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Session 2. Setting Up the Mentoring Relationship, Plan and First-Term Calendar
Objective. Agree a working agreement with a beginning teacher, write a short mentoring plan with two or three goals, and build a first-term support calendar that fits real timetables and workloads.
Good intentions do not run a mentoring relationship; a simple structure does. When mentor and beginner agree early how they will work, which two or three goals matter, and when they will meet, support stops depending on mood and free time. This lesson goes deeper than the key ideas: how to write goals you can actually see in a classroom, and how to fit a realistic rhythm of support into two free periods a week.
Key ideas
A working agreement
- Early on, agree in plain words: when you meet, for how long, where, who prepares what, and how you will say it if something is not working.
- Include confidentiality, the role split (you support, the head evaluates) and what the mentor will not do, for example write reports on the beginner without telling them.
- Write it on half a page and keep a copy each. A short agreement that both signed is better than a long one that nobody reads.
A small mentoring plan
- Choose two or three goals from the priorities you heard in Session 1. More than three goals means none will be reached.
- For each goal write four things: what will change in the classroom, what the teacher will try, what support you will give, and what evidence you will look at.
- Phrase goals in the teacher's own words: 'Pupils in 7B start work within one minute', not 'Improve classroom management'.
The first-term calendar
- Weeks 1 to 2: settle in (systems, routines, the mentor's open lessons). Weeks 3 to 6: plan together, short observations, one focus. Weeks 7 to 9: feedback cycles and the first try of a new technique. Week 10: review and next steps.
- A weekly 20 to 30 minute meeting at a fixed time beats a long meeting once a month. Protect it; cancelled meetings tell the beginner they do not matter.
- Plan around real events: Navruz, exam weeks, parents' meetings, the first reports. A beginner needs more help just before these.
Keep it light and realistic
- Most mentors teach a full load. Count your free periods honestly: if you have two a week, plan one meeting and one short observation, not five activities.
- Use paper: a one-page plan, a small log of meetings (date, topic, next step) and the calendar. No new forms for the school to collect.
- Review at mid-term. Ask: 'What is helping? What should I do less of?' Change the plan if it is not working. A plan is a tool, not a contract.
First-term support calendar
Goals you can see in a classroom
A goal like 'improve classroom management' cannot be checked. A goal like 'pupils in 7B begin work within one minute of the bell' can be: you count the minutes on three days before and three days after. Good goals are small, observable and in the teacher's own words, because a teacher will work for a goal they recognise as theirs.
For each goal agree four things: the change you hope to see in pupils, the one thing the teacher will try, the support you will give (a model, a co-planned lesson, a short observation) and the evidence you will both look at. Keep a goal for four to six weeks, then replace it. Two or three goals are the maximum for one term.
Fitting support into real timetables
Most mentors teach a full load. Count your free periods honestly and plan within them. A fixed weekly meeting of 20 to 30 minutes, one short observation every two or three weeks and one co-planning session a month is already valuable. It is better to keep this steady than to plan more and cancel.
Plan around the school year. Before a parents' meeting, first reports or an open day, a beginner needs more help; in a calm week, less. Use paper: a one-page plan, a short meeting log and a calendar. Review halfway through the term and ask 'What helps? What should I do less of?' A plan that never changes is not listening.
Examples from the classroom
From 'improve behaviour' to a count
Scene. In Fergana, Jasur's first goal is 'better behaviour in Grade 7'. His mentor asks, 'What would you see if it were better?' Jasur says, 'They would start work when I say.' They rewrite the goal: pupils begin the board task within one minute. For three days the mentor sits at the back and notes the minutes: 4, 3, 5. After a new entry routine the numbers are 2, 1, 2.
Insight. A visible goal can be counted, so progress is real for both people.
The agreement that saved a friendship
Scene. Mr Bakhtiyor in Bukhara and new teacher Malika agree on a half-page note: they meet 25 minutes every Tuesday after period 3; what she tells him stays between them except in a safety matter; he never writes reports on her. In week six Malika says the weekly meeting feels heavy before reports. They agree to shorten it to 15 minutes for two weeks.
Insight. A clear agreement makes it easy to say 'this is not working' without hurting the relationship.
Two free periods
Scene. Aziz, a Grade 4 teacher in Samarkand, has two free periods a week, on Tuesday and Thursday. He plans a 25-minute Tuesday meeting and a Thursday observation every second week, and a co-planning session in weeks 5 and 8. He drops the idea of weekly lesson plans for the new teacher. By week 10 every meeting has taken place.
Insight. A plan that fits the mentor's real time is kept; an ambitious one is cancelled.
Common pitfalls
- Writing five or six goals and reaching none.
- Cancelling meetings when the mentor is busy, which tells the beginner they do not matter.
- Treating the plan as a contract and refusing to change it at mid-term.
- Collecting new forms for the school instead of keeping a simple log between the two of you.
Build an Agreement, Plan and Ten-Week Calendar
- Pairs (5 min): open the Activity Kit. Read the SAMPLE case of Malika (Grade 3 class teacher, new this September) and her mentor's timetable, which has two free periods a week. Underline anything that limits what can be planned.
- Pairs (15 min): write the half-page working agreement using the template. Include meeting time, confidentiality with its exception, the role split and how to say 'this is not working'.
- Pairs (15 min): write a mentoring plan with two goals, each with classroom change, teacher action, mentor support and evidence. Choose goals from Malika's needs in the case.
- Pairs (15 min): fill the ten-week calendar grid. Put in the weekly meeting, at least two observations, one co-planning session and the school events listed in the case. Check that no week needs more free periods than the mentor has.
- Second short activity, pairs (10 min): swap your agreement with another pair. Read it as the beginning teacher and mark with a question mark every phrase that is unclear or that you would be afraid to ask about. Return it and revise.
- Alone (5 min): write the school-based task from the Kit.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which phrase in the agreement was hardest to write, and why?
- What did you remove from the calendar because the mentor's free periods did not allow it?
- How will you know at week 5 that the plan is working?
Reflect
- What would you want written in an agreement if you were the beginner?
- How many free periods do you really have for mentoring each week?
- Which school event makes beginners most anxious in the first term?
Try it tomorrow
- Draft a half-page agreement with a colleague: meeting time, confidentiality with its one exception, your roles, and how to say 'this is not working'.
- Write one goal in the teacher's own words and agree how you will count or see it.
- Put the weekly meeting in both timetables and name the school events that need extra help.
Further reading and links
Agree how you will work, keep two or three small goals and a realistic weekly rhythm.