I have never thought about this as a collaboration strategy before but I think this could be really useful. Attending PD together and learning new strategies side by side could be so supportive!

I believe both the mentee and mentor both need to be intentional about their actions. They also need to be reflective.

I believe that reflection can happen during each part of the gradual release process but it may look different at each point. During the modeling stage, we may have our mentees reflect on what they noticed or saw. They can ask questions and clarify. During the shared practice or co teaching stage, it might shift where we are talking more about what we noticed, ask thoughful questions and again clarify but they still may continue to do the same. In the independent stage, we are the ones sharing what we noticed. No matter what through, reflection takes place through each stage.

I forget that as a mentor, I need to of course be focused on my mentee but major component is also to note what the students are doing and how they are responding.

I absolutley love this tool! I think it is definitley going to be useful because it is quick and convinient and at any point I want to monitor my mentees progress, I can just grab this. I can use it when giving feedback. The only thing I think I would add, is a section for notes so we can discuss what was seen during feedback conversations.

I have actually spent a lot of time talking to my mentee about this. I explained that as a teacher you are constatnly adapting what you are doing to fit the needs of the students in that particual moment, and sometimes that can be pretty challenging!

I think one of the most importnt part of our jobs as mentors is to continue to be refelctive throughout every part of the process. Reflecting on our alignment is just another example!

Any time I meet with my apprentice, I leave room for her to share her thoughts and feelings. I make sure to finish each conversation with, "What are your thoughts?" Even if she has nothing to say I want to make her feel like if she ever does, there is space for that.

This takes me back to the "Know thyself" article we read over the summer. It is so easy to allow cognitive dissonance to take place especially when we aren't being reflective of ourselves and how we make other people feel. It is so important that we are constantly checking in with ourselves and the people around us to make sure we understand their perceptions about us and use those perceptions to help us become the teachers we want to become.

This must have been so frustrating for Jane. To not be able to have a conversation about something that you really feel the need to explain is one of the worst feelings!

Not O=once throughout this entire process have I seen this new role as a burden. I am so excited that I get to work with someone new and support them on this journey!

This right here is so important. Sometimes we just need to be there to hear how they are feeling and that alone might be enough to get them back on track. I've been ehre before where jsut talking out my feelings and untangling the nest inside my head was enough to make me feel better!

This statement reminds me of a previous reading, "Building a Culture of Efficacy" I think it is important that as mentors, we have strong self efficacy, meaning we have a strong 'I can' attitude, utilize goal setting and revision/self assessment. I think maintaining those virtues will in turn build their efficacy.

• This makes me think of differentiation, and in my mind differentiation is providing a different level of challenge for different students but I tend to overlook that it may not be that a student needs a different level of challenge but a different style of learning. Maybe one student benefits from tracing the letters and saying sounds whereas another my be better off hopping on the letters on the carpet and saying the sounds. (Visual VS Kinesthetic)

I think that makes a lot of sense. I think it's easy to follow someone who knows what they are doing and has a plan, and has confidence in what they are doing, VS the alternative.

I feel like my school does a pretty good job of this. Right before our last day, we had a meeting talking about all of the systems that come into play at our school and how those systems effect other systems and how each system is presented, assessed and evaluated. Not to mention that how these systems are presented to the staff is a system in itself, how the system is being evaluated or how the data is being collected is a system, making changes to the system is a system. If everyone is following suit and on the same page with these things, I think it can definitely increase school effectiveness

At my school we have taken this very seriously. We allow students to share their identities and wear their identities proudly on their sleeves. Along with that, we teach our students, even at the Kinder level, how to navigate a relationship where someone has a different identity. But allowing students to feel comfortable being who they are will ultimately make learning more comfortable for them as well