The Profile of an Alternate Route Mentor

As provisionally licensed teachers, Rutgers Alternate Route program candidates connect with expert mentors selected by principals for their teaching achievements. These connections help our first-year teacher candidates feel supported, introduce them to new teaching methods and provide a listening ear when challenges arise.  
 

In New Jersey, mentoring is a requirement for new teachers. Alternate Route Teachers, in particular, must receive thirty weeks of mentoring with a stipulation that districts ensure a once-per-week meeting between the mentor and mentee for the first eight weeks of the teaching assignment. Because they are typically transitioning from careers in other industries or joining the teaching profession straight from college with no education coursework, their teacher training is designed like an apprenticeship. They experience on-the-job learning where they acquire the competencies and skills needed to be effective in their classrooms while working in the role as provisional teacher of record, which makes mentoring essential to their success.
 

In these relationships, mentors and mentees give equally. The mentees receive from seasoned colleagues valuable practical guidance that is not always gained through formal instruction, and the mentors reap the rewards of watching their mentees successfully implement suggested strategies or improve their own teaching practice with fresh ideas that new teachers introduce in their classrooms.

When mentors enter a partnership with mentees, the parties feel equally prepared to work together toward professional growth. An overwhelming majority of our mentor responses showed participants were ready.

Together, our mentors and mentees address many challenges educators face in their first year of teaching.

By tackling challenges and professionally growing as a team, our mentors and new teachers enjoy their experience working together.
 

If you’re considering following your dream of teaching, Rutgers Alternate Route can offer you the support and training you need to succeed. Be sure to follow Rutgers Alternate Route on Twitter and sign up for Alternate Route’s monthly newsletter for more information and stories from the field of education.