First-year history teacher Michael Liegey is deeply knowledgeable and energetic about his subject. He peppers his conversations with students with “fun facts” about historical figures, occasionally sprinting to the smartboard to search Google for an image that will illustrate his point.

“He knows the content very well,” says Wesly Toussaint, Liegey’s mentor and a fellow history teacher at Metropolitan Diploma Plus HS, a transfer high school in Brownsville. “He’s so passionate and excited that sometimes he starts lecturing, and it’s a little too much for the students. So I tell him: Focus on the most important idea. Let go and let the kids do a little more talking.”

It’s advice that Liegey is taking to heart.

“I’ve toned it down,” he admits with a laugh as Toussaint looks on.

The partnership between the two teachers has been fostered by a mentoring program run jointly by the DOE Office of Leadership and the UFT Teacher Center. More than 2,000 veteran teachers have participated in its 12-hour introductory course for mentors. The ultimate goal is to ensure that all 6,000 school-based mentors become “certified” through the program.

“The idea is that mentoring is a leadership role,” says Judi Fenton, who leads the DOE’s Department of Mentoring and Induction. Vidal Pabon, who heads up the initiative at the UFT Teacher Center, notes: “The core of our work is establishing relationships.”

Toussaint, in his eighth year of teaching, has acted as an unofficial mentor to younger teachers before, but this is his first year as a mentor of record. The mentoring course, he says, has given him helpful tools.

“Being given language you can use and documentation to make you really think about how to approach it makes it feel more strategic,” he says.

Toussaint and Liegey meet every morning along with the third member of their department to plan lessons together and review student work.

Early in the year, Liegey acknowledges, he was skeptical about some of Toussaint’s recommendations.

“I thought I was the greatest thing since sliced bread,” he says.

Toussaint encouraged Liegey to organize his lessons around stations at which students can work independently or in small groups. It’s a strategy that minimizes disruption for students who are frequently absent and also makes it possible to differentiate instruction for the school’s overage, under-credited students.

Beyond the value for students, Liegey now appreciates how the structure of stations helps him plan lessons more efficiently.

As the year progresses, Toussaint has gradually shifted more responsibility in their meetings over to Liegey, asking him to take notes during the inquiry process.

“He’s always eager to learn more,” Toussaint says of Liegey. “He’s comfortable enough in the classroom now that I want him to take more of a leadership role in the school, too.”

In his classroom, it’s apparent how much Liegey has learned from Toussaint. Their vibrantly colored classrooms, which sit side by side, even share a similar decorating aesthetic.

“I like it to pop,” says Toussaint.

“It’s bigger than my apartment, so I’m invested in making it nice,” agrees Liegey with a laugh.

The two are frequent visitors in each other’s classrooms, with Toussaint modeling lessons for Liegey and then sitting in on his class to offer feedback.

“I know I have my own style, so it’s a blend of interpreting what he does in my own style,” Liegey says.

Toussaint recalls modeling the strategy of “silent conversation,” in which students respond to each other’s ideas through written comments. Liegey adapted the strategy for his own classroom with a twist, adding baskets of supplies at each station and checklists for students to keep track of their work.

“Honestly, he took it up another level,” Toussaint says. “We can now learn from each other.”

Liegey agrees. “I don’t feel like a first-year teacher when I’m talking to him,” he says.

Guided by resources he’s obtained through the mentoring program, Toussaint has set goals for his partnership with Liegey.

“I want to start looking more at some literature around pedagogy and articles about things we’re doing in class,” Toussaint says. “It’ll help him to see the deeper purpose of why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

They’ll also work together on how to collect and use data to drive instruction.

For both teachers, it’s clear that Toussaint’s investment in Liegey will have lasting benefits.

“I love teaching,” says Liegey. “It’s what I want to do for my whole life.”