Supporting New Educators of Color

Dan Eckhardt | August 21, 2022

We welcome you! We’re glad you’re here! Partners for Racial Inclusion: Supporting New Educators Of Color               2021-22 Partners for Racial Inclusion, left to right: Jay Garvey Shah, Marisa Flowers, Sarada Weber, Antonio Hoye …..

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Join us for these upcoming Spring Workshops

Dan Eckhardt | February 14, 2022

  Designing and Presenting Professional Learning May 5, 2022 8:00 am – 3:00 pm (Breakfast 7:30 am – 8:00 am) Location:  LGA inside Heritage Elementary School, 501 South Street, Waunakee 53597 Cost:  $50 for DCNTP Members and $75 for Non…..

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Join us for Designing and Presenting Virtual and Face-to-Face Professional Development

Dan Eckhardt | July 2, 2020

This workshop is useful to anyone who presents professional development, including teachers, instructional coaches, mentors,  school and district leaders. Participants will explore the fundamental principles of adult learning theory and the strategies that support adult learners to grow in their…..

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All DCNTP Programming for the 2020-2021 School Year will be held Virtually

Dan Eckhardt | June 30, 2020

After careful consultation and deliberation, we have decided all programming will be virtual for the coming year. This change prioritizes safety and equitable access to high-quality professional learning during the uncertain days ahead.   Please see the full printable calendar of events below……

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All DCNTP events will continue as originally planned but will be delivered in a Virtual Learning Environment.

Dan Eckhardt | March 17, 2020

Your critical work to support, coordinate, and serve your colleagues and communities is admirable, especially during this urgent time for which there is no precedent.    As we all learn to maintain human contact while remaining physically distant, new teachers…..

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Upcoming 2019-2020 Workshops

Dan Eckhardt | October 9, 2019

            Mentors Year One PLS-3 Observing and Giving Feedback, Nov 12-13, 2019 PLS-4 Assessing Growth and Deepening Practice, Jan 28-29, 2020 Instructional Coaches Year One IC-3 Effective Instructional Coaching Cycles, Nov 19-20, 2019 IC-4 Supporting…..

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Register Now for Summer 2019 Workshops

Dan Eckhardt | June 4, 2019

School Leaders, Mentors, and Coaches: a partnership for school success, Intended for Principals and School Administrators Dates: July 29, 2019 PLS-5 Creating Conditions for Equitable Instruction For Coaches and Mentors Dates: July 31-Aug 1, 2019 Location:  Monona Grove School District…..

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Induction is Everyone’s Responsibility

Dan Eckhardt | April 10, 2019

  New Teacher Center Teacher Induction Program Standards The first two to three years of a teacher’s career (induction) is an important and unique phase of teacher development An induction program should be part of a larger system of teacher…..

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Second grade social studies folder in Sun Prairie classroom

Student learning increased by up to five months with NTC induction model

Shirley Smith | September 18, 2017

Released June, 2017 Students gain up to five months of additional learning when new teachers receive high-quality mentoring New Teacher Center’s Induction Model Proven to Increase Student Achievement, According to New U.S. Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation (i3) Results…..

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Kristin Murcott and the value of being mentored

Shirley Smith | May 16, 2017

You might think visiting the second-grade classroom of a second-year teacher in the middle of a science lesson—at the end of the day near the end of the school year, no less—would be a bit chaotic. But if you’re talking…..

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Marc Heuer

Mentoring transformed Marc Heuer’s teaching practice

Shirley Smith | May 2, 2017

“Do you like helping Mr. Heuer with things like greeting visitors?” I asked the student who met me at the office of McFarland’s Indian Mound Middle School. Smiling to herself, she leaped into one big skip. “I love Mr. Heuer,”…..

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Presentations from Symposium 2017 at District Council April 24

Shirley Smith | April 4, 2017

Come to District Council on April 24 and learn from colleagues who attended NTC’s Induction Symposium. They’ll present specific tools, protocols, ideas or processes, and we’ll reflect on their application in our districts. (2:00 – 4:00 pm, Monona Grove District Office, 5301…..

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Description of New Teacher Center PLS for Mentors and Instructional Coaches

Shirley Smith | January 3, 2017

The Professional Learning Series (PLS) for mentors and coaches differs in stance and language use, but content is nearly identical. PLS 1: Instructional Mentoring (Instructional Coaching 1: Formative Assessment). Employ the roles, language, and stances of effective instructional mentoring; build collaborative,…..

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Change the odds by re-imagining teacher professional development

Professional development makes a difference…if it’s good

Shirley Smith | November 18, 2016

One-off, disjointed professional development programs do very little to improve teaching practice. Teachers agree that a successful program means not only learning through seminars or one-on-one coaching, but also demonstrating these learnings to their coaches, practice, and receiving feedback with follow-up. This blog…..

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New Teacher Center 2017 Symposium graphic small

Scholarships available for Symposium 2017

Shirley Smith | October 5, 2016

Apply for a scholarship to the 2017 New Teach Center Induction Symposium, February 12-14, to be held in San Francisco. DCNTP is offering two scholarships, which include airfare, hotel, and the symposium fee. The deadline is November 1, and winners will…..

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New Teacher Center logo

Student Learning Improves with NTC Supported Teachers

Shirley Smith | August 18, 2016

New I-3 Research Shows Student Achievement Gains Continue with NTC Support Third party research results help the New Teacher Center understand what’s working — and what’s not — to improve student learning, teacher retention and teacher effectiveness.

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Nichole VonHaden, Madison Metropolitan School District mentor

A Madison Mentor’s Blog: Excellence with Equity

Shirley Smith | April 25, 2016

Nichole VonHaden, a full-release Madison Metropolitan School District mentor, writes a blog about supporting beginning teachers’ success with MMSD’s core value “excellence with equity.” Her blog appears on the website Teaching Tolerance: a Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

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Presentations from Symposium 2016 at District Council on April 18

Shirley Smith | March 17, 2016

Bring a team of three to five people to District Council on April 18 to hear the latest thinking from national experts on induction-related topics like improving student achievement, empowering teachers, and shifting the focus of classroom management to ownership. Symposium attendees will…..

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Dane County New Teacher Project Annual Report 2014-15

2014-15 Annual Report

Shirley Smith | January 8, 2016

For a great overview of the Dane County New Teacher Project, read our Annual Report 2014-15. It’s organized around our purpose, and is a good resource for member districts to use when explaining what their induction programs require to be successful,…..

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Teaching Tolerance logo

Mentoring Toward Equity

Shirley Smith | October 21, 2015

A mentor writes about techniques to help new teachers see pathways of success for all of their students in this thoughtful blog post from the Teaching Tolerance website.

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First Aid in Your First Month

Shirley Smith | October 6, 2015

Immediate help for beginning teachers to improve their teaching practice was the focus of the first of six seminars scheduled for this year, starting on October 1. Teachers from nine school districts sat at tables with colleagues in similar grade levels, taking turns with a partner to…..

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2016 New Teacher Center Symposium on Teacher Induction

Scholarships available for Symposium 2016

Shirley Smith | September 28, 2015

Apply for a scholarship to the New Teach Center Induction Symposium, February 21-23, 2016, to be held in Bellevue, Washington. DCNTP is offering three scholarships, which include airfare, hotel, and the symposium fee. The deadline is November 1, and winners will…..

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Ingrid Rodenbeck

“Everyone struggles; mentors can help”

Shirley Smith | July 1, 2015

Ingrid Rodenbeck is very good at her job as a program support teacher and mentor for special education at Thoreau and Falk elementary schools in the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD). She knows there’s always more to learn, but says…..

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Results of strategic planning meeting, May 28-29, 2015

Shirley Smith | June 17, 2015

DCNTP board members came especially prepared and willing to tackle making a plan for the next few years at the two-day strategic planning retreat in May (agenda here).  That’s because all seven of them attended the 2015 New Teacher Center (NTC) Symposium…..

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Ten reasons to have a high-quality induction program

Shirley Smith | May 21, 2015

From the New Teacher Center during Teacher Appreciation Week: Ten reasons to have a high-quality induction program

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Welcome to "Designing and Presenting Professional Development"

Presentation Skills Workshop

Shirley Smith | March 19, 2015

About 20 DCNTP mentors polished their presenting skills with the workshop “Designing and Presenting Professional Development for Beginning Teachers” on March 11 and 12, presented at the Wisconsin Center for Music Education in Waunakee. Tom Howe of the DCNTP and…..

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The snowy, cold weather with accompanying bad driving conditions kept many beginning teachers from attending the January 8, 2015 seminar on the PDP Process, Part One.

A snowy night for PDP Part One

Shirley Smith | January 21, 2015

Despite the cold and snowy weather, nearly half of the 92 beginning teachers who registered for the January 8, 2015 seminar on the PDP (professional development plan) braved the miserable conditions to attend. Teresa Voss and Jen Murphy, both of Verona Area School District,…..

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Andrew Bridell and Peter Kuzma of Monona Grove identify particular strengths of their induction program at the December 8, 2014 District Council meeting.

District Council induction program success and tools at December 8, 2014 meeting

Shirley Smith | January 20, 2015

The room starts to hum at District Council when representatives from districts with similar mentor models meet in small group discussion. Madison staff, in their first year of a full release mentor program, were excited to hear about the advantages of using…..

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NTC events build individual, district, and DCNTP success

Shirley Smith | January 16, 2015

“Between now and 2020, 1.5 million new teachers will be hired. In five years!”* Barb Sramek of Marshall shook her head at this statistic as she and other DCNTP board members began evaluating scholarship applications for the New Teacher Center Symposium…..

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Poster from NTC workshop "Using Data to Inform Instruction"

“You are change agents for equity”

Shirley Smith | December 8, 2014

During Day 2 of “Using Data to Inform Instruction,” participants were reminded of a powerful aspect of their role: commitment to mentoring and coaching means becoming a change agent for equity. At the New Teacher Center workshop held December 2-3, Marc Heuer, Tom Howe,…..

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Snapshots from “Assessing Student Learning,” November 6

Shirley Smith | November 13, 2014

How do you know if, and what, your students are learning? The beginning teacher seminar in Fitchburg on November 6 focused on techniques to assess student learning, including determining the difference between summative and formative assessment. 80 beginning teachers were present.  …..

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Group smarts at the DCNTP Board meeting October 28

Shirley Smith | November 12, 2014

“Some groups are smarter than others,” “Selecting a smart team,” and “How do you raise a group’s IQ?” are a few topics the DCNTP Board explored when they met on October 28. It turns out that the key to all of the above is…..

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Thank you note

Apply for a Scholarship to the NTC Symposium in San Francisco

Shirley Smith | November 10, 2014

The DCNTP is offering two scholarships to the NTC National Symposium on Teacher Induction, February 22-24, in San Francisco. If you are a teacher leader, mentor, principal or district administrator, download the application and information sheet and apply by Friday,…..

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Phases of First-Year Teachers' Attitude Toward Teaching from the New Teacher Center

As a mentor, you’ve seen this…

Shirley Smith | November 4, 2014

Take a few minutes to click through the current issue of eReflections from the New Teacher Center. Whether you are or are not familiar with Ellen Moir’s article about the phases new teachers go through, reading it will affirm your work as a mentor……

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Tracy Deavers, Director of Teaching and Learning, Edgerton School District

Get more support for your induction program

Shirley Smith | October 29, 2014

At the District Council meeting on September 29, Tracy Deavers of the Edgerton School District  said she had a wake-up call after shared discussion with other districts about where their program stood on the continuum of high quality mentoring and induction……

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Fixing the Leaky Bucket: Teacher Recruitment or Retention

Mitchell | October 2, 2012

August 1, 2014–Ellen Moir, founder and CEO of the New Teacher Center, in the Huffington Post / Fixing the Leaky Bucket: Teacher Recruitment or Retention?

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