While there are general mentoring strategies that apply to nearly all programs, the success of any individual mentoring situation is affected by the relationship between mentor and mentee, the school environment, the mentee's stage of career, and other influences.
Among the issues the authors explore are:
- age, gender, and culture in the mentoring relationship;
- new teachers in urban or rural school environments;
- veteran teachers moving across buildings or into a new school;
- teachers working with at-risk students;
- mentoring “burned-out teachers;
- self-mentoring;
- working with struggling teachers;
- mentoring through technology.
The most recent report from the National Commission on Teacher and America's Future states that “The conventional wisdom is that we can't find enough good teachers. The truth is that we can't keep enough good teachers. Mentoring has proven one of the most effective ways to keep teachers in the field. With Mentoring Across Boundaries in hand, mentors and administrators will find the guidance they need to navigate many of the rough spots that have the potential to derail successful mentoring.