The Certificate of Teaching Mastery (CTM) is a FREE teacher professional development program, sponsored by well-wishers, retired teachers, and grants, designed for and by K-12 educators. The material was gathered by teachers in dozens of countries and app

Building support systems begins with asking for help -- and giving it.

Doctoral students are by their very nature social creatures, and those who experience an "organic union" with others have a far better chance of becoming productive, skilled researchers and lifelong learners. Many studies have found that "cooperative efforts produce higher achievement than do competitive or individualistic efforts" (Johnson & Johnson, 1998, p. 9; see also Johnson, 2003; Winston, 2006). In this confessional essay, I situate myself as a doctoral supervisor reflecting on the value of positive interdependent learning and, as a vehicle for this, research support groups. I have come to realize that my core values are situated, biased, and not generally representative of all of my students, a story I share in this essay. The personal–confessional genre is one in which "confessors" reveal their subjectivities and engage in reflective thinking in ways that potentially shape educational discourse (Bleakley, 2000; see also Bullough & Pinnegar, 2001). In keeping with social theorist C. Wright Mills's conception of research (1959), I believe that "personal troubles" should not be presented merely as troubles but rather "understood in terms of public issues" (p. 226).

A kindergarten teacher begins her career with an excellent support network.

Interns work directly with on-site supervisors (mentors), home-school principals, or other principals, supervisors, or agency administrators on specified objectives for the number of clock hours designated in a signed agreement. The mentor or campus supervisor approves all experiences used for the completion of objectives. At least one reading is selected to facilitate the achievement of each objective in the internship. Reflections on the experiences, the readings, and the relationship between the two are recorded in a log, which is regularly reviewed by the on-site and campus supervisors.

Interns work directly with on-site supervisors (mentors), home-school principals, or other principals, supervisors, or agency administrators on specified objectives for the number of clock hours designated in a signed agreement. The mentor or campus supervisor approves all experiences used for the completion of objectives. At least one reading is selected to facilitate the achievement of each objective in the internship. Reflections on the experiences, the readings, and the relationship between the two are recorded in a log, which is regularly reviewed by the on-site and campus supervisors.

Interns work directly with on-site supervisors (mentors), home-school principals, or other principals, supervisors, or agency administrators on specified objectives for the number of clock hours designated in a signed agreement. The mentor or campus supervisor approves all experiences used for the completion of objectives. At least one reading is selected to facilitate the achievement of each objective in the internship. Reflections on the experiences, the readings, and the relationship between the two are recorded in a log, which is regularly reviewed by the on-site and campus supervisors.

Interns work directly with on-site supervisors (mentors), home-school principals, or other principals, supervisors, or agency administrators on specified objectives for the number of clock hours designated in a signed agreement. The mentor or campus supervisor approves all experiences used for the completion of objectives. At least one reading is selected to facilitate the achievement of each objective in the internship. Reflections on the experiences, the readings, and the relationship between the two are recorded in a log, which is regularly reviewed by the on-site and campus supervisors.

Interns work directly with on-site supervisors (mentors), home-school principals, or other principals, supervisors, or agency administrators on specified objectives for the number of clock hours designated in a signed agreement. The mentor or campus supervisor approves all experiences used for the completion of objectives. At least one reading is selected to facilitate the achievement of each objective in the internship. Reflections on the experiences, the readings, and the relationship between the two are recorded in a log, which is regularly reviewed by the on-site and campus supervisors.

Two university professors share how their involvement in leadership coaching has influenced their teaching practices. They stated that as university students, they learned about leading, but were not taught how to lead. As new professors, they realized that they were utilizing similar teaching strategies as their own teachers, with a minimum of hands-on, practical experiences. Once they were trained as leadership coaches through Springboard Schools and began to spend time at school and district sites coaching principals and superintendents, they found that their teaching strategies changed dramatically. They brought in more current research with examples of practical application in local schools and modeled professional development strategies in their courses. Above all, they found that they connect the worlds of theory and practice on a daily basis.

Those of us who were educated and trained as school administrators two or three decades ago recall sitting through classes at the university every week, where professors delivered three-hour lectures. There were no on-line classes, no communication by e-mail, no chat rooms or discussion boards, and an advisor was difficult to even locate. In a large university with tens of thousands of students and instructors, I felt isolated. It was difficult for me to consider using anyone at the university as a mentor or sounding-board, which is really what I needed after I completed my program and began working as a new principal.

Interns work directly with on-site supervisors (mentors), home-school principals, or other principals, supervisors, or agency administrators on specified objectives for the number of clock hours designated in a signed agreement. The mentor or campus supervisor approves all experiences used for the completion of objectives. At least one reading is selected to facilitate the achievement of each objective in the internship. Reflections on the experiences, the readings, and the relationship between the two are recorded in a log, which is regularly reviewed by the on-site and campus supervisors.

Interns work directly with on-site supervisors (mentors), home-school principals, or other principals, supervisors, or agency administrators on specified objectives for the number of clock hours designated in a signed agreement. The mentor or campus supervisor approves all experiences used for the completion of objectives. At least one reading is selected to facilitate the achievement of each objective in the internship. Reflections on the experiences, the readings, and the relationship between the two are recorded in a log, which is regularly reviewed by the on-site and campus supervisors.

Interns work directly with on-site supervisors (mentors), home-school principals, or other principals, supervisors, or agency administrators on specified objectives for the number of clock hours designated in a signed agreement. The mentor or campus supervisor approves all experiences used for the completion of objectives. At least one reading is selected to facilitate the achievement of each objective in the internship. Reflections on the experiences, the readings, and the relationship between the two are recorded in a log, which is regularly reviewed by the on-site and campus supervisors.

Expectations for productivity in published scholarship have certainly increased in recent years for university faculty seeking tenure and promotion in colleges of education and other colleges (Brown, 2006; Tierney, 2001). In response, more and more leaders at research universities sponsor formal mentoring programs organized to promote the development and success of tenure-earning faculty.1 However, many administrators and faculty are trying to figure out how to get started and what to do. They are seeking proven strategies for developing, implementing, and assessing formalized faculty mentoring initiatives (Mullen, Kennedy, & Keller, 2006). Because of this need to share ideas and tips, we present our own attempts at best practice. We include preliminary results derived from our piloted program.

Mentors can share in the hope and enthusiasm of new teachers.

An elementary special education teacher talks about finding support in challenging situations. Kira Martin has had more different experiences in her six years of teaching than some people have in a whole career. She taught Language Arts for the Peace Corps in Granada for two years. On returning to the United States, she taught “cross-categorical special education” in first through third grades both as a resource teacher and in a self-contained classroom. The following year she taught sixth-grade students with learning disabilities, then math and social studies to academically gifted sixth graders. After taking a year off to get her master’s degree, she moved to “a straight fourth grade classroom,” and finally to fourth grade AIG Academically and Intellectually Gifted math.”

Not all of these situations have been ideal, but in every school she was able to build a support network that helped her to grow professionally and personally.

Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching. The MIC07 conference theme Jazzing IT up with MERLOT recognizes the collaborative efforts within disciplines and the education community around the World to enhance teaching and learning through the use of Instructional Technology. Conference attendees span all disciplines and the continuum from novice to expert in the development and use of online resources. The conference is designed to foster learning, innovation and practice in the use of information, instruction, and communications technologies in higher education. It is the venue for educators, administrators, and technologists who have interests and expertise in technology-enabled teaching and learning and who recognize the need to remain current in this rapidly advancing field of educational practice and theory.

The NCPEA Handbook of Doctoral Programs in Educational Leadership: Issues and Challenges, Chapter 15, authored by Theodore B. Creighton, David J. Parks, and Linda M. Creighton.