Bill Gates once said,
“Students deserve great teachers. And teachers deserve the support they need to be great.”
For the past thirty-four years new teachers across the Commonwealth of Kentucky have been mentored through the Kentucky Teacher Internship Program. Funding for this valuable program was suspended this year. With the absence of a state-wide teacher internship program, new teachers have to individually seek support during their early years of teaching. Fortunately a new initiative has been developed to support, connect and mentor new Kentucky teachers.
KY SENT (Supporting and Elevating New Teachers) is an initiative developed by a group of Kentucky Hope Street Fellows. With the recently launched website and Twitter account, KY SENT is offering new teachers a variety of resources to guide them throughout the school year. This initiative was developed by teachers and is for new teachers who are in their first five years of instruction. It is designed around the Kentucky Framework for Teaching and houses a plethora of resources. The personalized resources will help to elevate and educate teachers, all the while connecting them to educational support agencies across the state.
One prominent feature of KY SENT are the virtual engagement sessions. Twice monthly highly-qualified educators will offer free online professional learning sessions via Google Meets. New teachers can register for these sessions on the KY SENT website. School districts may also opt for these sessions to count for professional learning credit.
Additionally KY SENT will offer mentoring for new teachers based on their educational cooperative region. KY SENT coaches will connect new teachers to a mentoring teacher in their area. The role of a KY SENT mentor will be to provide instructional support, encouragement and optimism for new educators. More importantly, this collaboration is a great opportunity for veteran teachers to ignite their own passion for teaching and learning, all the while growing new teachers across the Commonwealth.
Lastly, this initiative has a section on their website for new teachers to post questions. The KY SENT coaches will promptly answer questions and provide additional resources, if needed. The coaches are there to support and offer advice in an effort to promote continuous learning for new teachers. Questions are confidential and are between new teachers
and the KY SENT coaches.
The KY SENT website was established as a support structure for both new teachers and school districts. Districts may use the site within their own mentoring plans. The end result will be a gateway of professional learning and growth for new teachers. Kentucky teachers will grow their own new teachers and Kentucky students will be the beneficiaries. Across the bluegrass state, students deserve great teachers and great teachers deserve boundless support.
About the author:
Dana Lee Thomas is an elementary instructional coach in the Marion County Public Schools District. She has a great passion for teaching and learning, especially in elevating new and preservice teachers. Dana earned her Bachelors of Science and Masters of Arts in Elementary Education at Campbellsville University. She is a Re-Certified National Board Teacher and current Kentucky Hope Street Teacher Fellow.
Follow Us!