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FOREWORD

By Robert J. Marzano

Over the course of my career, I’ve learned that accomplishing challenging tasks usually involves failure. People rarely come up with the right strategy for achieving a goal on the first try. Even so, failure is what helps them accomplish goals: when you fail, you can correct your mistakes and improve.

I believe that becoming an effective teacher is one of the most challenging and complex endeavors an individual can undertake. Every year, a group of new teachers sets out to accomplish this difficult task. Inevitably, these teachers are bound to fail in both small and large ways. The truly courageous action that new teachers take is deciding to try again after each failure.

As new teachers embark on their first years in the classroom, they need support. This can be as simple as showing them around the school or as involved as helping them respond to challenging behaviors from students. Whatever level of support is required, mentors can be invaluable resources for new teachers as they engage in the daily cycle of trying new strategies, failing, tweaking their approach, and trying again.

In the latest book in The Classroom Strategies Series, Tina H. Boogren has outlined a vision of mentorship that encompasses four essential types of new-teacher support: (1) physical, (2) emotional, (3) instructional, and (4) institutional. Boogren provides clear, specific resources and processes that mentors can use to facilitate new teachers’ growth, development, and reflection on their initial experiences as members of the teaching profession. She also outlines guidelines and criteria that school leaders can use to select mentors and match them effectively with new teachers.

Perhaps most important of all, Boogren maintains a focus on instruction. Mentors must provide a wide array of support to new teachers, but their main goal should be to help mentees develop expertise. This expertise, in turn, can help students achieve particular outcomes and results. Because educators who focus on instruction can never go wrong, I highly recommend Supporting Beginning Teachers to any mentor, coach, or school leader working with new teachers.