Online Courses » Open for Enrollment
Virtual Mentoring: Biology
Course completed (taught September 3–December 22)
New teachers often get stuck with the toughest teaching assignments. Even experienced instructors can get thrown for a loop if they’re tasked with teaching an unfamiliar subject.
If you’re an inexperienced biology teacher who’s worried about how you’ll fare in the classroom, turn to LEARN NC's Virtual Mentoring program for guidance. You’ll get expert help. Your time commitment will be minimal. It’s available at any hour, day or night. You progress on your own schedule and at your own pace. And best of all, it’s yours at no cost to you, your school, or your LEA.
Virtual Mentoring: Biology is designed to support you as a beginning biology teacher. Your mentor will guide you through the curriculum and provide you with helpful hints about specific biology topics. Learn strategies to make your students successful on the end-of-course exam. In addition, you’ll join a statewide Professional Learning Community (PLC) of instructors teaching the same subject as you, each sharing his or her successes, challenges, and unique perspective on how to confront instructional issues.
Full curriculum access
Participants in LEARN NC’s Virtual Mentoring program receive access to a fully developed, online curriculum plan aligned to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study to use as a year-long course template or a reference for individual lessons.
Expectations
In order for this professional collaboration to be truly successful, participation is a must. Each week there will be two class discussions. Of the two discussions, the first will be to share one thing that went well or did not go well that week. The second discussion will typically center on common issues you will encounter in your classroom, ranging from content issues to classroom management. In some cases your mentor will ask you to upload an activity you used (or intend to use) in your classroom. These discussions will allow you to receive useful feedback from your colleagues, as well as encourage you to reflect upon methods to improve your instruction in the future.
To earn CEU credit, it is expected that everyone contribute in a timely and thoughtful manner.
Time commitment
Approximately 2-5 hours per week
Prerequisites
Participants must be first, second, or third-year teachers teaching biology for the first time.
Materials required
Participants must submit a signed letter of support from their principal. Virtual Mentoring Biology Letter of Support.doc
