From Complaints to Creativity: How Mentor Teachers Can Use AI to Support New Teachers
Intro
Every mentor teacher has heard it before:
“My students just won’t behave.”
“I don’t have the resources I need.”
“There’s never enough time to plan.”
For beginning teachers, these challenges can feel like walls. Mentors know they’re also part of the teaching landscape. The way we help colleagues respond to them can make all the difference.
Reframing Restraints
Mentors can model how to turn restraints into design prompts:
Student behavior → How might we design lessons that boost engagement?
Lack of resources → How might we adapt what we do have?
Limited time → How might we simplify while still meeting goals?
Where AI Fits In
Generative AI can be a mentor’s secret ally. With the right prompts, it can:
Suggest variations of a lesson that match the resources your BT has.
Offer engagement hooks for students with behavior challenges.
Re-format lessons for different timeframes (10, 20, 30 minutes).
Mentor in Action Example
Imagine a BT who says, “My students don’t focus during reading.”
Instead of only offering advice, you might:
Open an AI tool together and ask for general engagement strategies.
Paste the actual lesson into the tool and ask it to adjust for interaction and focus.
Suddenly, the restraint becomes an opportunity.
Companion Resource for Mentors
To make this practical, we created a Kinwise AI Mentor Resource you can use right away.
It includes:
Real-world scenarios new teachers complain about.
Mentor “moves” to reframe each challenge.
AI prompts you can copy, paste, and try with your BT’s actual lesson.
Closing
Mentoring is about modeling new ways of thinking. By pairing empathy with possibility, and by showing how AI can transform walls into windows, you’ll help new teachers not only survive but thrive.
