JET Welcomes 46 New Participants from 6 Partner Urban Districts - Boston, Brockton, Fall River, New Bedford, Springfield and Worcester
During the final weeks of the summer, JET held orientation sessions for its new cohort of paraprofessionals in five districts across Massachusetts. During this time, JET staff had the opportunity to welcome its fourth Boston cohort, along with its first cohorts in Brockton, Fall River, New Bedford and Worcester. Attendees at each of the sessions included our paraprofessional participants, JET staff, district mentors, and district liaisons who serve as points of contact for all local JET participants and activities. JET is growing its support system for all participants by involving local district staff and educators so having them present at the orientation sessions was critical to getting our new cohorts ready for a successful launch of their academic journey into teaching. In all JET welcomes 46 new paraprofessionals for the 2019-2020 program year, more than doubling JET participants from 2018-2019.
The JET orientation sessions had two major goals. First was to make sure that all participants were enrolled in fall classes and had their financial aid Paraprofessional Teacher Preparation grant in place for the 2019-2020 academic year. This time was used to address any outstanding questions or concerns from the participants regarding those issues. Doing this in whole group enabled common issues to be raised and then addressed through shared responses and solutions by all in attendance. JET participants could see that there is a network of support including their peers. This is important for strengthening cohort development.
The second goal of the orientation session was to initiate the JET Mentor Program in each partner district for the 2019-2020 program year. The mentor program was piloted in Boston last year to help support the growing numbers of Boston JET paraprofessionals. This year every first year JET participant in all six partner districts will have a personal mentor/coach. The JET mentor is the key person for participants in the JET network of support. All JET mentors are local educators who have been identified or approved by the district liaison. There is a mix of retired educators and active educators. JET is proud to have JET graduates, now employed licensed teachers in Fall River and New Bedford, come full circle to become JET mentors in their districts. This year’s mentors also include Brockton and Springfield InSPIRED teachers, a DESE initiative to engage current teachers in diversifying the teacher workforce.
During each orientation, the paras had the chance to meet their assigned mentor for the year in small break out groups. Each mentor is assigned to 2-3 mentees, so the groups had the opportunity to meet and begin getting to know each other. JET mentor program expectations were also communicated to the paras during this time to ensure all parties were on the same page moving into relationship development. It was incredible to see that we found it difficult to break up the group sessions, it seemed as if they could all talk forever! We, as JET staff, were thrilled to see this and recognized that paras’ questions were already being answered.
We are thrilled to welcome our new cohorts to JET and wish them a great start in their first semester classes as they begin this journey!