ToC Mentorship Program, Sept 2023
TEMPLATE
September Newsletter 2023
KICKOFF MEETING
Mentor-Mentee Conversation
Whole Group Engagement
Welcome Teachers of Color Mentorship Program Participants!
On September 27th, the Teachers of Color Mentorship program started its second year. In this meeting, mentors got the opportunity to meet their mentees and started building community. District leaders, in conjunction with DCUE leadership, also joined and showed their commitment and support for this transformative program. During the meeting, we shared the qualities that make us strong leaders. We created space to listen to the stories that shape our work experience and offered the emotional availability to keep serving our students with care and dedication. We also celebrated the fact that this year there are closely matched mentor-mentee partnerships and we know that these partnerships will provide teachers of color in District 196 the necessary resources to have a fulfilling professional experience. We look forward to a challenging, yet fruitful year.
Feel free to complete your Centering Us and Mentoring Agreement slides. We are providing you with the resources from our kickoff, exclusively to program participants.
We would love to learn and hear from all of you this year!
In community,
Drew, José, Steph, and Yen
TIC-TAC-TOE BOARD
Play Tic-Tac-Toe Together
Use the board to support your monthly check-ins. You can also check-in by sharing your strengths from the Centering Us slide deck or completing the Mentoring Agreement, starting on slide 38.
Mentors, after each check-in, complete the Teachers of Color (T.O.C.) Connection Ticket. One ticket per space covered on the tic-tac-toe board.
Mentor-Mentee Tips
The mentor-mentee relationship will develop over time. It "begins with enthusiasm, professionalism, clear expectations, and shared information (Boogren, p. 19)."
Mentors, you can support this professional relationship (p.19)!
- Ask open-ended questions
- Provide think-time
- Paraphrase to clarify and demonstrate understanding
- Offer nonjudgmental statements about teaching behaviors
- Model positive interactions
Mentees, during September and October, you might be in "survival" mode, so you might need more emotional support. This means, you might do the following with your mentor (p.62-68):
- Celebrate succeses
- Find alternative means of communication
- Brainstorm self-care ideas
- Ask for strategies to reduce stress
- Create a Bubble Map of your strengths in the Center Us slide deck
CATALYST CORNER
What is The Catalyst Approach?
- “The Catalyst Approach is a comprehensive professional development and implementation model developed by creative partners Nancy Burns and Jacki Brickman, and is based on their observations in more than 50,000 classrooms and school-wide common spaces.” They have a variety of professional development that “improve classroom and school leadership, relationships, and culture.”
Whole Group Classroom Leadership Foundations
- Some former 22-23 Teachers of Color Mentorship Program Participants attended the August 17 training where they learned teaching moves, “12 foundational strategies that adults can do to reliably decrease disruption while maximizing engagement.” The strategies are grounded in observations, tests and neurobiology. The strategies create independent learners, provide a welcoming and an inclusive space, and supports all learners, especially learners from marginalized communities.
- Some of the feedback from the training were: "It addressed aspects of trauma informed instructional approaches," "The check list was great cause it will help students be independent leaners," and "The ability to implement something right away. How they showed why certain things were inequitable."
- The 23-24 Teachers of Color Mentorship Program Participants will receive two Catalyst PD trainings - October 10, 2023 and January 17, 2023. Also, they will have optional Catalyst coaching throughout the year.
RESOURCES
District 196 Strategic Priorities: Wellbeing & Equity
Strategies to increase resiliency in students and culturally responsive teaching
- For new 23-24 Teachers of Color, complete the trainings by March 25, 2024 and earn 7 paid hours:
- For other Teachers of Color, complete the trainings and earn CEUs:
District 196 Strategic Priority: Achievement
This year's ToC Mentorship Program aligns with Yvette Jackson's 7 High Operational Practices (H.O.P.) to help all students reach high intellectual performance and become independent learners.
- Identifying and activating student strengths
- Building relationships
- Eliciting high intellectual performance
- Providing enrichment
- Integrating prerequisites for academic learning
- Situating learning in the lives of students
- Amplifying student voice
Check out Dr. Yvette Jackson's website.
District 196 Strategic Priority: Equity
Opportunities to connect and support educators of color in District 196
- Attend an Affinity Unite meeting
- October 26, 2023
- November 14, 2023 (Zoom meeting)
- December 15, 2023 (Social meeting)
- January 23, 2024 (Zoom meeting)
- February 23, 2024 (Social meeting)
- March 12, 2023
- April 11, 2024 (Co-meeting with ToC Mentorship Program)
- May 14, 2024 - End of Year Celebration
- For more information, contact Erica (Erica.Solorio@district196.org), Brianna (Brianna.Dawson@district196.org), and/or Kong (Kong.Yang@district196.org).