ML schools receive new teacher support grant
Then-first year teacher Anna Davis (right) helps a student figure it out in spring 2013. The Moses Lake School District received a grant to help pay for extra training and support for first year teachers.
MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake School District is one of seven statewide to receive a grant designed to help new teachers learn the education ropes.
The district received $106,000 through the BEST (Beginning Educator Support Team) grant, according to a press release from the Superintendent of Public Instruction's office. The grant provides extra training for new teachers, and each participant will have a veteran teacher as a mentor, said Linda McKay, the district's executive director of teaching and learning.
Each new teacher will get "three years of support," McKay said, starting with at least one day of extra orientation. They will meet with mentors one-on-one for the first year, McKay said, and in small groups for two years following.
McKay said the mentor consultation is designed to help new teachers get a handle on teaching and their classrooms, even seemingly small things like arranging desks. How things fit in a classroom, even how kids hand in papers, will have an impact on instruction, she said. "It's a lot more complex than you would think."
When she started in the profession, she took her cues from her student teaching classroom, McKay said, without thinking much about whether or not those techniques fit her style. District superintendent Michelle Price said she had a lot of instruction in education practices and techniques. But when it came to setting up and managing her classroom, she said, she too followed what she learned from the only source available, her student teaching.
The experienced teachers who act as mentors also receive training, "which is fabulous," Price said. The training prompts the mentor teachers to review their classroom techniques, McKay said, and the new teachers provide fresh perspectives during the conversations with mentors. "It's a collaborative process," McKay said.
Seven other schools received the grant, including Yakima, Quillayute Valley, Forks; Clover Park, Lakewood; Eatonville, Kent and Burlington-Edison, Burlington.
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