Mentor Biography

Cathé Rhodes joined the Alaska Statewide Mentor Project in the Fall of 2005. She was very excited about the opportunity to provide support and encouragement to early career teachers, and was driven by the belief that all of Alaska's children deserve an effective teacher. During the school year of 2007-08, she planned and delivered bi-monthly professional development via Elluminate to mentors across the state. These forums allowed mentors to practice skills and problem- solve with colleagues without the expense of traveling to one spot. Cathé became a certified New Teacher Center presenter of Professional Development for the ASMP mentors in 2008, and has been training with NTC and ASMP trainers ever since. In the Fall of 2009, Cathé became a Lead Mentor, providing support to other mentors by providing on-site shadowing and coaching in the mentoring process. This process of support mirrors the support that mentors provide to their early career teachers. It is a safe and non-evaluative way to move their practice forward. Cathé also became a member of the ASMP Management Team in 2009, which is responsible for making programmatic and training decisions for ASMP.

Cathé holds a B.S. and M.S. in Secondary Education, major in English, from Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. She taught high school English for 8 years before moving to Alaska in 1982. Cathé then spent 20.5 years teaching English in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District.