Building a support network

Every teacher needs support networks, both formal and informal. This guide to LEARN NC's collections will point you to resources that show you how to build your own and get the help you need.

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Related pages

• Communicating with parents, colleagues, and administrators: Effective communication is often about avoiding problems rather than solving them. These resources on communicating with parents, participating in a mentoring relationship, and working with colleagues and administrators will help you communicate effectively in a number of situations.
• Conversations, questions, and answers for a beginning teacher: A kindergarten teacher begins her career with an excellent support network.
• Classroom management: A guide to LEARN NC's collections, designed especially for new teachers.

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• Learn more about building a support network, mentoring, and new teacher support.

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Teaching can be a lonely profession — one where the adults close their doors and rarely talk with one another. This leaves teachers to solve their problems on their own. But new teachers can’t solve all their own problems. You need help from mentors, colleagues, administrators, and friends.

If you’re lucky, you already have support from all those people. But if you don’t, or you need more help or a different kind of help, then you need to take charge of things and build your own support network.

Build a support network

A support network is a group of colleagues who provide guidance and assistance to one another throughout their careers. By designing your own support network, you can tailor it to suit your needs. For some teachers, a support network means a weekly meeting to exchange lesson plan ideas; for others, it involves stopping by a neighboring teacher’s classroom as needed.

This series of articles introduces you to the idea of a support network and gives you questions to ask yourself about your needs. Next, you’ll find stories of real teachers who found support in challenging situations, began their careers with an excellent support network, and met with other beginning teachers on a regular basis. Further articles will point you to sources of professional support on the Web.

• Building your own support network This article by Denise Young offers tips on getting the help you need — even when it’s not easy to find.
• Find more resources on working with colleagues and administrators

Working with mentors

Even if you have a great mentor, this series of articles can help you get the most out of the relationship. Written by beginning teachers, mentors, mentor coordinators, and UNC-Chapel Hill’s Mentor Teacher in Residence, the articles will help you see the mentoring process from all sides.

• Find resources on mentoring and working with mentors