Mentoring Process
Welcome to teaching information literacy to WRTG 150 students!
You will not embark on this new teaching journey alone! You will have a mentor throughout the whole training process to guide you and give you feedback. In this section, you will find an outline of what to expect throughout your training. Mentors can find helpful tips here, as well. There is also a breakdown of the expected time commitment.
Becoming a Library Instructor
As you begin, you will meet with Stacey to receive some overview training and to help you determine a timeline for when you would like to be prepared to team teach with your mentor and when you would like to teach your first class solo. A mentor will be assigned to you who will then walk with you through your preparation process.
You can expect to do the following with your mentor:
MEET with your mentor regularly to fill them in on your goals and timeline
- The mentor will provide you with learning outcomes for the library sessions and other materials as needed.
OBSERVE several WRTG 150 library sessions to get a feel for the lesson material and the flow of the classes. Ideally, make sure one of the sessions you observe is one of your mentor’s classes.
- Each time you observe, watch with a specific purpose in mind (i.e., watch how the learning outcomes are met, listen to the kinds of questions the library instructor asks in 1-1’s, watch the activities they do for search strategies or source evaluation or topic narrowing, etc.) Your mentor can give you some additional suggestions.
- For additional methods of observation, see this document.
- Reflect on what you observe in the classes. What questions do you have? What content or techniques do you need to learn or improve before you begin teaching?
ATTEND the following:
- Writing 150 Kick-off (usually in the first couple of weeks of the semester) for all library instructors who teach WRTG 150.
- New instructor Classroom Training (taught by Stacey about a month into the semester) for instructors in training.
PLAN a lesson together with your mentor for a specific writing instructor (one your mentor is already assigned to teach for).
TEAM TEACH with your mentor in one of your mentor’s assigned classes.
- Reflect on where you did well and where the gaps are that you would like to improve.
TEACH your own assigned class when you are ready (either near the end of the same semester or in the next one). You can use the lesson plan you used when you team taught with your mentor, or you can develop your own.
- You can invite your mentor to observe or even TA for you so they can give you some support and feedback.
- You could also invite your mentor to team teach this class with you if you feel you need a little more preparation to be ready to teach on your own.
REFLECT. Notice how almost every step in your preparation phase includes taking time to reflect and synthesize what you have observed and learned. Be sure you reflect after you have taught your assigned class, as well. What did you do to prepare? What did you do in the class? What went well? What do you wish you had done differently? What do you want to remember for next time? Asking yourself questions like these will help you make tweaks and be even better prepared for your next class.
- Here is a Reflection outline you could use, or you can create one that is more useful to you.
DEBRIEF with your mentor and share any of your reflection with them.
At the end of your training semester, Stacey (stacey_hatch@byu.edu) will reach out to you to reflect with you about how the semester went. What did you learn? What did you enjoy? What made you nervous? Where could you have used more support? Are you willing and available to teach the following semester?
(Note: You can download and print the content of this page here.)
Mentoring New Library Instructors
Thank you so much for being willing to mentor a new WRTG 150 library instructor! Your experience and insights will be invaluable to the new instructor as they learn the lesson material and the in’s and out’s of teaching 150 classes.
As a mentor, your overarching purpose is to help the new instructor gain the knowledge and skills they need to teach their own 150 class. If we can, we may even schedule them to teach their own class at the end of this semester (depending on availability of both the new instructor and classes).
Below are some guidelines to help you mentor the new instructor throughout the semester. We expect this will take about five hours outside of class, plus the class time you spend team-teaching with them. (FYI, these same guidelines will be given to the new instructors so they know what they can expect, as well.) At then end of this document, you will also find some support you can expect from Stacey.
Here are some things you can expect to do during the semester:
MEET with the new instructor regularly and get to know their goals and timeline. (You decide with the new instructor what “regularly” means. You can use this planning guide to schedule out the semester.)
- Discuss with them the expected learning outcomes for 150 and share with them your lesson plan so they know what kinds of things they can expect to see as they observe classes.
- Direct them to this Library Instruction Resources website.
HELP them select some classes from the Instruction Calendar to observe so they get a feel for the lesson material and the flow of the classes. The more they observe, the better!
- Ideally, make sure they observe at least one of your sessions, but preferably all the sessions for one of your sections. (Maybe provide them with your teaching schedule so they can easily schedule when observe you.)
- Please direct them to observe classes taught by members of the Instruction Department, as those are the instructors with more 150 teaching experience.
- Encourage them to observe with a specific purpose in mind (i.e., watch how the learning outcomes are met, listen to the kinds of questions the library instructor asks in 1-1’s, watch the activities instructors do for search strategies or source evaluation or topic narrowing, etc.) Give them any other suggestions you think would be helpful. This document also has some ideas.
- Always encourage them to reflect on what they observe in the classes. (What did they like? What questions do they have? What content or techniques do they need to learn or improve before they begin teaching?)
PLAN a lesson together for a specific Writing 150 instructor (one you are already assigned to teach for).
You might want to discuss one of the three following models and decide which one will work best for the both of you:
1. Mentor runs the class and the new instructor takes certain parts.
2. New instructor runs the class and the mentor takes certain parts.
3. The new instructor takes the whole class, and the mentor is there to give support if needed and feedback at the end.
- Decide which parts of the lesson you will each teach.
- As part of the planning, make sure your new instructor is involved in meeting with the writing instructor. CC them on all the emails, include them in any actual conversations, etc. If you have decided for the new instructor to take the lead, have them do the emailing if that is appropriate.
PRACTICE. If feasible, have the new instructor practice teaching their parts of the lesson, preferably in the same classroom where you will be teaching.
- You can serve as their TA for the practice. This gives them a feel for giving directions to a student instructor and also gives them a feel for the timing of the teaching.
- You can also give them some valuable feedback before the actual class.
TEAM TEACH with the new instructor in one of your assigned classes.
- Afterwards, encourage the new instructor to reflect on where they did well and where the gaps are that they would like to improve. This reflection can also help them identify how they will want to team teach with student instructors in the future.
- Offer your own observations of how they did. Give them encouragement in the areas they did well so they can continue to do so and offer suggestions on things that could make the class even better next time.
ASSIST the new instructor in planning the class they will teach on their own. (It could be at the end of this semester or next semester.)
OBSERVE your new instructor as they teach their own class. You could also TA for them if they would like.
- You will be there to give them support if they need it, and also to give them some feedback.
- If the new instructor is still feeling a little shaky, feel free to offer to team teach with them again, if that works for your schedule.
- Encourage the new instructor to reflect on what went well, what they wished went differently, and what they will do the next time they teach.
REFLECT. Notice how almost every step in the mentoring phase includes having the new instructor take time to reflect and synthesize what they have observed and learned. Be sure you reflect throughout and at the end of the mentoring process, as well.
- What did you do to prepare?
- What went well?
- What do you wish you had done differently?
- What do you want to remember for next time?
- What suggestions do you want to give to Stacey so the process can be improved for next semester?
DEBRIEF. Review the semester.
- Invite your new instructor to debrief the semester with you and see how things went.
- At the end of the semester, Stacey will meet briefly with you and the new instructor individually to review the semester. We would love to hear what we can do better to support you as a mentor and to support the new instructors. We would also like to get a good idea of how much time you spent mentoring this semester (including class time). All comments, suggestions, questions, etc., are welcome!
EXPECT this support from Stacey and Toni:
- Willingness to answer any questions or address any concerns you may have. Don’t hesitate to reach out if something needs attention right away or if you have a suggestion that could benefit other mentors before the semester is over.
- This website of Library Instruction Resources.
- A training session for the new instructors where Stacey will review the basics taught in the classes (database searches, source evaluations, RefWorks) so the new instructors can have an opportunity to ask questions about the skills they will be teaching to the students. She will also review the basics of the tech in the classroom. This session will be a few weeks into the teaching season after the new instructors have hopefully had a chance to observe a few classes and know what gaps they may have. You are welcome to attend this session, but not required to.
- A debrief at the end of the semester.
To download and print the content of this page, click here.
Mentoring Semester
You can expect to spend 12-14 hours being mentored over the semester. Here is a breakdown of how that time may be spent:
- Meet with Stacey (30 mins)
- Peruse the material on this website for New WRTG 150 instructors (30+ mins)
- Meet with your mentor (2-3 hours over the semester)
- Includes collaborating with the professor, lesson development, and practice time (1-2 hours)
- Attend WRTG 150 Kickoff meeting at beginning of the semester (1 hour)
- Observe library sessions (3+ hours)
- Attend New Instructor Classroom Training (90 mins)
- Team teach (2-3 hours)
- Debrief with mentor (30 mins)
- Debrief with Stacey (30 mins)
- Attend WRTG 150 Debrief meeting at end of semester (1 hour)
Teaching Semester
You can expect to commit about 7 hours during the semester when you are teaching your own section(s) of WRTG 150. Here is a breakdown:
- Attend WRTG 150 Kickoff meeting (1 hour)
- Meet with the writing professor (30 mins)
- Prep for your class(es) (1-2 hours)
- Coordinate with student instructor (formerly "TA") on your lesson plan.
- Prepare your lesson.
- Teach class(es) (2-3 hours per section)
- Reflect on your teaching experience after each class (5-10 minutes each).
- Attend WRTG 150 Debrief at end of semester (1 hour)
You can download and print this page here.