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Information for Cooperating Teachers

Dear cooperating teachers: The School of Teacher Education sincerely appreciates your willingness to take part in preparation of the new generation of teachers.

Cooperating teacher qualifications are:

• Valid Colorado license in the area of teacher candidate training.
• For student teaching or comparable final field experience: At least three full years of full time professional experience in the area of teacher candidate training. All other supervision such as practicum: 2 years of experience.
• Building principal or District approval; recognition as a master teacher or educational professional.

Cooperating teacher expectations vary across the programs; please check with program coordinators. Common expectations:

• Meet with UNC faculty supervisor at the beginning or before the filed experience.
• Mentor teacher candidates, observe their teaching and provide constructive, detailed feedback.
• Complete, sign, and turn in evaluation forms and other documentation (see appropriate handbooks).
• Immediately contact UNC supervisor or program coordinator if you have concerns about candidate's professional dispositions.

Forms and information

Credit for supervision

All UNC cooperating teachers acan receive graduate credit for supervising teacher candidates.

1. EDF 513 Syllabus for cooperating teachers (Elementary).
2. EDF 513 Syllabus for cooperating teachers (Secondary).
3. EDF 513 Syllabus for cooperating teachers (K-12: Art, Music, PE).

Cooperating teacher resources

Books and Online Resources for Mentoring and Coaching Beginning Teachers

Books

1. Mentoring Beginning Teachers: Guiding, Reflecting, Coaching  
   by Jean Boreen , Mary K. Johnson , Donna Niday , Joe Potts ($18.50 Amazon), Stenhouse Publishers (February 2000) ISBN-10: 1571103090
2. Mentoring Across Boundaries: Helping Beginning Teachers Succeed in Challenging Situations by Jean Boreen, Donna Niday, and Mary K. Johnson (Paperback - Nov 2003)
   ($18.50-Amazon), 214 pages  Stenhouse Publishers (November 2003) ISBN-10: 1571103775
3. Being an Effective Mentor: How to Help Beginning Teachers Succeed by Kathleen Feeney Jonson
   ($33.95 Amazon) 224 pages Corwin Press; 2nd edition (April 17, 2008) ISBN-10: 1412940621
4. A Better Beginning: Supporting and Mentoring New Teachers
   by Marge Scherer (Editor) ($25.95) 244 pages  Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development (ASCD) (November 1, 1999)
   ISBN-10: 0871203553  
5. How to Help Beginning Teachers Succeed, 2nd Edition by Stephen P. Gordon , Susan Maxey, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development (ASCD); 2nd edition (September 2000) ISBN-10: 0871203820

Online Resources: Mentoring and Coaching Beginning Teachers

• The Mentoring and Leadership Resource Network includes articles and archives, Overview of Mentoring, Mentor Program Design & Refinement Issues, Mentoring Program Models, Mentor Training, Initial & On-Going Support, Resources for Mentor Programs, Information for Mentors & About Mentoring Practices, Orientation Program Strategies, New Teacher/Protégé Perspectives, Using Technology in Mentoring, Models for & Results of Meetings on Mentoring
  Student Mentoring, Other Mentoring Applications & Connections, and a Mentoring Program Model.

• This is an article that offers a critical review of teacher mentoring by Sharon Feiman-Nemser.

• This website offers a comprehensive outline, which includes links to additional resources, about the different aspects in creating a mentoring program hosted by the National Education Association (NEA) Fund.

• The mettle of a mentor: What it takes to make this relationship work for all by Vicki M. Denmark and India J. Podsen published in the Journal of Staff Development, Fall 2000 (Vol. 21, No. 4).

• A website that has uploaded an article titled Looking at the Process of Mentoring for Beginning Teachers.  The site includes links if you want to skip the introduction or abstract.  This website is hosted by the National Association for Alternative Certification (NAAC).

• This website is hosted by Education World and is titled Guidance from the Get-Go: Mentoring New Teachers.  It offers “real world” examples and comments from different national mentoring programs.   Elements of successful mentoring programs are discussed briefly.

• This website hosts the article The Best Practices of Mentors by Franklin T. Clark published in Classroom Leadership May 2001 (Vol. 4, Number 8).  The author interviewed 23 teacher mentors and found “five key findings” that offered insight to effective mentoring.

• This website hosts the article The Good Mentor by James B. Rowley published in Classroom Leadership May 1999 (Vol. 56, Number 8).  The author addresses the growing popularity of formal mentoring programs, thus the need for identifying and preparing good mentors grows.

• National Staff Development Counsel website host the article Mentoring the Mentor: A Challenge for Staff Development by Monica Janas published in the Journal of Staff Development,  Fall 1996 (Vol. 17, No. 4).  Topics discussed are selecting and training mentors, matching mentors with Proteges, setting goals and expectations, establishing mentor programs, and implications for staff developers.

• Education world hosts this article titled The importance of Mentors, or What I Learned from Harold by Max W. Fisher.  This is a firsthand account of a mentee becoming a mentor.

• Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NREL) hosts this online article Supporting Beginning Teachers: How Administrators, Teachers and Policymakers Can Help New Teachers Succeed.  It is a comprehensive article with links to skip ahead.

• Education Commission of the States hosts Beginning Teacher Mentoring Programs, Information Clearinghouse May 1999, a table that includes states, authority, components of beginning teacher mentoring programs, funding, requirements for mentors, compensation for mentors and teachers, includes evaluation of beginning teachers, includes evaluation of mentor program, and program is voluntary for District beginning teacher.

• Archive of Promising Practices: New Ways to Improve Teacher Quality, September 1998, hosts the article The Induction of New Teachers that provides examples of induction programs and the characteristics of promising induction programs for beginning teachers.

• The website Best Practice Resources hosts an index of Best Practices In Induction and Mentoring.  This is a comprehensive site that addresses everything from program frameworks to mentor roles and tasks.

• Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) hosts this November 2000 policy research report titled Mentoring Beginning Teachers: Lessons from the Experience in Texas. 

• New York State Education Department, Office of Her Education, website host Guidelines for Implementing District-Based Teacher Mentoring Programs.

Send suggestions to Dr. Sidorkin.