my name is Lonnie Ray pomoy and I love to teach my name is Laticia cabera and I love to teach my name is Morgan Dalton and I love to [Music] teach going in into my first year I was really nervous about all the stuff that didn't teach me in in college with my mentor teacher he made me feel really comfortable with just introducing my personality and into my class as a new teacher you're always still learning you're trying to implement new things in your practice so it's always nice to have those veterin teachers or professionals to kind of uh lean your shoulder on a little bit and then uh kind of bounce ideas off of I doubt it myself a few times it was so stressful but having my mentor I would talk to her and it would just help me and bring me back to you know my senses I would be like okay no am going to be okay if no one did that for me I wouldn't be the type of teacher that I am now they've had those same struggles so then they can help kind of hold your hand and guide you in that transition from college to the actual classroom and she actually took me step by step through the process of what good teaching should look like and um she would model lessons and she would provide support and really that encouragement component on the days where I just felt like I couldn't go any further and even after our two years were over um she continues to pop in you know she continues to check in on me and as I told her that I was looking at the national board process she continues to encourage that and to support and it was really just nice to have somebody there just kind of you know put his hand on my shoulder and just say hey it's going to be all right here in Arizona we have such a diverse you know community so even though it's not just an El class we have a lot of students that you know can benefit from that I really like the idea of a mentor teacher program and I could see me being that person being a mentor teacher to new teachers in the in the future and I feel like this is a way that I I'm able to give back I really don't know that I would have been as ready and as comfortable to take on that role had she not have provided such great support during those first years I really do believe that mentors could really help you give you the support that you need I mean I couldn't see myself with that one like I would have not been able to survive my first year without my mentor [Music]