Running head: INDUCTION PLANS FOR BEGINNING TEACHERS 1

Induction Plans for Beginning Teachers

Briana Fonseca

Grand Canyon University: EAD-536

October 28th, 2020

Induction Plans for Beginning Teachers

Included below is an outlined agenda for a day of introductory presentations enforced to

equip new teachers to begin the school year successfully. Teachers will be assigned a group that

they will rotate rooms with, and the presentations will occur in teacher rooms throughout the

campus. The room set-up will be the same for all presentations, to ensure organization and

consistency. Participants will be asked to choose a seat at the front of the classroom and the

presenter will prepare their materials at the front of the class but walk around the room to

monitor conversations and activities. The purpose of consistent room set-up is to familiarize new

teachers with the expectations related to classroom set-up; this will be explained to new teachers

before they attend each breakout session. For each session, staff must come prepared with their

school issued computer and a device or notebook to take notes in, as this will be enforced in all

sessions. Each session will last forty-five minutes, and a ten-minute break will be provided to

staff before each session. The three breakout sessions described following, are focused on areas

that school administration value and perceive with high expectations.

Session One: Student Engagement Strategies

Facilitator: Suzanne Logsdon (School Student Achievement Teacher)

Session Description: New teachers will be introduced to engagement strategies that they can

implement in their classroom to motivate positive student behavior and academic outcomes.

Rationale: The purpose of this session is to provide teachers with a basic understanding of

engagement strategies, so they begin their teaching career utilizing and valuing the use of these

strategies, benefiting overall student performance. The Student Achievement Teacher was

selected to facilitate this discussion because her role at the school is to support teachers and
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educate them to ensure student success, so she has the tools and information necessary to provide

effective education in this area.

Session Two: School Policies and Expectations

Facilitator: Kimberly Valdez (Assistant Principal)

Session Description: New teachers will receive information regarding policies and expectations

unique to the school site. Assistant Principal Valdez will review the school mission and vision

and make connections with school enforced student and teacher expectations.

Rationale: The purpose of this session is to enforce a structured school environment, providing

new staff members with the information they need to guide their involvement and collaboration

in the school atmosphere. This session would familiarize new staff members with the school

mission and vision, along with teacher and student expectations supported by rationales. This

session supports a trusting and collaborative school community aligned with high expectations.

Session Three: Educational Technology

Facilitator: Jennifer Porter (School Site Technology Coordinator)

Session Description: Teachers will receive information and strategies regarding technology use

to aid in student learning. Teachers will be exposed to technology programs and tools that have

been incorporated throughout the school to reenforce concepts in a beneficial way.

Rationale: The purpose of this session will be to make teachers aware of the value placed on

technology use in our school. The session will provide teachers with educational technology

tools and resource to start building their use of technology with, in aiding student success. Being

made aware of the expectation to integrate technology supports a school built on high

expectations and student success.

New Teacher Mentoring Plan

Mentorship is a valuable relationship to create among the school community, as it

supports community and growth. When new teachers are provided with guidance from a

colleague, they are able to learn from different perspectives and gain insight from someone they

feel comfortable with. The purpose of a mentorship is to engage the new teacher in the school

community and provide them with support throughout the school year. Following is a plan that

would be followed when creating a mentorship from experienced teachers to aid in newly

developing for the purpose of establishing highly effective educators at the school.

Criteria

When identifying teachers to fulfill the role of mentor, criteria needs to be established

and met to create consistency and equity in the identifying process. Teachers considered must be

a teacher of three or more years, to support the title of being an “experienced educator”. Teachers

considered must have a record of being evaluated as effective or highly effective educators, so

that they are experienced in meeting the mastery level of teaching that they will be expected to

coach a developing teacher to achieve. Individuals considered must be known as someone

capable of collaborating, as they will be doing so with a new member of their team which will

require patience and expertise. Teachers chosen to fulfill the mentorship role must be effective

teachers who value the positive school community of their site and are seen as capable in

building relationships in a healthy and positive way.

Timeline

Quarter One:
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 The beginning teacher and mentor will be expected to meet within the first month of the

school year, to review concerns of the beginning teacher and discuss the process that will

be taken throughout the year in the mentorship.

 The beginning teacher will be expected to observe their mentor teaching a lesson before

the end of the first quarter, and a post-conference must be followed to discuss questions

and highlight expectations of lessons, using the mentor’s as a modeled guide.

 The first evaluation of the beginning teacher must be conducted within semester one,

following all components of the evaluation process. Evidence must be evident at the

end of the post-conference that this process was followed, and areas of growth and

improvement have been identified to focus on within the second round of

observation.

 The second evaluation must occur before the end of semester two following the same

process expected with the first evaluation sequence and focusing on the areas of growth

and improvement that were identified in the first round.

Induction Activities

 Observe program implementation at a different school site

o Teaching is different depending on the content and grade level being taught. It

is effective to allow new teachers the opportunity to observe and learn from

effective teachers in their same content-area. An article written to explain the

characteristics of successful educational mentorship programs declares,

“Teachers learn about exemplary teaching by seeing what it looks like”

(Martin, 2016, pg. 6). New teachers learn best from seeing and discussing

their findings. Providing beginning teachers with the opportunity to learn from
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effective teachers and the way they implement programs and techniques

relative to their content program, will provide them with insight and

knowledge that will help them to grow effectively.

 Observe the implementation of effective engagement strategies from a peer-

teacher

o While observing teachers from different school sites allows for learning from

different perspectives, learning from fellow teachers provides examples of

teaching practices that align to the school mission and vision. An example

“New Teacher Induction Program” was described and explained the process

gone through to build effective teachers. The article states, “The systematic

learning design included collaboratively reflecting on outcomes” (Correll,

2017, pg. 55). Making connections with teachers at their school site allows for

partnership that leads to growth and success.

 Attend a professional development session together

o Life-long learning is an essential trait that teachers should be encouraged to

practice. An article was written the with purpose of explaining the importance

of collaboration in developing new teachers, and stated that, “Collaboration is

the key method to overcoming education’s toughest challenges” (Schrack,

2015. pg. 36). While the roles of mentor and beginning teacher are explicit,

learning and growing together helps build a relationship that promotes trust.

Attending a professional development session together supports this effort.

Professional Development Topics and Budgetary Implications

The topics that mentors would be expected to focus on evaluating and discussing

effectiveness in, are the areas in which school administration see necessary challenges in. One of

those areas would be the integrating of literacy skills in all content classes. Reading and writing

are the lowest scoring areas on state assessments across the school every year. Incorporating

these concepts into lessons would be something mentors would be expected to enforce and

evaluate in the lessons that they watch. Classroom management is another area receiving

attention, because school administration believes that the management of a classroom leads to

student achievement; if students cannot focus in class, their chances of success decrease. Another

area is the ability for teachers to follow EEI lesson formats, as it is a district expectation and the

ability to do so becomes the foundation for all lessons. Mentors would not be expected to spend

their own money in any areas but will be encouraged to provide encouragement to their partner

throughout the year. If they choose to spend money on this “encouragement” that is their

responsibility to fund. Professional development sessions and programs will be paid for by the

school.

Servant Leadership

While I am taking advantage of distributive leadership through this process, I am still

acting as a leader to my staff member. I will check in with my mentors monthly to ensure they

are fulfilling their roles and offering help when necessary. I will take the time to monitor

beginning teacher progress, making connections with their abilities and the relationship they

share with their mentor; I will make myself available to them as well. Servant leadership is

putting others’ needs before my own, and acting as a guide and support figure to all staff

members during this process, support that ability.

References

Correll, J. (2017). Unlocking the Secrets of Agency: New Teacher Induction Program
Empowers Educator-Centered Growth. Learning Professional, 38(4), 52–57.
Martin, K. L., Buelow, S. M., & Hoffman, J. T. (2016). New teacher induction: Support that
impacts beginning middle-level educators. Middle School Journal, 47(1), 4–12. https://doi-
org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/00940771.2016.1059725
Schrack, R. (2015). Creating a Culture for Collaboration: Connecting with New Teachers.
School Library Monthly, 31(6), 35–36.