mentoring project Introducing the Early Career Music
Teacher Collaboration Project Laura Dunbar, WMEA State Chair, Mentoring Project
This year has been a challenge for all educators in ev- ery region of the country. For those that have recently started teaching, the challenges are compounded as they continue to “learn
the ropes” of being a professional educa- tor. These early career educators are learn- ing how to adapt quickly to ever-changing requirements and classroom configura- tions along with their colleagues in the field who are more experienced. Both early career and more experienced educa- tors have knowledge and experiences they can share to support one another as we reach the end of 2020. It is in this spirit that we started our new mentor program: the Early Career Music Teacher Collaboration (ECMTC) Project.
A Brief History of Mentoring Through WMEA
The recent changes in licensure created the need for a new mentoring program for WMEA. The previous version of PI-34 (in effect from July 1, 2004 – August 1, 2018) included mentoring in the professional de- velopment plan (PDP) process. Teachers were required to have an administrator, a colleague teaching the same subject, and a higher education representative assist them in the PDP process, which would be assessed over a period of 2–5 years. As the PI-34 and mentoring chair, I took the train- ing to become a PDP reviewer and helped run a workshop at the Wisconsin State Music Conference to help those needing to write a PDP get started. Our focus in the session was to get them started by helping them write measurable goals for the PDP process, connect these goals with their SLOs where possible, and set the group up with PDP reviewers. As a reviewer in
“Rather than limit a mentee to one mentor, the ECMTC Project works to network early
career teachers with experienced teachers across the state.”
higher education with a teaching license in Wisconsin for example, I was able to serve as either a peer or a higher education representative. Mentoring was inherent in this model, as we were able to connect with them through the PDP process. We
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HeidMusic.com 54 January 2021
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