PRINCIPALS AS MENTOR AND

COACH
 STAND UP!

Think of someone you knew/know who had

a positive influence on your life, through
their words and actions.

Opposite of above.

(exclude family members)

e
 IN YOUR
GROUPS..

•Positive Influence •Negative influence

• Thinking of this • Thinking of this

person - how did person - how did
the person interact the person interact
with you? How did with you? How did
they speak to you? they speak to you?
How they did make How they did make
you feel about you feel about
yourself and about yourself and about
them? them?
MENTOR

From Homer's Odyssey. Odysseus fights in the Trojan War and entrusts the
care of his son to Mentor, who serves as teacher and overseer of Odysseus'
son, Telemachus.

A mentor has come to mean “A wise and trusted

counselor and teacher.” It refers to the patterned
interactions, process, and communication whereby one
person acts as mentor to another. (both formally and
informally)

Michigan State University Extension

Guide for Developing Mentoring Relationships
• A mentor is an insider in a
system, an expert in a field,
who supports a novice. A
mentor for a new teacher
might be an experienced
teacher in the same school or
district.
COACHING

• Coaching is
professional
development. Its
purpose is to help an adult
learner improve their
practice—whether that is
teaching or leadership.
Therefore, coaching is far
more structured than
• A coach is a teacher, a
facilitator of someone
else's learning. In order to
effectively guide the learning
of another adult, a coach
needs an extensive toolset.
 COACH, MENTOR: IS THERE A
DIFFERENCE??
Mentoring Coaching

Focus Individual Performance

Role Facilitator with no agenda Specific agenda

Relationship Self selecting Comes with the job

Source of Perceived Value Position

influence

Personal Affirmation/ Learning Teamwork/ Performance

Returns

Arena Life Task related

By Matt M. Starcevich, Ph.D.

CEO Center For Coaching & Mentoring, Inc.
PRINCIPAL AS A MENTOR

• Principals have a critical role to

play in new teacher support,
development, and assessment. ...
They need to demonstrate an
understanding of mentors' work
with new teachers, including a
healthy respect for mentor-
novice confidentiality, and they
need to become more aware of
new teacher development and
learning needs.
• Principal actions and effectiveness are a
major factor in teacher retention and
student achievement (Louis, Leithwood,
Wahlstrom, & Anderson, 2010; Burkhauser,
Gates, Hamilton, & Ikemoto, 2012).
• Principals play a major role in school
culture and working conditions (Angelle,
2006; Johnson, 2006).
• Principals can take specific actions to
ensure that the school culture and working
conditions support and facilitate effective
induction and mentoring systems (Brock &
Grady, 2001; Carver, 2000; Darling-
Hammond, Berry, & Fideler, 1999).
PRINCIPAL AS A COACH

• The principal, rather than being

the expert and telling
a teacher what to do, serves as
the “lead coach” responsible for
engaging teachers in a process
that respects them as learners,
and works with them to reflect on
their teaching and identify ways
to strengthen their practice.