Volume 1: August 20th-29th, 2018 Visit Website

Welcome to the Learning Together e-Newsletter!

This newsletter is being provided by the NASCENT research team at the UW College of Education. The aim of the team is to support the collaborative work of our mentors and teacher candidates (TCs). From mid-August through March, we'll provide helpful suggestions for working together and timely tips on how mentors can gradually give TCs more responsibility for planning and instruction over time. We'll provide links to more information and tools on our mentoring website, and include important updates from the UW Teacher Education Program (bottom right).

This first bi-weekly newsletter explores 1) an introduction to reliable practices and routines that mentors can use to support TCs, 2) how to have a "professional roommate" conversation in which you both share expectations and build norms of interaction for the school year, and 3) suggestions to help the TC learn about the school "ecosystem" and the local community context.

We welcome your feedback —please e-mail us at NASCENT@uw.edu to share your comments, questions, and helpful advice for other mentor-TC partners getting this newsletter. Learn more by visiting our website at MentorTeachers.Org.

Mentors: Preparing for your role...
Just as there are core teaching practices that support student learning, there are 6 core mentoring practices that support teacher candidate learning. Click below to see an overview 2-pager and video about mentoring practices on the website.

Learn about mentoring practices

Mentors & TCs: Starting the school year together
Here are two actions to consider as you get started:

Start a “professional roommate” conversation. You will be interacting closely all year; begin by taking time to learn about each other’s hopes, preferences, and work styles. (The button below takes you to a set of questions and resources you might use!)
Try to attend beginning-of-year faculty meetings and professional development opportunities together at school.

Get ready for this conversation

TCs: Inquiring into the school and community contexts

As a teacher candidate, you cannot anticipate how the learners in front of you will respond unless you literally understand "where they are coming from." Click below for suggestions about getting to know your school and the communities it serves.

Check out our guide

Trajectory column: What to focus on now
In each newsletter, this column will identify experiences that are most beneficial at this point in time. Over the course of student teaching, these recommended experiences will change. We've placed activities into 4 categories: Getting to know students and the school ecosystem, Planning, Teaching, and Assessment.

1. Getting to know students and the school ecosystem

- Mentors and TCs, set the tone for how you'll work together by having a "professional roommate" conversation.
- TCs, get to know your school and its community—see our website for resources on how to do this.

- TCs, find out about and schedule yourselves into professional development sessions being offered by the school or district, and try to attend faculty and department meetings.

2. Planning
- In future newsletters, we will have suggestions here.

3. Teaching

- In future newsletters, we will have suggestions here,

4. Assessment
- In future newsletters, we will have suggestions here.

Explore the full trajectory on our site

TEP Announcements

9/13 from 4:30-7:30: Methods classes for Science, Math, ELA, Social Studies.

9/18 from 4:30-7:30: Methods class for World Languages.

9/20 from 4:30-7:30: Methods classes for Science, Math, ELA, World Languages.

9/25 from 4:30-7:30: Assessment classes for ELA, SS, WL in 104. Math and Science in 212.