Course Goal
To develop effective mentors who will be skilled in helping nurture and support novice teachers to become strong and successful classroom teachers with an enhanced commitment to the profession of education.

Learning Outcomes

Content
Each module is designed with required readings and individual and team activities. Activities will require your participation in online class discussions with the instructor and peers and sharing your responses to readings, online resources, literature review, field research, and reflecting on what you learn when viewing best practice case studies and interactive role playing activities. Ongoing participation in discussions is a class requirement.

Participants will develop a weekly reflective learning journal, a mentor log of activities, mentor guide for self and initial teacher and an outline for a professional development plan.

Class discussion participation, reflection papers, and final project will be evaluated using instructor designed rubrics.

Introduction (Objective 1, 2)

• Why mentor?
• Benefits to mentors, initial teacher/mentee and districts
• Reflections on mentor's own first year of teaching
• Research review - "Top 12" first year problems encountered by beginning teachers
• Helping new teachers stay on top of their workload

Case Study: Characteristics of Mentors and Getting Started

• Characteristics of successful mentoring programs
• Establishing rapport and developing trust and communication
• Building collegial relationships; providing moral support
• Mentor responsibilities
• Observation and feedback
• Learning journal

Understanding Assessment & Feedback

• Techniques, strategies and assessments used to analyze professional practice, classroom environment, curriculum and standards, and promote reflection

Establishing Goals for Mutual Benefit

• Setting goals
• Writing the professional development plan
• Checking the plan
• Observing and documenting the change process in a reflective journal
• Sustaining the mentor relationship

Writing the Professional Development Plan

• A mentor log of activities
• Mentor guide for self and initial teacher
• Initiating the outline for a professional development plan
• Peer feedback of a peer’s professional development plan
• Reflective journaling

Each module is structured around an introduction, readings, activities, checklist, rubric, and discussion board. You will work individually and as a member of collaborative teams to share and define your key learning insights.

Participation
While online education is highly flexible and designed to meet your schedule, you will need to set and meet deadlines as part of your weekly assignments and collaborative work. Your instructor has developed a week-by-week calendar of learning activity and project due dates. Your peer learners will depend on you for timely feedback as you interact via the online discussion board and work together on small group tasks. You may login to the course at any time of the day or night; there are no live sessions that occur at a specific time.

Participants will:

• Virtually exchange communication with other participants in online class discussion;
• Review and discuss online background readings;
• Search for additional information in online resources;
• Complete course activities including those that involve setting goals or developing materials that will help you plan teacher professional growth.

You will be able to customize activities to your specific personal and professional program growth needs.

Collaboration
During each activity, you are expected to share your thoughts, ideas, and questions with other class participants and with your instructor.

Participants may share drafts of works-in-progress for peer feedback and discuss ideas and suggestions before submitting the final copy of each project.

Feel free to use these world time tools when you are communicating with participants who live in different time zones. WORLDTIME

The discussion board's most vital use is to exchange ideas with other participants; these may include reactions to readings, discussing the topic/issue of the week, sharing information and resources with classmates, asking a question, or responding to a problem posted by peers or your instructor.

Top

Activities will vary with each module. Generally activities will involve:

• Participating in a discussion
• Reading the online articles and sharing what you learned
• Completing an activity individually and/or with class peers
• Sharing your personal reflection with the instructor

Evaluation
Class Discussion
Through readings, interactive group discussion, and hands-on projects using electronic library indexes, journals and database you will develop goals and strategies for personal leadership development and implementation in their local district/building.

Your participation and performance will be evaluated on the basis of rubrics created to evaluate discussion board participation, strategies to infuse mentoring principles in your local district/building, a reflective journal and a final project.

The final project will include an action plan including a portfolio of products from ongoing coursework and a reflection.

Evaluation of your discussion participation is cumulative and subjective based on notes that the facilitator records each week.

Exemplary indicates you participated above the minimum level in both quantity and clarity of communication in your discussion postings and completion of activities.

Proficient indicates you met the minimum requirement.

Incomplete indicates you consistently contributed below the minimum postings or contributions were merely perfunctory ("I agree with so and so; thank you for sharing that information.") or unclear.

Discussion Board Participation Guidelines and Evaluation

Your grade for discussion board participation will be based on both frequency and quality of your contributions during our discussions. Posting should demonstrate critical thinking, rather than simply social presence on the discussion board.

Quality participation is considered as thoughtful and concise contribution that demonstrates critical thinking and moves the discussion forward as related to the course material.

Contributions of low quality or lengthy excerpts from course materials or other sources will not result in an exemplary discussion grade. Comments such as "I agree" or "Yes/No" or “Thanks for the feedback” will not count toward the frequency of your participation.

The courseware management system monitors the amount of time, quality, number and frequency of both read and written discussion responses on the discussion board, and the instructor will review this while analyzing class postings based on the class discussion rubric

Project Evaluation
Projects will be evaluated using standards listed on the module rubrics or checklists. Projects will be evaluated for clarity, thoroughness, practical application, and professionalism.

Final Grade
Your final grade will be based on level of completion of module activities and online discussion.

30% - Satisfactory completion of module activities
20% - Online discussion (postings and participation on discussion board)
15% - Self-reflection
35% - Final project

A - Meets or exceeds the requirements
B - Completion of most requirements
I - Incomplete assignments or partial completion of requirements (Work must be resubmitted.)

Your instructor will provide 1:1 feedback to you throughout the course, however, any time you want to ask about your progress, send a message directly to your instructor.

Grading Scale
Grades will be based upon performance in online class discussion, module activities and the final project. 

ADA Statement
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), students are encouraged to register with UW Stout Disability Services for assistance with instructional accommodations due to disabilities. The phone number of the Disability Services office is 715-232-2995 or contact the staff via email at this website: http://www.uwstout.edu/disability/contact.shtml

Online Attendance
In an online course, you are not required to attend at a particular location or time of day.

This course is designed as an interactive course in which you contribute and respond to the discussion postings of other students.  Plan to log in and participate in the course discussion at least 3 times each week. Your instructor has access to a login summary including the date of each entry you make to the discussion board or dropbox—this includes a response to an assignment, a posting on the threaded discussion, submission of an assignment, or participation in group work.

If your professional/personal obligations or illness require you to be absent for more than 3 days, please contact me and arrange how you will make up the work. 

Please do not "drop out" for a period of time and then expect to "drop back in" without losing points. This makes it difficult for your colleagues to complete their assignments if feedback is required.

Late Policy
As an online instructor, I prefer to be flexible with due dates. Since we haven't committed to a regular schedule of meeting in a specific place, you can "come to class" at your convenience.

But this presents a problem when class participants abandon the course calendar completely. Regular, timely feedback to classmates via the Discussion board makes this class vital, and prompt submission of assignments for assessment allows the instructor to give you the guidance you deserve to receive.

Due dates for each module are published on the course calendar at the start of the class. Work turned in within seven days after that due date will be considered on time and will receive full credit.

After seven days, work that has not been submitted will receive a zero until the work is handed in and evaluated.

Excused Makeup Work - If the late submission has been requested and approved in advance of the due date, there will be no deduction of points from the grade. An e-mail to the instructor requesting an extension of the due date is sufficient.

Unexcused Makeup Work - If you have not requested an extension prior to the assignment due date, the late assignment will be considered unexcused.

Academic Honesty & Misconduct
From the university policy: “Students are responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work, for the appropriate citation of sources, and for respect of others’ academic endeavors. Students who violate these standards must be confronted and must accept the consequences of their actions.

Definitions of academic dishonesty as provided by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators include:

Cheating - The use or attempted use of unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise.

Plagiarism - The use of others’ ideas and words without a clear acknowledgement of the source.

Fabrication - The intentional and unauthorized falsification or invention of any information or citation in 1any academic exercise.

Assisting - The facilitation or assistance in academic dishonesty.

UW-Stout also considers academic dishonesty to include forgery of academic documents, or intentionally impeding or damaging the academic work of others.