Lessons Only Experience Can Teach

Loudoun Schools Pair Mentors With First-Year Instructors

By Leah Carliner

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Tuesday is the day Leah Schumaker says she has been waiting for since she was a little girl. It's the day the 23-year-old will start the third grade, this time from the other side of the desk, as an elementary school teacher.

Schumaker, who recently received a master's degree in education from James Madison University, will be working at Liberty Elementary School in South Riding.

George Moore, 61, is at a very different stage of his career. But he, too, will be teaching third grade at Liberty and making his debut as a Loudoun instructor. Moore, a retired D.C. principal, was a principal for 15 years and a teacher for 12.

The two Loudoun County newcomers illustrate the range of ages and backgrounds among the hundreds of teachers hired by the county school system each year. This year, there are 225 new Loudoun teachers who, like Schumaker, have never taught, and an additional 327 hires with teaching experience, said Ginger Kave, instructional services mentor for the school system.

Each new hire is paired with a mentor who has taught in the county. Schumaker and Moore have the same mentor: six-year veteran Emily Parker, who is also assigned to Liberty Elementary, one of three Loudoun schools opening this year.

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New Teachers at Liberty Receive Mentors

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Third Grade teachers Emily Parker and Leah Schumaker enjoy a light moment as they talk about the upcoming school year at Liberty Elementary in South Riding. (Rich Lipski)

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Third grade teachers Emily Parker and Leah Schumaker talk about the upcoming school year at Liberty Elementary in South Riding. (Rich Lipski)

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Third grade teachers Emily Parker and Leah Schumaker check out the bean bags at Liberty Elementary's library. (Rich Lipski)

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Third grade teacher Leah Schumaker has just received the wall posters she's been waiting for. Schumaker will be teaching in her first year at the newly opened Liberty Elementary in South Riding. (Rich Lipski)

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Third grade teacher Leah Schumaker works on "The Giving Tree" display in her classroom for the upcoming school year at Liberty Elementary in South Riding. (Rich Lipski)

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New teachers usually meet their mentors in August, but Schumaker asked to speak with Parker in June because she was eager to get a head start. Among her lingering questions was how much to spend on classroom supplies.

Schumaker said she chose to work in Loudoun's system because of its welcoming reputation. "I had heard how good Loudoun's program was for beginning teachers," she said.

Moore has sat in the same seminars as Schumaker, listening to topics such as how the district's grading system works and how to plan an effective curriculum.

Attending sessions alongside beginning teachers doesn't bother him at all, Moore said, adding that "every experience is different."

"It's like a breath of fresh air," Moore said of the chance to work with new teachers.

Virginia requires all districts to have a mentor program for new teachers, Kave said, although programs vary. In Loudoun, mentors meet with new teachers at least four times during the school and are paid $800 for mentoring one teacher and $100 for each additional one.

"Obviously, he doesn't need help setting up a grade book," Parker said of Moore. But there are details specific to Loudoun that he'll need to learn, such as the fact that third-graders don't get letter grades on their assignments, she said.

Parker had been teaching at Hutchinson Farm Elementary but made the switch to Liberty for the school's first year. She is the lead mentor at Liberty, which has 28 new Loudoun teachers, 11 of whom are new to teaching.

Loudoun hires many teachers each year because of turnover and the need to keep pace with student enrollment growth.

Of the 552 hires this year, 442 are Virginia residents, but some are coming from as far away as Kansas, Missouri and Puerto Rico. Almost one-fifth of the new teachers, 110, are men. The roster includes four married couples.

The district hired 746 teachers for the 2007-08 school year. The number of hires dropped this year because of cuts in the school system's spending request, district spokesman Wayde Byard said.

Freyja Bergthorson, the lead mentor and English department chairman at Farmwell Station Middle School, said she is mentoring 12 teachers this year, three of whom are joining her department. She does not recruit job candidates but sits in on interviews.

"I think everyone wants to hire more teachers," Bergthorson said.

Tagged: elementary schools, Liberty Elementary School, Loudoun County Public Schools, schools

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