Archived project page. The Upper Peninsula Mentoring Project described below ran during the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 school years. This page is preserved for historical reference.
About the Project
Michigan State law requires all new classroom teachers in the first 3 years of classroom teaching experience to be mentored by one or more master teachers and to have 15 days of intensive professional development in the first three years of their employment.
The Upper Peninsula Mentoring Project was a collaborative effort of the Upper Peninsula Center for Educational Development (UPCED), Copper Country ISD, Delta-Schoolcraft ISD, Dickinson-Iron ISD, Eastern Upper Peninsula ISD, Gogebic-Ontonagon ISD, Marquette-Alger RESA, Menominee County ISD, and Northern Michigan University's School of Education. The purpose of the project was to give added support to local districts' commitment to exemplary programs with quality instruction by offering comprehensive professional development for mentors and new teachers. The project provided training for administrators, mentors, and new teachers during the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 school years.
This online adaptation of that project owes much to Dr. Lois Hirst and Ms. Judy Parlato who developed many of the materials. Additional guidance was received from the facilitators of the seven ISDs of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Many thanks to Linda Greenberg of the UPCED for her research.
One of the goals of the project was to provide this material in a readily available form for local school districts to continue this process internally. The project's companion website offered step-by-step instructions, sample materials, suggestions for topics and activities, resources to keep participants on track, and appropriate forms for documenting progress related to K-12 teacher mentoring.
The New Teacher Mentoring website, formerly hosted by Northern Michigan University, is no longer available online. For current new-teacher mentoring support, please contact Marquette-Alger RESA at (906) 226-5100 or info@maresa.org.