Experienced teacher worn out from mentoring new colleague 

Q: My school has a mentorship program in place for new teachers. As an experienced (30-plus years) educator, I signed on. I want to give back to the profession, and I recognize that it’s become an increasingly demanding job with a high turnover rate. There’s a stipend involved, but it’s modest, and that isn’t why I agreed to the role.  

Anyway, I was assigned to “Carla,” who is 24, has a master’s degree, and did an internship before landing at my school. This isn’t her first exposure to the work, and we’re pretty similar to the school where she put in her training hours, but Carla is acting like she’s been sent to the coal mines. She cries off and on, all day long. At the copier. In the halls. Pretty much everywhere except in front of students, thankfully. Her skills are meh but not awful, which is to be expected from a young and overwhelmed new teacher, but that doesn’t seem to be the primary problem. She’s just an emotional train wreck.  

I’ve done what I can to ease her load. I’ve given her copies of all of my lessons. I’ve come in early to make photocopies for her. I’ve watched her teach and given feedback. I’ve taught her students in front of her to demonstrate a few practices I thought might help. I’ve had her come watch me teach my students. I’ve taken on an extra class to give her more time to recharge. I’ve brought her coffee and let her cry on my shoulder more times than I can count. I’m starting to burn out myself! I don’t want to bail on her, because I know she’ll throw in the towel and I’ll feel responsible, but I don’t know if I can do this anymore. Help!