At the December 13 event, there was a breakout session on Induction: Mentoring and Support for new teachers. The session focused on the important role of liaisons to support the induction continuum from pre-service through in-service. Currently, there are six liaisons in partner district schools; Highland Park Middle and Senior High, Southwest High, Earle Brown Elementary, Dowling Elementary, Hall Elementary and Lucy Laney Elementary.

The liaisons’ role is to supervise, mentor and support the teacher candidates and coach the cooperating teachers as mentors. They observe practice, support co-teaching, and hold new teacher support sessions. All of the liaisons are assigned to work at one site and focus on supporting teacher development by working with the leadership teams, supporting PLC’s and offering PD sessions.
The liaisons were able to share stories of success and challenges during the session. A highlight was when one liaison shared that she had co-observed a teacher candidate teaching a lesson with the cooperating teacher. During the post-conference, she shared with the teacher candidate that she could continue to grow in the area of differentiation. The cooperating teacher said that he could also work on differentiation strategies, so they could do it together. This story shows the impact that coaching from liaisons can have on both pre-service and in-service teachers.
Current liaisons: Tiffany Moore (MPS/UMN-TC Induction Coordinator); Marjorie Nadler (Lucy Laney Liaison), Mary Mandel (Earle Brown Liaison), Shaun Flandrick (Southwest Liaison), Danaya Franke (Highland Park Jr/Sr. Liaison).