Mentoring New Teachers

Last week in our Professional Learning Groups (PLuGS) we were looking at updating the school Graduate Profile. What is our vision of what a graduate of Tamaki College would like  when they leave school? What qualities, skills, competencies, experiences and qualifications would ready them for participating fully in society and working in the "real" world. What would make them lifelong learners? The University of Auckland has 3 levels to its graduate profile: Aspirations Themes - generic capabilities Capabilities - knowledge, skills, abilities & values Edutopia suggests reflecting on: What are the most important cognitive capacities that should underpin your students' learning? Which personal competencies are valued most at home & school Which interpersonal competencies are most essential for collaboration and community in your school spaces. ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) (click on link for details)

Mele Suipi Latu, a teacher on the staff at Tamaki College, ran a session for us on Tongan values, ways of being and how these are sometimes in conflict with what we expect of them in school. She reminded us that students come to school already shaped with a whole world view consisting of beliefs, customs, practices, and expectations. The 4 Tongan values: Respect Relationships - family, church, country, villages Humility - Lototo - drop what you want and go with expectations. Everyone knows their place. Commitment - you do it until it hurts. Commit to whatever course you are doing. Students develop a subculture when they leave home - a second culture. There can be a clash between the subculture of school & home. At home they learn to do what they are told and to respect their elders; at school they are taught to question. Mele suggests that the teacher puts up their expectations from the first lesson but should never disown the students from their culture. There can be...

The advantage of working with trainee teachers (Teach First teachers) when you have been teaching for a long time is that it takes you back to the beginnings of things like classroom management 1.01 and behaviour management basics. Building Relationships and Expectations are crucial in the first few weeks.  Tamaki College has a set of values called RISE (Respect, Integrity, Success, Responsibility) which are embedded into the vision and ways of working in the school. The students are familiar with these and they work well. The teacher will also set other expectations to do with behaviour, work, tools, listening and following instructions. These will all enable the development of positive relationships between teacher and students and so make the teaching and learning more productive. See building relationships with Pasifika students here  and with Māori students here . Setting up a routine and sticking to it is also crucial to developing a good and safe physical and e...