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Last modified: January 28, 2022

Mentoring and Support

Setting you on the pathway to success

Provo City School District recognizes the importance of teachers and strives to regularly provide opportunities for professional development and growth. This is especially true with any new teachers. As a district, we provide a pathway to ensure and encourage the success of our new teachers. Through working with our professional coaches, new teachers are provided the resources, training, feedback and skills necessary to succeed in the classroom. We have listed five of the valuable resources we provide for first-year teachers.

“Thank you for building me up and helping my confidence grow. Thank you for being so supportive and helping me see not only the areas that I need to improve in, but the areas that I was doing well in.” First Year Teacher

1. New Teacher Orientation

New teachers in Provo City School District attend training in August that focuses on our district initiatives. In this meeting teachers are given the opportunity to connect with administrators, collaborate with peers and meet the district instructional coaches.

2. Intensive Support From Instructional Coaches

For the first six weeks of the school year, new teachers receive intensive support from an assigned instructional coach to assist them on the path to successful teaching. The instructional coach will provide six observations with feedback and reflection and have six critical conversations focusing on management, instruction and planning.

“Working with a coach was invaluable during my first year of teaching. I got the sense that my coach was really trying to help me, not judge me. I appreciated the fact that she wasn’t reporting to anyone. That made me feel safe enough to be authentic and we tackled some tough issues. My coach directed me to resources I didn’t know about and gave me copies of excellent articles. She was supportive. I feel like I am a better teacher because I worked with a coach and I highly recommend it.” —First Year Teacher

3. Support of District Initiatives

New teachers are given guidance and support in understanding the district initiatives and will know where to go for support.

4. Instructional Support Twice Monthly

After the initial intensive support, new teachers are supported with at least two visits monthly from their instructional coach. One informal visit will focus on helping or answering questions. The other formal visit will include a focused observation or conversation on a specific skill, strategy or goal the teacher has set.

5. EYE Support

The Licensing Coordinator is happy to help answer questions about teaching licenses and provide guidance when completing the requirements to upgrade a level one teaching license to a level two license. The district goal is to encourage teachers to develop successful teaching skills and strategies as described in the Utah Effective Teaching Standards with assistance from experienced colleagues.

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