I have been a mentor in New Jersey's mentoring program for alternate route teachers. These are teachers who have not completed formal teaching educational programs. An experienced teacher must sit in the new teacher's class for 20 days. I have been the mentor for two teachers in mathematics.

 

The concept of mentoring is an excellent idea, for the protégé and the mentor, and, of course, for the students. We should work to expand this wonderful idea, making a requirement that every teacher be mentored at least once in 7 years. The mentor must be a teacher or professor, but not in the same school to avoid political issues. It should be done for at least 7 days.

 

The idea is that another person should check on the teacher’s work is a basic concept of our industrial society. All work must be checked and validated. What can be more important than the work of a teacher who is developing the minds of students? Intellectual honesty, a requirement for all teachers, demands that all teachers agree to mentoring and other forms of improvement.

 

The first teacher was M.

 

These are ideas and suggestions on how to be a better teacher. These ideas came to me on the basis of observations of teachers, discussions, and thinking.

 

Thank you for reading these, and I hope you will benefit!