FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - June 20, 2008
Kathleen Carpenter, Director of Promotions
Phone: (888)430-TEACH
E-mail: kathleen@teachers.net
SAN DIEGO, CA-- Author and teacher-support expert Hal Portner will host an hour-long chat in the Teachers.Net Meeting Room on the topic "Make the Most of Being Mentored."
On Wednesday, June 25, 11 a.m., Portner will greet participants with a video introduction, then will engage in an hour of dialog with participants. A printable handout resource will be released approximately 2 hours before the chat begins.
Hal is well known to those who read his monthly column in the Teachers.Net Gazette, and for his leadership during the e-mentoring chats at Teachers.Net.
He is also known throughout the country as the author of many books, including Being Mentored - A Guide for Protégés and Mentoring New Teachers, both published by Corwin Press. A copy of each book will be given away in a random drawing during the chat. To be eligible, log on and participate in the hour-long session.
Hal Portner is a former K-12 teacher and administrator. He was assistant director of the Summer Math Program for High School Women and Their Teachers at Mount Holyoke College, and for 24 years he was a teacher and then administrator in two Connecticut public school districts. From 1985 to 1995, he was a member of the Connecticut State Department of Education’s Bureau of Certification and Professional Development, where, among other responsibilities, he served as coordinator of the Connecticut Institute for Teaching and Learning and worked closely with school districts to develop and carry out professional development and teacher evaluation plans and programs.
Portner writes, develops materials, trains mentors, facilitates the development of new teacher and peer-mentoring programs, and consults for school districts and other educational organizations and institutions. In addition to Mentoring New Teachers, he is the author of Training Mentors Is Not Enough: Everything Else Schools and Districts Need to Do (2001), Being Mentored: A Guide for Protégés (2002), Workshops that Really Work: The ABCs of Designing and Delivering Sensational Presentations (2005), and editor of Teacher Mentoring and Induction: The State of the Art and Beyond (2005) – all published by Corwin Press.
Portner holds an MEd from the University of Michigan and a 6th-year Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study (CAGS) in education administration from the University of Connecticut. For three years, he was with the University of Massachusetts EdD Educational Leadership Program.