not want to see him fail but know that without significant change, he will. Getting him to see this for himself remains challenging as in conversation, he appears to be seeing this, but in practice he doesn't change.

Mixed messages

2020-02-03 20:38:58 UTC

A challenging situation is where the mentee was given different messages from different people in school. For example head of T&L, mentor, year group lead. The mentee was left feeling very confused about how they were performing and what they needed to do to improve. I think the issue here is that although it is good that lots of people want to help it is important that they are all coming from the same direction and the mentee is given clarification on what they need to do.

In depth knowledge

2020-02-09 19:24:14 UTC

Sometimes, we have to intervene and step in during the teaching sessions, especially if mentee's subject knowledge is not up to scratch. This might cause some bad atmosphere between the mentor and the mentee but hopefully on self-reflection they'll realize it was done to their benefit.

Are all children listening?

2020-02-09 20:17:34 UTC

So often when we observe a mentee, we focus on the teaching and learning which is taking place and whether or not the outcomes are being achieved. However, how often do we observe the pupils which are being taught whilst conducting a lesson observation? When I have the opportunity to observe teaching, I often take a few moments to observe the pupils. I do this because I know, as a teacher, that when you are teaching you can often become unaware of the slight disruptions or off-task pupils which may be slightly out of your peripheral vision. This may be a challenging moment for mentoring as you would then need to challenge the mentee and their ability to spot off-task pupils which further leads to questions about progress and meeting the outcomes of the lesson. This can then lead further to engagement. Presenting this feedback to a mentee may come across as strongly negative with the areas of further insight it can cover but the discussion should be done in a professional manner which is supportive and followed by suggested ways of minimising this.

When it feels like the universe is against you!

2020-03-23 12:12:16 UTC

A critical incident that I faced was in my third year of teaching, so still fairly new to the profession considering the length of time my wife has been teaching. I had moved from temporary teaching posts and succeeded in gaining a post at a school which was in special measures. I was excited in taking up the new post as I felt I could make a difference to the children in my class. From my first day of teaching at the school I felt an sense of unease. As the school was being closely monitored, I felt that I was too. Everything I did in school was criticised from hanging a display chart on a cupboard to my teaching style - which was described as too formal. The point that was extremely critical was being called in over a lesson plan which had previously been discussed with and approved by the deputy head teacher. Being treated in this way I felt like giving up teaching and sought support from my previous head teachers, my wife and my union. My union were really helpful and I was able to leave straight away, one of my previous head teachers supported me in getting another post. 9 years on and I am now a senior leader, SLE, for science, loving my job and thought to be good enough to be recommended to be on the WIPRO mentoring programme.

The challenge - how to continue when you feel that everything is stacked against you and you are at your lowest point.

I would use this to help mentees who may find themselves in similar situations or if they feel they are at a low point in their career, that they need to take a step back. Take stock of the positives and the negatives. Ask themselves what do they want? What are their alternatives? When was the last time they felt positive in their career, where was this and who was there? Affirmation from senior staff and peers can help you feel positive again. Then look for a positive and supportive setting where you can begin again.

Losing it

2020-03-24 08:11:15 UTC

A mentee had become annoyed by low level disruption in a lesson and had "lost it" with the class. Afterwards they started to describe the incident in the terms "I don't know what happened...". I explained that I knew it was difficult and understood and shared his frustrations, but that I believed he did know what had happened, he just needed to have the courage to describe it.

We took a sidestep and discussed effective behaviour strategies, partly to depersonalise the conversation, but also to find a new key into the conversation When the mentee had listed the third strategy, they voluntarily returned to the incident and started to talk about how they felt in that moment and how that had clouded their ability to draw from the strategies they knew, and they identified that they had not used any of the strategies that they had just named. I reinforced the difficulty in not being emotionally affected by poor pupil behaviour, and encouraged the mentee to use this incident as one to which they might return in their heads many times as a crucial learning point.

Swearing

2020-03-24 08:12:28 UTC

A mentee who had had a lot of ups and downs during his placement, including an action plan, had recently made fantastic development. Then in his final lesson before his review he swore when speaking to the class (not to an individual or at anyone directly)! With their responding gasp and my open jaw, he immediately realised his error and I could see the confidence and belief in himself that we'd built up over the last 4 weeks, drain out of him.

In our post lesson discussion he repeatedly apologised and had resigned himself to a negative review with C4C. Instead I encouraged him to focus on everything that had gone well up to that point, and what had triggered the inappropriate professional behaviour. Together we discussed the situation and he came to the conclusion that he had become too relaxed and comfortable with the class. He reflected on what he had learnt from it and how that would impact his future practice. We also discussed next steps or re-establishing the professional relationship with the class which he went on to and he was able to quickly recover his confidence.

Not something I've come across until this term - an interesting situation that took a lot of thought before entering into the post-lesson discussion about how to handle it!

Cause for concern

2020-03-24 08:13:47 UTC

A mentee was placed on a cause for concern in their second placement. They were clearly very upset about this, and took issue with some of the requests being placed on them. As part of their action plan, they were asked to create their own resources, submit lesson plans 48 hours earlier, and keep a reflective notebook of all their lessons. Initially, they were quite resistant to doing this, but through conversations about this, they were able to see how this would have a positive impact on their teaching. Misconceptions and lesson pitched too low or too high were dealt with before the lesson, and good progress was made.

Performance nerves

2020-03-24 08:14:32 UTC

My mentee was getting very worked up about a presentation she was due to give in front of one of her senior managers and other colleagues. She was not used to giving formal presentations and wasn't sure where to start her planning. I agreed to help her make an initial plan of her presentation by asking her what components normally make up a presentation (intro, content, conclusion), what type of material she would expect to find in each of these sections (introducing yourself and key themes, delivering primary content, wrapping up and taking questions). Once we had done this I asked her how long the presentation was supposed to be and how she would break that time up into the three sections. Once she could see each section would only last a maximum of 5 minutes and roughly what she needed to say in each part the task felt a lot more manageable and she was able to go away and plan the session. We then met to review the session she had planned and got her to deliver it to me 1-1 as a practise.

Lacking confidence

2020-03-24 08:15:13 UTC

Recently a mentee became very upset after one of her lessons, and really started to doubt herself. The lesson did not go to plan, the mentee was having to deal with a number of behaviour issues and was unable to get through a lot of the planned content. By the end of the lesson, she was still struggling. When we spoke afterwards, she was very emotional, lacked confidence and was particularly worried about teaching the same class again - first thing the next day.

I sat with her to discuss the factors that had made teaching that particular lesson challenging: she had only taught the group for the full lesson twice before, the usual host teacher was off ill so she had a cover supervisor in the lesson to support her, there was a room change to an unfamiliar room that was very last minute so students weren't warned in advance.

Because of these issues, the lesson was slow to start, with students arriving late. A few began to push boundaries and the mentee didn't have the usual back up of the host teacher to deal with behaviour.

We discussed how the mentee would handle the situation if the same were to happen again and she was able to reflect on how she had dealt with some of the behaviour issues and how she would do so differently, also using the departmental "cool spot" policy to remove students where necessary.

As her mentor, I was more concerned about how to get her confidence back as she had to teach them again the following morning and it was likely that the host teacher would still be off ill. I made sure that she knew who to contact and where each member of the department would be, if any issues were to arise. Another colleague who wasn't teaching agreed to make herself available in an adjoining office, in case the mentee needed support. Furthermore, we were able to take some time to adapt what the mentee had originally planned, taking into account the lack of progress from the previous lesson. She knew exactly what she wanted to get out of the lesson & why and was much more confident by the end of our discussion. Ultimately, this meant she was able to go home and forget about what had happened & take some time to relax instead of dwelling on the situation & worrying about the lesson to come. The next lesson was much more successful and the mentee has regained her confidence with that group.

Working as a team

2020-03-24 08:16:13 UTC

We work in alternative provision so often our day day can be critical and like walking on hot coals, in order to work with these hard to reach pupils we have to make sure we are working fully as a team. If even just one mistake is dealt with poorly it can have a massive effect on the whole class. So team and trust are so important. The benefit of this is we are a really close team the negative is if a staff has a bad day they can blame themselves, using gibbs reflective process really helps us make sure the mentees evaluate appropriately and practically without turning to self blame or confidence loss. Lots of of reflection, team teaching and observations are the answer.

Peer support

2020-03-24 08:17:11 UTC

During my NQT year, I was paired with a trainee teacher to observe one another and feedback accordingly. Whilst observing the trainee I noticed she was having problems with one student who I was familiar with, also. After the lesson we sat down and discussed the lesson informally. During her own reflection of the lesson she mentioned the student and the approaches she had already taken, as well as the affect it was having on her enjoyment of teaching the class. We discussed what the issue might be and came up with strategies to try in the coming lessons. Although the issues did not resolve immediately, the trainee fed back positively and confident that it was moving in the right direction. Having the opportunity for peer observations, set up by the SMC, seemed to offer a more informal opportunity to ask questions and get advice, which for some is less daunting than approaching their mentor or SMC.

Lack of support

2020-03-24 08:17:55 UTC

I am currently the main mentor for a trainee on a SCITT route into teaching. The trainee has gone to her second placement and is due to come back to our school at Easter. Whilst at her the second placement, the trainee has contacted me with concerns regarding lack of support from both second placement and the course provider. I have worked with the second placement mentor before and I am aware the mentor has been very supportive in the past. I have also been contacted by the course provider on numerous occasions with regards to my trainee and how "difficult" the trainee has been. It appears as though the trainee is telling me one thing, the second placement school something different and the course provider something else!

The review meeting for second placement is due to happen in the next couple of weeks and I feel my main role is to be impartial and not allow any thoughts I have on the current situation over shadow what may happen when they come back to me. Also ensuring that the trainee understands that all parties involved with their training wants the very best for them and all are supportive.

Language problems

2020-03-24 08:18:43 UTC

I haven't had an critical incidents yet with a mentee, but as a mentor I HAVE found it quite the challenge when trying to steer someone in the direction of improvement when there has been a language barrier - I have mentored ESOL students learning to improve their English reading a comprehension, and it's sometimes very difficult to make a suggestion for further improvement when they don't necessarily understand the word's you're using, and they can take it to heart and they might think that you're trying to insult them, or insinuate that they're not already improving, and this can cause some tension.

Meltdown

2020-03-24 08:19:27 UTC

During a lesson observation an autistic child had a meltdown and my mentor had to intervene using team teach, Following the lesson we had a discussion around TA support. This allowed me to develop my understanding and learn about how to direct TA's more effectively and make sure that they are fully clear on what needs to be done. We also worked on being assertive within the classroom which helped me to create a more productive learning environment

Behaviour

2020-03-24 08:20:58 UTC

I have recently worked with a mentee who was struggling with behaviour in class. I discussed strategies that could be used and discussed simple ways of changing the environment and moving learners in activities which would not be noticeable to the class. I discussed the strategies used by the mentee and got the mentee to list ideas. We made an action plan of the ideas and made a timeline to try them out. The mentee was help to try different ideas to develop their skills in behavioural management. It is important to give positive feedback to learner and give ideas and help the mentee develop their own to improve their practice.

Supporting as a team

2020-03-24 08:21:54 UTC

I was working as Senior Mentor with a mentor and a refer trainee in a shortage subject. The refer trainee was only up to teaching 4 one hour lessons on their second placement because they were still struggling to understand what teaching in a C21st classroom looked like. When the issue had been identified on placement A their university academic tutor, the head of ITE at the HEI, their mentor and SMC at their 1st placement school had all sat down individually with the trainee in an attempt to coach the ITT about specific aspects of their professional practice. However, this hadn't had the desired effect. The trainee had very specific additional needs and required additional support.

On the second placement we (the academic tutor, the mentor and myself as SMC) decided to sit down as a group with the trainee and we made a set of explicit notes at the meeting which clearly identified what was going well; what aspects needed an immediate focus and how these could be actioned, what support was needed and who would provide this support. These were countersigned by us all and after the meeting every time the trainee failed to meet expectations we referred them to the document and when they were successful we initialed the document so that the trainee received positive feedback.

It was very much like a process we would use in school with pupils but it did enable the trainee to make further progress and it did ensure that we were meeting the trainee's additional needs. The 'team' approach was more effective that the individual approach on placement A, but we had to be sensitive that we were not over bearing with there being 3 of us.

Seeing progress

2020-03-24 08:23:03 UTC

After the first official observation had taken place, the mentee, the lecturer and I sat down to discuss the session that had just been delivered. Before going in to the details of what had happened, I gave the mentee the chance to reflect and discuss how they perceived the session to have gone and whether or not they had been happy with the lesson. The mentee instantly began discussing the 'good points' of the session and why they thought this, but they did had very little focus on some of the issues that both the lecturer and I had picked up upon > The lesson had not been pitched to the required standards for the group and as a result they had become extremely passive and dis-engaged with the session.

During the dialogue between the three of us, the mentee was asked on several occasions to provide examples of situations where they deemed the learners to have progressed during the lesson that had been delivered. It was during this dialogue and from the information that both the lecturer and I were providing, that the mentee started to understand that the lesson that they had delivered had not been pitched to the appropriate level for the learners > This resulted in the mentee being issued with a grade that they was not expecting.

Following on from this, I helped assist the mentee in exploring different strategies and methods that could be used with the group to ensure that they remained actively engaged within the lessons as well as being appropriately stretched and challenged. In the subsequent lessons and in the following observation, it was clear to see that the mentee had actively included the methods that had been explored meaning that the learners were much more involved within the sessions. It is pleasing to see that the mentee has continued to implement the strategies and methods that they explored as well as new ones that they have also tried and implemented well during their lessons - Progress is now clear to see!

Feeling like failing

2020-03-24 08:24:25 UTC

A mentee, was regularly feeling as though she was failing in her planning and teaching. Based on the students we work with, who are not in school and are attending our alternative provision, there are often factors that have to be considered in the teaching that account for things going on outside of the students education or the students behaviour. Thissometimes means that our training teachers struggle with getting all of the students in one session through the aims and objectives of that particular session (especially if they are late, or need to speak to other staff members in regards to safeguarding issues or behaviour etc). In the case of this mentee, she was particularly struggling with this and in turn it was affecting her planning and she was struggling to work out her own teaching raport and style as she was regulaly feeling that she was failing if the students refused to take part.

To support her in this, I sat with her for a length of time and we talked about what she was finding difficult and what she could have changed and what could not have been changed by her. She was then reminded of our policies and procedures of what to do when a student is demonstrating difficult behaviour. To offer her further support I arranged for her to observe other teachers, making sure that she was observing teachers with very different teaching styles. I then sat with her further and went through her planning, before then observing her teaching of the planning we did together and gave her feedback. I encouraged her to complete teaching evaluations that I then also read and used in future sessions with her, so that she was able to refelct on her own practice and improve it with support. To boost her confidence and help her to see that their behaviour wasn't a reflection of her teaching, I made sure that the second group she taught was beter in behaviour. This also allowed her to compare what happened in each session.

Too slow

2020-03-24 08:25:31 UTC

A mentee had taken a considerable amount of time to complete a task, due to poor planning and scheduling which lead to poor engagement. A discussion was planned, where the mentee was told that the meeting was confidential and one which we hoped would lead to enhance performance and development of skills. The conversation was initially quite difficult, however the mentee described the incident with the mentor pin point key areas of concern and how they could alleviate these concerns and provided further examples, experiential learning and further mentoring meetings. The mentee learnt expectations, outcomes, planning and scheduling and also assertive behaviour.

High aspirations

2020-03-24 08:26:04 UTC

I had a very confident mentee who came into their teacher training with high expectations for themselves - which was great - but their skills didn't initially match up to their aspirations. Following their first formal observation, we discussed how they thought they had done and they rated themselves very highly on the standards checklist used by their university which graded each professional standard from 1 to 4; unfortunately the lesson didn't hit the levels the mentee thought it did. Using this standards checklist as a basis for the discussion, we compared my opinions to theirs and discussed the areas where we had differed. Using a framework in this way helped direct the conversation and also threw up lots of opportunities for me to praise the good aspects of the session whilst also letting me guide the mentee into being more objectively critical in their own evaluation of other aspects. Following this discussion I asked the mentee what they felt the three key points to improve upon were and then we used this as a basis for SMART targets for their next session (the key one I can remember being changing the lesson plan to help the mentee be more clear on what they expected each pupil to achieve, especially those working within the generic P levels). I also set up some observations of outstanding practitioners so they could see what 'outstanding' looked like in the classroom. At the mentee's request, we used this evaluation/discussion process throughout the placement and they because more accurate and confident in their self-evaluation which led to them taking more of a lead in identifying next steps in their development. I feel that I would be shortchanging the mentee in question if I didn't add that their high aspirations and skills did match by the time they qualified at the end of the year!

Negative incidents

2020-03-24 08:26:42 UTC

A mentee, who was still very new to the workplace, was involved in a number of negative incidents that gained the attention of the area-manager. It was my job to try to show the mentee an alternative way at looking at solutions to the problems they encountered and showing how some of their reactions were perhaps not as professional as they could have been. This was not done with accusations or disapproval, I mereley offered and suggested other ways at looking at things and asked the mentee to describe which was the most appropriate and the benefits of each course of action. Through doing so, the mentee was able to come to the conclusion that their approach had perhaps not been as professional as it mightr of been and were able to alter that approach. As this was done through guidance and allowing the mentee to self-evaluate rather than accusation I beleive the out come was much more positive than it might have been

Not realising the problem

2020-03-24 08:27:54 UTC

I had a student who was struggling with behaviour management. She really didn't realise that she had a problem at all but the class teachers were constantly approaching me to express their concerns about her ability to control the classroom. The classroom teachers were doing a lot of the behaviour management and we were worried that she wouldn't be able to cope with her own classes in the future. I sat down with her in one meeting and explained what the school behaviour policy was and how we did it at this school. I then directed her to key members of staff around school that had good behaviour management skills (especially ones that taught the same pupils). She really found this useful and brought that good practice into her teaching. She improved a lot and even secured a post in our school at the end of the placement. Sometimes it is as simple as talking about it and allowing them to see how it is done. They can then decide on what does and doesn't work for them.

Over-reacting

2020-03-24 08:28:50 UTC

A mentee in her first teaching practice, in an attempt to make an immediate impact on a new class, adopted a more than zero tolerance approach to behaviour management. Whilst initially working, this soon led to several confrontational issues with students who felt they were being unfairly treated. Although I supported the mentee fully during these issues, it was clear there was absolutely no positive teacher/ class relationship present at all. The result was after a few week's the mentee showed a certain amount of anxiety when preparing to teach this class. We discussed the issues in mentee/ mentor meetings and talked about the benefits of positive teacher/ class relationships. I arranged for the mentee to observe staff around school with renound strengths in this area, and was even able to carry out a joint observation. We talked about the strategies employed by these teachers and the effects these had on teacher/class relationships but more importantly how they help maintain an excellent level of behaviour management. I think being able to see first hand how these strategies worked, through her own observation, helped address the issue in a less critical way, and by having a reflective discussion the mentee felt she had been part of coming up with the solution rather than just being told.

Modelling

2020-03-24 08:43:14 UTC

I observed a mentee's lesson fairly early on in his course. He was quite disengaged, sitting slumped in a chair, not really engaging the class and not using his body language or voice to any positive effect. the activities that he had organised were very pedestrian and there was little or no progress in the lesson.

I asked him how he thought the lesson had gone and he said that he thought it hadn't gone badly. I asked him to reflect how he might show that children had made progress in the lesson and he soon realised that the session had not gone as well as he had thought. He got upset as this dawned on him. I explained that it was very early on in the year and that he still had a lot to learn. We had already begun to develop a good relationship. We had a long talk about what progress might look like and how he might use his body language and voice to engage children and I modelled some ideas to him.

We arranged to team teach the next lesson and worked on an outline plan. After some more planning and discussion, we team taught the lesson successfully and talked about how he might build on that. He went on to really improve.

Time management

2020-03-24 08:44:13 UTC

A mentee was struggling with his personal time management and becoming overwhelmed with the paperwork. Consequently books were unmarked, evaluations not written and lessons not planned until the last minute. Things came to a head prior to an observed RE lesson when, at lunchtime, he was looking at a computer screen in tears unsure where to start. After a cup of tea and a biscuit, we looked at where he had got to and made a list of what still needed to be prepared. Working together, we sorted the resources and went through the lesson plan. With confidence restored (to a degree) he delivered a good lesson and was pleased with the outcome. Taking time to support him at the time, averted a potential crisis and enabled him to take confidence from what he had achieved. When asked to explain what he had learned from the situation, the mentee realised he needed to prioritise his time management and we worked together to form a timetable to facilitate this. We looked at what specifically was taking up extra time, formulated a plan for working more efficiently and reviewed his PPA time.

Setting work too high

2020-03-24 08:45:27 UTC

In an informal drop in a mentee had not properly checked the resource beforehand and the end slides of the floor work were particularly hard for the lower atainers. I allowed her to continue for a minute or so to see whether she would adapt her practice. I could see that she was starting to worry and notice the issue but wasn't sure what to do. I felt it was a good and idea to step in to make a suggestion and new that we had a positive relationship that she wouldn't feel too overwhelmed by it. She was quite happy for support and continued with the lesson and support the class at tables well. Having seen that she was getting on well I left and then discussed it in the mentor meeting. I asked her how she felt about it and her experience was exactly what i thought. I explained that it is something we all experience at some point and that it was just important to check but also that being able to adapt on the spot and looking at how she could use her groups and floor individual work differently like send some groups early with a TA etc could be a target to work on next week.

Achieving targets

2020-03-24 08:46:48 UTC

A mentee was having trouble achieving one of his targets and this was holding him back for several weeks. This was beginning to knock his confidence which was a shame as he was a great trainee teacher and would go on to be a wonderful teacher. So we broke the one target down into several smaller targets to achieve it step by step. This worked really well and he did achieve the target as a whole much quicker and his confidence increased. I learnt from this that a target to me/us may seem very achievable but this may not be the case to a trainee. Because I had a good relationship with him, he was happy to talk to me about what he was finding difficult we were able to talk through it and break it down into more manageable parts. I have learnt a lot from this experience and this is something that I am now very aware of when setting targets.

Sharing experiences

2020-03-24 08:47:36 UTC

I had a struggling mentee who was finding behaviour management particularly difficult, not allowing their expertise in the subject to be delivered to task. We discussed the difficulties in learning to teach 'on the job' without as much support as those on more traditional teaching routes. We found that discussing some of my personal experiences in teacher training a fruitful way in which the trainee could relate. Other members of staff also shared their present difficulties with different aspects of teaching which allowed the mentee to see that non of us were the completed article and that we were all looking to develop our own skills. We changed teaching style to a more pupil centered, problem solving approach which allowed the mentee to step away from the front of the classroom and speak to pupils on a 1-2-1 level. The approach helped to build relationships and in turn improve behaviour.

Being overwhelmed

2020-03-24 08:48:26 UTC

I've had a mentee feel overwhelmed by all the aspects of her new job. I first let her 'steam out' a bit, then reassured her that no doubt she'd get the hang of things shortly, then we went through key aspects of the job and prioritised competencies, incl. some 'quick wins' and places for support available. We then agreed to review confidence/ progress after a week and 2 weeks, though she could also contact me in between with any urgent queries. I think feeling listened to, taken seriously and having a plan helped her. For next time (though some of this was out of my hands at the time) I'd probably get in touch earlier and come up with a plan (having been in the job for some time and 'organically' absorbed changes in recent times I hadn't realised quite how much there was to pick up on).

being less teacher-led

2020-03-24 08:49:26 UTC

I had a mentee who was struggling to think of activities that were not heavily teacher led. In a time outside of mentor meetings we took a lesson he was planning for Year 11 and worked through it together looking at what he had planned identifying where the input for the students and if in case it could be altered to give the students more independence. He found this really helpful and it got him to think about how he was planning lessons (normally thinking of activities one by one and then writing objectives to fit these) and alter this timeline of planning to think of what the students needed to know by the end of the lesson and plan a route of how they would get there.

Low self-belief

2020-03-24 08:50:01 UTC

I have not had many critical incidents yet, however, one of my mentees had low levels of self-belief. He was a great individual, who was clearly capable of doing his job. He had great ideas, yet stuggled to believe in himself. I found it helpful tailoring my mentoring style, by stressing all the positive points and all the things he did so well. Feedback and reflective practices are crucial, but I always tried, with this particular mentee, to stress the many positive experiences first (as there were not many negative aspects), to boost his confidence and self-belief.

Problems with teacher's literacy

2020-03-24 08:50:31 UTC

Following an observation, it became clear that although a mentee was struggling with reviewing their work. There were a number of grammatical and spelling errors, which were picked up by the group. Following the session I reviewed the mentee's marking and found similar issues.

I arranged for a discussion in a private, quiet location as I felt this may be a sensitive topic for the mentee. I asked her to prepare a reflection on the session. This was discussed as was my feedback focussing on the areas (engagement, classroom management) that were excellent.

I was then open and honest about the issue. Initially the mentee did not see this as a problem. We discussed the reasons for this and she said didn't see it as a big deal. She was quite guarded about it. After probing it turned out she'd struggled with this for years and had negative experiences regarding this.

We talked about these experiences and the impact this had on her confidence. I alluded to the professional responsibilities we held to external bodies as well as an internal quality assurance. I was able to help her to see that this was an issue that needed to be addressed and, perhaps more importantly, could be addressed.

We then moved forward to look at strategies to support her. This included utilising review tools such as spellcheck, spending a bit more time on new resources and making sure she had peer support to review the content of her resources in future. We looked at various strategies to improve her spelling and grammar. We set objectives relating to this for her to work towards.

Poor attitude

2020-03-24 08:51:44 UTC

One trainee didn't make a strong first impression with other staff members and with many of his children. He showed to be very confident in all he did, often coming across boastful, brash and occasionally disrepsectful. Inside however, it was evident that he lacked confidence in many areas andwas unsure on what he was doing at times.

As he progressed through his placment, his demeanour changed. He became distant with other mentees and began to struggle with the work load. He began to fall behind and struggled with all that he was meant to do. Through regular meetings and support, he managed to develop his confidence once more as we discussed the progress he was making, the relationships he was mending, and the developmetns in hs teaching through due to hs hard work. By the end of his placement, he had more confidence, but knew his limits as a mentee. By the end of the placement, for myself and him, it was deemed a success. The progress made was good, and he now has a job as a Key Stage 2 teacher.

Difficult personal circumstances

STEMAcademyNorth — 2020-04-08 15:11:14 UTC

In my experience as HOD I have had to provide a support network for members of my team when the have gone through a difficult time in their personal life. It most circumstances it is very difficult to discuss pedagogical approaches and development as they have big distractions outside of the workplace. In one example a member of my department's child became seriously ill. I had to look at their CPD in a supportive way and adapt this to make it achievable and manageable for the individual. It was about setting them up to succeed rather than fail and really focus on small, positive goals.

Student subject knowledge I observed a student teach a maths lesson early on in their placement, it became clear during the starter that the student was clearly struggling with her subject knowledge, to the point where she struggled to answer the children's questions around the topic she was teaching. At this point I stepped in and we team taught the rest of the session.

2020-04-13 13:59:47 UTC

Over Planning

mentorshooc — 2021-07-02 05:03:50 UTC

One of the most common situations that I come across is ITT students over planning lessons ,working late in to the evening & then feeling overwhelmed. i had a student once who fell into this trap. immaculate lesson plans , fantastic resources & all singing , all dancing lessons. However, these were taking hours to produce & this was obviously unsustainable. she was tired, struggling, feeling burnt out & as a result, despite the plans & resources, the lessons didn't go to plan.

We sat down, got out a sheet of paper & I set her the challenge of not spending more than 20 mins planning a lesson & having time off at weekend. What would we cut out? Break the lesson down into simple steps & instead of making new resources, use the ones already produced and ask for help & support. We then planned a days lessons together in the space of 30 minutes..She was really unsure, as it was counter intuitive to everything she believed. It took time, but she gained confidence as a result and worked towards getting the work life balance right.

Feeling the need to change

mentorshooc — 2021-07-02 06:04:17 UTC

A challenging situation for a mentor could be when a fellow does not feel the need for change or is unwilling to use time in school to change. This could be more common in more experienced teachers who are resistant. The challenge for the mentor is that I wouldn't want the time and effort spent on developing classroom practice for someone to revert to their old practice. This all boils down to the conditions of the relationship being right coupled with an open mindset receptive to change.

Marking workload

mentorshooc — 2021-07-05 15:59:28 UTC

My mentee was struggling with the marking requirements of our academy. Quality Assurance highlighted infrequency of marking as a concern. Naturally, my mentee was very upset and concerned about this. To help we drew up a marking timetable which worked over a 2 week period and set aside a non-contact lesson (or 2) specifically for that class' books to be marked. The mentee is now on top of her marking and feeling much more organised and confident.

Getting stuck and panicking

mentorshooc — 2021-07-05 16:00:08 UTC

One trainee had started to get very flustered in the middle of a rounders lesson. It was a cold day and the girls were extremely cold and although trying to stay focused found it increasingly difficult. The trainee was insistent on completing their lesson plan which was an isolated batting practice. Lots of girls stood around, listening but not actually required to move or get involved with the practice.

When the students were on task, I asked the mentee how he could overcome the situation, steer away from the plan and get the students engaged practically and therefore involved fully. He struggled for ideas on the spot and started to panic. I therefore suggested an idea to fully engage and motivate the girls. He tried this and was delighted to see the girls responding. It lifted the mentee as well as the girls. The girls were asking more questions, wanting to show the mentee their abilities and achievements and the mentor was able to encourage and set further challenges himself.

That one sticking phase in the lesson was addressed with a little help and it made all the difference - allowing the mentee to progress further.

Feeling neglected

mentorshooc — 2021-07-05 16:01:13 UTC

A mentee felt unsupported by their mentor, they felt they were being left 'to their own devices' more than other mentees within the school. I advised them to speak to another mentor about their feelings and seek guidance on best 'next steps'. The mentee appeared to feel uplifted by the knowledge they had a choice and alternate option, rather than just accepting this was the only path for them. The mentor received some soft coaching and guidance. The mentee now feels a better relationship between them and their mentor has started developing

Prioritising

mentorshooc — 2021-07-05 16:01:50 UTC

I worked with my mentee towards the end of the year to develop her skills at how to prioritise own workload. We sat and wrote down what needed to be done and with dates, we then allocated these onto a timeline. Then the mentee went through and created a plan of action and we discussed what could be taken away or given to someone else. This then was used weekly at our meetings so we could see what had been done and what else was needed. The mentee was then able to work through workload and feel happier when each item was signed off or completed. We discussed resources and how some could be used again and also changed slightly to help with development time.

Changing the lesson plan

mentorshooc — 2021-07-05 16:02:14 UTC

Whilst not their main mentor, I do have experience with mentees working with my classes. One mentee had planned a lesson building up to completion of an exam question on a topic that she had just delivered to the class. The lesson had a real focus on exam technique. However a review of knowledge at the start of the lesson demonstrated that with many students the theory was not quite secure – a few questions were incorrect / inaccurate and students were unable to develop their responses. The mentee, however stuck to the plan of delivering the lesson as planned – moving on to a past exam question, with emphasis on exam technique, application / analysis / evaluation skills. Students attempted the question but really struggled – whilst they had greater awareness of how to approach that particular style of question, gaps in their knowledge meant that they could not access it at the required level, producing very limited written responses. Reflecting on the lesson it was clear that the mentee was very disappointed in the lesson - in her mind the lesson she had planned had not gone well. Discussing the reasons why she recognised that she had been so focused on trying to provide evidence for certain standards this had taken over and because she was worried about not delivering the ‘planned’ lesson she had ignored the needs of students for development / consolidation of knowledge before moving on to higher level skills - learning from this that changing the plan is ‘okay’ and definitely the best response in that situation

Misunderstanding the standards

mentorshooc — 2021-07-05 16:04:14 UTC

Proir to an initial meeting between a former mentee, senior mentor and myself as mentor the mentee was asked to self-evaluate themselves against the teaching standards as part of their teacher training course requirements. The mentee had graded themselves as achieving all of these standards before any training had started. The mentee was a former TA and had graded themselves based on teaching small groups and booster groups for maths and literacy. Calmly, both myself and the senior mentor explained that the teaching standards were for whole class teaching and across the entire curriculum. At first the mentee was a little reluctant to change their initial self-assessment but eventually looked at their ability to teach the individual subjects and agreed that whilst they were very close to meeting the maths and literacy targets, they required development in the other subjects.

Lacking subject specialism

mentorshooc — 2021-07-05 16:04:58 UTC

A mentee was asked to deliver lessons in an area outside her primary specialism due to timetabling issues. She was happy to develop her pedagogy by working beyond her subject area, but soon began to feel unsupported by the member of staff mentoring her in this subject area, as (although she liked the mentor she had been assigned and sympathised with her lack of time) she felt that the quality of her lessons was being affected by the lack of information and guidance that she was being provided with.

After a particularly chaotic lesson, my mentee felt like she had taken a step backwards, despite initially having a positive start. As we reviewed the lesson plan that had been provided, my mentee began to reflect on how each episode of the lesson could be adapted to suit the specifics of my mentee's lesson (needing to cross the site to reach the classroom, the time required to set up for the lesson, not being a specialist in this subject area and needing to allow time to pack away at the end of the lesson). As a result, my mentee was able to devise a revised approach to the lesson that can be used to suit her teaching style and the specific challenges she experiences when teaching the lesson.

Pressure of work

mentorshooc — 2021-07-05 16:06:19 UTC

A trainee I was working with became ill due to allowing the pressures of work load to become too much. I had built a very strong working relationship with the trainee and we worked closely together to plan and develop resources. However, despite having a very open working relationship the trainee felt embarrassed to mention the issues they were having. Initially there were no obvious signs of struggle, lessons were being planned to a good standard and academic work was being completed on time and again to a good standard.

However, a few days were missed due to illness by the trainee. Upon returning the trainee seemed to be withdrawn and lacking in the positivity that had previously being apparent. As I observed the trainee over the following few days it was clear there were some broader issues. So I responded by sitting down and asking the question as to what was wrong, after an uncomfortable few minutes with little being said the trainee broke down stating that they were having trouble managing the work load and not being able to spend as much time with friends and family.

As a teacher who had been through similar concerns earlier in my career I worked through a work load planning exercise where we identified the elements of work that were the most important and timetabled this against the free time the trainee was willing to use. Every day from that point we sat down for a few minutes just to talk around work load and perceived priorities. Very quickly the trainee became less anxious and started to self manage this process. A simple one to solve in the end but one that could have prevented a very effective trainee from staying in the profession.

Showing improvement

mentorshooc — 2021-07-05 16:07:01 UTC

As I'm fairly new to mentoring I haven't really experienced a critical incident as of yet. However, I suppose the next nearest event would have been after the mid point review where the trainee was working at a 3 in the majority of the standards. This knocked their confidence as they were working extremely hard, I noticed over the following few days that they were a lot less enthusiastic about the lessons and the subject. During the next mentor weekly meeting I discussed how the previous week went and asked them to compare this to their first week as a trainee and identify where they have improved (without referencing the teaching standards!). This seemed to boost their confidence and I noticed a return to their usual positive and enthusiastic self.

The event also really emphasised the importance of setting SMARTER targets for the mentee so that they can take small steps to developing good teaching practice.

Accepting feedback

mentorshooc — 2021-07-05 16:07:54 UTC

I had a Schools Direct student come for their complimentary placement and it was her first SBE. The first observation did not go well but when I asked her to use the grid to reflect on how she had done she had placed herself very high whereas I had placed her very low. It was a very difficult conversation and she got really upset but said that she understood and valued the reflective comments. We made a plan together for me to come and team teach with her and to support her in planning the next lesson with the constructive comments in mind. The next day she came to school crying and said that she didn't think that teaching was right for her. I thanked her for coming in and said that I felt very pleased that she feels that she can come and share this with me. I reassured her that she can do this and that it was her first week of teaching and that I was not going to let her down as a mentor- it is my job to support you and get you through this SBE and that I believe she will make a wonderful teacher. I gave her 2 choices and said that she could either take the day out of class and use it as PPA time which she can either do at home or in school. She asked if she could go home as she needed to clam down and didn't want people to see her upset. I really didn't know if she was going to come back the next day and was worried about her so I text her saying 'hope you feel better, really looking forward to team teaching with you in the morning and so are the children.' Luckily she came back the next day and after a wobbly first lesson her confidence and understanding slowly started to come back. Her next observation went better but still had a way to go but by filling in the grid she was a lot more reflective and had the confidence to say where it hadn't gone as well as it should have but was also able to tell what went better than she thought it would have and was able to tell me why.

Complaint from parent

mentorshooc — 2021-07-05 16:08:47 UTC

A mentee received a complaint from a parent of a difficult pupil which knocked her confidence considerably. We sat down to discuss the feedback of the parent and discussed possible strategies to effectively teach the pupil. The mentee wanted to meet with the parent to discuss steps to move forward. We did this in a controlled meeting that I led. The mentee did a fantastic job of explaining the behaviour that she was witnessing in lessons and the parent agreed with the steps that had been taken.

From the meeting we put together an action plan and arranged observations of other staff who taught the same pupil. The mentee became much more confident in dealing with this pupil as well as other difficult pupils.

It was important as part of the process to self evaluate her own behaviour and teaching strategies and at times this was difficult for her to do but with support from the department she was able to overcome the challenge and emerge a stronger professional as a result.

Assuming pupils will behave

mentorshooc — 2021-07-05 16:09:24 UTC

A Mentee had recently started teaching her own lessons and she was very surprised that when she asked students to complete work, they would often just chat instead and not complete work needed. She was unaware she would have to develop behaviour and classroom management strategies to ensure students were on task and completing work.

Firstly I let her talk through her experience of the lesson and this particular incident. I then asked her if it was any students in particular (which it was).
I asked her what she thought would have happened when she set the task and how this differed to what actually happened. I asked her what surprised her the most - and she replied that they just didn't do the work, they talked instead! She thought they would just get on with the task in hand.
I then asked her what she would do differently next time to stop this from happening. She said she was not sure right now, so this became a target for her to work on in her next lesson when independent work was set - what strategies would she use to keep students on task.

Being recorded

mentorshooc — 2021-07-05 16:10:25 UTC

I haven't mentored anyone in a teaching context, but a colleague was very nervous about making a presentation to around 30 colleagues and external people that would be video taped. This was her second time to do this, and the first occasion she had been terrified, read from her notes, barely looked up at the audience and her slides were crammed with text. While I wasn't formally her mentor, she valued my opinion and what she thought were enhanced presentation skills. I also at the time had no awareness of reflective models, but quality enhancement was my area of expertise and so looking back, was always keen on supporting the improvement of individuals.

In discussing the first "incident", I listened empathetically and encouraged her to reflect on what had happened and to try to identify the positive and negative aspects from her perspective. She herself identified all the aspects I noted above and I empathized with her feelings of panic...that it took me a long time to 'walk away' from the lecturn and to develop strategies of 'engaging' the audience - or from a teaching perspective, the class or lecture theatre. We discussed what steps she could take to improve things for the future, since her role would continue to require presentations. We identified some SMART targets that she could do, including observing a range of people delivering presentations/lectures along with some 'formal' CPD on presentation software.

The second time (one year on), she was improved and we discussed this afterwards. She had grown in confidence in herself about the situation, had improved the slide content, but remained somewhat stilted in her reliance on her notes. I identified those positives for her to strengthen her confidence, but she, as an individual, has different strengths and capabilities and I needed to recognise that.

Feedback from SLT

mentorshooc — 2021-07-05 16:12:34 UTC

After an official observation, a colleague was upset with their feedback from SLT. After an honest conversation with them we looked at the planning of the lesson together with a number of strategies that I used. I gave them the material but at no point forced them in any direction. They looked at the material and after our discussion replanned the lesson and gave it to me. We then could have a more effective and open discussion about their lesson and they appreciated the feedback more. They had seen for themselves that the lesson could be improved upon and it allowed them to reflect upon this.

Working environment and mental health problems

2022-05-09 12:11:57 UTC

Effective reflection

2024-01-13 14:20:31 UTC

Over the years, i've had many trainees. One challenging situation was a mentee not been able to effectively reflect on their own practice. They thought their delivery of lessons was 'okay' however the children were making very little progress, they weren't adaptable to being stretched so challenge wasn't approached. A particular method used and was really effective was recording her delivery of the lesson and discussion after. She was able to identify the feedback that has been previously been given and could see where improvements were needed. After that stretch and even challenge was used to enable her to make progress in her teaching. She commented at the end of her placement that that method had been the changing point of her career.

We've never done that before.......

2024-01-14 13:17:23 UTC

A phrase that I have often come across in my teaching career. You have an idea or initiative that you want to try and the first thing that you come across is a "mood hoover"..... this is what we termed these people on our NPQH course..... that want to dampen down the enthusiasm you have. Introducing a new scheme, initiative or idea can always be daunting even as an experienced member of staff. When faced with the "We've never done that before...." or "We tried that once before...." statements, sticking to your convictions and having a sound research/ evidence based rational for the initiative helps. Having trailed changes and being able to show the impact can help.

Supporting a mentee to overcome these and give the support and back up is a key role. If they have had the opportunity to talk through with a mentor that isn't directly linked to the problem they can work through the potential barriers and blockers that others might well put in place, this is usually more of a indicator of their lack of confidence to move away from what is safe and comfortable in their own teaching to try something new rather than the change itself.

A negative experience...

2024-01-14 17:01:00 UTC

Many of us have experienced upsetting feedback from observations, or feedback that we feel has been unfair.

If we are not given an opportunity to reflect upon our practice before we are criticised then it is difficult to accept. This is a model where observation is something that is done to you and does not encourage reflection but rather encourages defensive behaviour where we feel we need to justify our every step.

I don't really have much experience of mentoring another person in any formal context but in my experience of observing lessons I always try to start with questions to the teacher about what they thought of what I observed before adding my feedback so that I better know how typical what I saw was of their usual practice.

Tensions with Mentee Priorities

gchadwick3 — 2024-01-14 18:09:13 UTC

After my initial meeting with the mentee, I could straight away sense the pressures that were placed on them with regards to the school's KPIs. These pressures are unlikely to go away especially if the mentee has a specific responsibility for one area of school improvement. The challenge would certainly be in supporting the mentee with managing these challenges and when to slow down with the demands of their own Wipro project. Additionally, I'd see an opportunity for the mentor to support with these other pressures, even if it's to be a sounding board on occasion.

Differences

2024-01-15 13:36:11 UTC

The biggest challenge for any mentor is when there are very big differences in opinion when looking at practice. It would be challenging due to the fact that they might not be able to see what affective practice looks like or why we reflect on our practice.

It's ok to go off plan

2024-02-06 12:51:02 UTC

One ITT had planned a fantastic lesson but the students struggled a lot with the starter. The ITT student didn't pick up on this and just continued with the lesson. At the end of the lesson on reflection they thought the lesson was a success as they had gotten through everything they had planned and the timing were as described on their lesson plan. This was quite a difficult conversation as when observing the class I could see the students were not engaging well and were struggling but that hadn't been addressed. In the mentor meeting I was was prompting the ITT to reflect on how did they know the students had made progress, this lead to an interesting discussion of AfL techniques and from this the ITT was able to identify the students hadn't grasped the main ideas of the topic. We then had a discussion where I shared examples from my own practice of where things didn't go to plan and I had to adjust to account for the needs of the students. This took a while for the student to get to grips with as it was out of their comfort zone the idea of it being ok not to stick to the plan. We worked collaboratively with them observing me as well to develop the ability to use lesson plans as a guide and support rather than a strict list of instructions. This took time and was massively helped by the positive and supportive relationship we had built as mentee/mentor.

Subject Knowledge

2024-02-15 15:16:42 UTC

I have had several trainees in the past who were not prepared for having to improve their subject knowledge. The problem comes with many facets ranging from them feeling entitled to only teach their specialism, to a lack of preparation during lessons. Obviously the biggest impact is upon the quality of education for learners in the classroom. The solution is to a) explain what is required of a teacher and b) provide them with tools to work on it e.g. links to websites or courses that offer SKE.