Mentors
Why Mentor
RTR places residents (pre-service teachers) in the classroom of an in-service teacher, called a Mentor Teacher (formerly known as a Clinical Resident Coach), for one or two entire school years. Mentors receive training to provide year-long, specialized coaching support. The professional learning Mentors receive boosts their leadership and communication skills. Helping develop a teacher over the course of a school year positively impacts Mentor instructional practices.
Are you a teacher in a high-needs school in one of our partner school districts? Are you interested in learning valuable leadership and mentoring skills? Do you want to help residents develop the skills and knowledge needed to be strong teachers? Are you interested in earning up to $3,500 to coach a resident for the school year? If so, you should apply today to become a Mentor.
Every tool that you use can be used whether you want to eventually become an administrator or you want to become a department chair, or whether you want to continue to be a mentor to other teachers. They are all educational tools that quite honestly we don’t get in educational PD.
Having someone else come in with totally different ideas has been neat because I never would’ve thought of that because I do it basically the same way every year.
Qualifications
Mentors must have:
- A valid Virginia collegiate or postgraduate professional license
- A minimum of three years of recent teaching experience
- A full-time teaching assignment in elementary education, exceptional education, or secondary education (math, science, English, or social studies)
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills
- Exemplary classroom practice and leadership capacity
To be considered for the Mentor position, you will need to complete the online application. If you have not previously served as a Mentor for the RTR program, you will need to upload a 20-30 minute teaching sample and upload it to the application. Names and email addresses of two professional references (a building administrator and a colleague) will also be required.