Michigan State law requires all new classroom teachers in the first 3 years of classroom teaching experience to be mentored by one or more master teachers and to have 15 days of intensive professional development in the first three years of their employment.
The Upper Peninsula Mentoring Project was a collaborative effort of the Upper Peninsula Center for Educational Development (UPCED), Copper Country ISD, Delta-Schoolcraft ISD, Dickinson-Iron ISD, Eastern Upper Peninsula ISD, Gogebic-Ontonagon ISD, Marquette-Alger RESA, Menominee County ID, and Northern Michigan University's School of Education. The purpose of the project was to give added support to local districts' commitment to exemplary programs with quality instruction by offering comprehensive professional development for mentors and new teachers. The project provided training for administrators, mentors, and new teachers during the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 school years.
This online adaptation of that project owes much to Dr. Lois Hirst and Ms. Judy Parlato who developed many of the materials. Additional guidance was received from the facilitators of the seven ISDs of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Many thanks to Linda Greenberg of the UPCED for her research.
One of the goals of the project was to provide this material in a readily available form for local school districts to continue this process internally. This Website completes that desire by providing step-by-step instructions, sample materials, suggestions for topics and activities, resources to keep participants on track, and appropriate forms for documenting progress related to K-12 teacher mentoring.
A suggested listing of topics is provided for each of the three years of additional professional development required for new teachers. While there is a logical order and progression to the information provided, feel free to change the order of the sessions as needed, supplement them with your own resources, or replace them with other topics of greater concern to your specific case. You'll find navigation links that take you to each of the topic areas.
Please provide feedback as you use this site. Let me know what you find useful, what you wish was here, and how you are using the site. Contact me at dorussel@nmu.edu.
Douglas A. Russell, Director
U.P. Center for Educational Development
Northern Michigan University
