The Portable Mentor: A Resource Guide for Entry-Year Principals and Mentors

 Find the guidance and support to develop the skills of a successful first-year principal!

Navigating the first days, months, and even the first year of an entry-year principalship often proves a harrowing experience. Guiding these unseasoned administrators can also be a daunting task. Even scheduling meeting time for a mentor and new principal may challenge the full schedule of busy administrators.

Enter The Portable Mentor, a guide that serves both first-year principals and their mentors by providing a practical resource written in an easy-to-use and easy-to-understand conversational style. This reference can also be used in place of a mentor when none is available.

 Drawing on 41 years of experience as a school principal and principal mentor, Fred Lindley explores the duties of entry-year principals from the viewpoint of both the principal and mentor. Organized in the format of a nine-month school year, the book incorporates ISLLC Standards to emphasize:

 Organization during the first-year principalship

Tasks to accomplish each month

Leading versus managing and how both can benefit your school

Communication and working with people

Defining and nurturing the mentoring relationship

Every entry-year principal deserves the helpful advice and guiding hand of a trusted mentor-a valued resource whether in person or in writing.

Marcus D. Patterson is currently a doctoral (Ph.D.) candidate at Boston University and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. As a student, Mr. Patterson was a member of the APA Committee on Accreditation and a member of the international Psychology Executives Roundtable. He served on the APA Advocacy Coordinating Team from 1996-1998, and has been an invited attendee at the State Leadership Conference for over five years. Mr. Patterson has also served as a liaison to the APA Council of Representatives, the Association of the State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB), the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP), the Presidential Commission on Education and Training Leading to Licensure and on the APA Education Leadership Conference. He received the President's award for contribution and service to the profession of psychology from the National Association of Graduate and Professional Students (NAGPS) in 1998. He was the 1997-98 Rosenblum Fellow in Political Advocacy for the Massachusetts Psychological Association (MPA) and founded the MPA Doctoral Student Group. He was Chair of the American Psychological Association's Graduate Students (APAGS) from 2000-2001 and continues to serve on the APAGS executive committee. Mr. Patterson has written a number of articles and given numerous presentations on training issues impacting students.