An Ideal Mentoring Process - Essay Example

The Gift of Ideal Mentoring Process Mentorship may be described as reaching out to a novice to give light and direction towards his desired path to success and entails a mentor joining him in his journey. A perfect example is a teacher herding his students toward the path of wisdom. In the classroom setting, the teacher, being the mentor of his students, comes to class prepared to teach… and to learn. Students’ basic expectation is to learn lessons from their teacher, and when they have gained enough skills, apply these in various situations. Initially dependent on their teacher’s expertise, students can go back and forth with questions to their mentor, and later, with answers or discoveries to share or validate with him. The teacher who keeps an open mind also gains a lot of learning observing how his students derive answers from their discovery process, sometimes, differently from how he did it. This dynamic is likewise possible for two teachers sharing a mentoring relationship.. A collaborative learning effort usually transpires in a mentoring relationship. A mentor and sound off some ideas and a mentee can take them up and dig deeper to unveil a phenomenon. The mentor, likewise does his research to be able to support the efforts of the student. A healthy teaching-learning environment prevails in such a productive collaboration. This report will chronicle a mentoring relationship between a veteran teacher and an on-the job novice teacher who is taking up further studies in education to equip her with more professional skills in her chosen career. It will follow the progress of the novice teacher’s growth within a span of a semester. Her mentor will ably guide her in the requirements of her studies in graduate school as well as in her teaching practice with toddlers. Background I have had the opportunity of interviewing both mentor, Anna and mentee, Ruth. Their mentoring relationship has been ongoing for several months now, as Ruth is Anna’s teacher assistant in her toddlers’ class. Ruth also has the privilege of having Anna help her out in her graduate school requirements as she provides the connections between theory and practice, and points out specific examples from their own class. Profile of Mentor: Anna is a veteran educator, with her experience spanning over two decades. She has worked with preschool children and their families from the time she graduated from college. She has established her own preschool that has been running for eighteen years now. Due to heavy enrolment, she has also taken some classes to handle herself. On top of being a part time faculty at a prestigious university teaching graduate courses in Early Childhood Educations, she provides excellent on-the job training to the teachers in her preschool. Parents of the students in her school are very much satisfied and impressed with the quality of the education their children derive from Anna’s school and speak highly of her as a teacher. Likewise, her teachers excel at what they do, exhibiting professionalism and personal qualities expected of teachers of very young children. This may be greatly credited to Anna, who is a hands-on mentor to her stable of efficient teachers and staff. She consistently follows up on their progress and updates herself with current research and innovations in education to cascade to her mentees. Profile of Mentee: Ruth has recently graduated from college and is currently pursuing graduate courses in Education. She is enrolled in the university where she graduated from, which is not the same university where Anna teaches. She has been hired to assist Anna in her toddlers’ class although she did not have any teaching experience. From her initial interview for the position, Anna saw her potentials in becoming a great teacher, basing it from her personality, attitude and disposition that she displayed in her answers to the interview questions and her performance in the teaching demonstration. Initially, Ruth struggled with her role as a new teacher in a challenging age level (which most preschool teachers consider the most difficult one), but with Anna to guide the way, she eventually became accustomed to it. She has also manifested her difficulties in adjusting to her life as a graduate student, and has in several instances, brought up the idea of quitting either her teaching job or student role to concentrate on just one endeavour. Anna was successful in encouraging her to take up the challenge of doing both, as she believed her learning would be maximized if she gets to apply the theories she learns from her graduate courses to practice in her toddlers’ class. She assured Anna that she will support her all the way to realize her goals. The Mentoring Process The mentoring process in Anna’s school began with the in-house teacher training that occurred a few weeks before school opened. Anna conducted the training, covering several topics from reflections and self-assessment of their own motivations for teaching and teaching competencies. For Ruth, having no previous teaching experience, she introspected on her potentials as a teacher. From the initial self-assessments, Anna moved on to discussing the nature of preschool children and how they learn so that the teachers will gain a better understanding of their future students. The training also covered practical lessons on educational strategies that were developmentally-appropriate for young children. Curriculum planning was heavily discussed and the teachers were asked to research on possible activities for their classes that would develop children’s concepts and skills. The in-house teacher training happens twice a year – before school opens and mid-school year. It truly helps keep teachers grounded and well-guided in their jobs as educators of young children. Ruth apparently got the most benefit from the mentoring process, as she and Anna partnered in the toddlers’ class, and her every move was supervised and guided by Anna. At first, Anna mostly handled the curriculum planning and teaching, but never failed to explain to Anna the processes she followed and why. They had daily mini-meetings to assess what happened during the day and to plan what was in store for the following day. Weekly, they met to plan together the curriculum to be followed for the following week. Ruth mostly prepared the materials needed in the class – the teaching and learning aids, the books and educational toys and materials. She was also asked to keep a journal of her experiences with the children, her observations per child, and possible activities the children may benefit from which were related to the lessons. She presented her journal entries to Anna every week and they discussed it, along with Anna’s comments and recommendations. These were faithfully documented in Ruth’s journal. As Anna showed Ruth the ropes, she also paved the path for Ruth to take a more active role in the class. At first, she would ask Ruth to read stories to the children one-on-one, and then to a small group of children. Eventually, Ruth was in charge of story-telling during the children’s nap time. She was also expected to plan at least 3 activities with the children per week, and over time, she was given more opportunities to work with them not just as a teacher assistant, but as a teacher. Anna was preparing Ruth to eventually lead the class, as she eventually steps back into the background and allow Ruth to shine. This is when Ruth gains more confidence and competence to be left on her own. Ruth had a few mistakes along the way, as expected of a novice. She would sing in a low voice which the little children could not sing with, and Anna would be on hand to gesture her into making her voice higher. She would also just read the text out of the storybooks, and Anna would show her how to tell stories to young children – animatedly, with voice changes and mostly paraphrasing the text to words children can understand. Ruth was also trained to point to the text while she reads, so the children could make a connection between printed and spoken words. And learn that reading words should follow a left to right directionality. Questioning was also a skill Anna taught her to ensure that comprehension of the story took place. Anna’s eye was very sharp that none of Ruth’s mistakes passed it. She was vigilant in watching Ruth’s every move without being intimidating. Her mentoring style was that she would allow Ruth to do her way, and after that, she would pull Ruth in private to give her her assessment or correction. Ruth did not feel threatened by Anna’s constant presence, in fact, she found security in it. Once in a while, she would look to Anna for approval in what she was doing. The two have developed a non-verbal language that is mutually clear to them. They also developed a certain sensitivity to each other and to their children. A strong bond was established between mentor and mentee. Concurrently, Ruth would ask for Anna’s advise in her school requirements. Fortunately, most of it was related to what they were practicing with the children: Keen observation of children; curriculum planning; conferencing techniques with parents, etc. Aside from giving her valuable advise, Anna would also furnish her with readings related to her courses. There was some of Ruth’s school work that was incorporated in their activities with the children. Ruth proudly took over the class when these activities were done. An example was a weeklong curriculum on the unit of “Good Food”. Ruth carefully researched on developmentally-appropriate concepts and activities for two and three year olds related to the unit. She and Anna discussed and planned together which activities they would do and which they would discard based on the children’s skill level and interest. Currently, Anna and Ruth are collaborating on the children’s narrative reports to present to the parents in their next Parent-Teacher Conference. Anna gave lessons on how to positively word children’s observations so parents will not take offence in likely disturbing behaviour their children display in school. For example, instead of writing “Paul has been physically aggressive in school and hits his classmates”, which Ruth wrote in Paul’s report, Anna would write, “Paul needs to learn to express his negative emotions in more appropriate ways.” The first statement would alert Paul’s parents right away and put them on the defensive. The second statement makes them take action to help their son. Without Anna’s adept guidance, Ruth would have sent a report that would not agree with the parents and cause a problem. Anna is also helping Ruth with a big paper on creating a curriculum for preschoolers. She is not giving her all the answers, instead, makes her work hard to come up with her original work. Anna just serves as a hovering guide and is on call for whatever advise Ruth needs. She knows this paper will be a good training tool for Ruth as well, and would eventually benefit the children in their school. Reflections on The Mentoring Process I was fortunate enough to have encountered a mentoring pair which embodied all the ideals I have learned from this unit. Although still young, Anna manifested a wisdom way beyond her years. Her vast experience in teaching has served her well in passing on her knowledge to the next generation of efficient and effective teachers. “A mentor is someone who takes a special interest in helping another person develop into a successful professional.” (http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/mentor/1.html), It was evident that Anna had the best intentions for Ruth and the other teachers in her school. More than treating them as “investments” or “assets” in her school, she takes pains in working with them one-on-one to provide them the guidance they need as young teachers, still new in a field where she has mastered over the years. Not only was Anna able to give a holistic mentoring for her teachers in giving them an in-house training and providing them an overview of what to expect and how to deal with their students during the incoming schoolyear, she also vigilantly checks up on their specific areas of improvement. With Ruth under her wing, she constantly gives her feedback on what she does right and wrong and provides alternatives. However, she is also respectful of Ruth’s ideas and motivations and gives her latitude in pursuing her own teaching style that lets her personality permeate. From my readings, Anna depicted the perfect mentor who possesses all the necessary qualities to help her mentees develop their full potential. Like all good mentors, Anna is a good listener, a good observer and a good problem-solver (http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/mentor/1.html). She established a comfortable mentoring environment for Ruth so that she will not feel intimidated or have a fear of being chastised for mistaken views. Anna acknowledges, accepts and respects Ruth’s views and work with her in correcting what is wrong. Anna seemed to have understood Stoll, Fink & Earl’s (2003) theory on using the four kinds of reinforcement in learning namely intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, social reinforcement and achievement. She saw in Ruth an eager learner who was ready to take on the challenge of working with toddlers. Anna also saw that she was open to feedback and flexibly corrected her mistakes. When Ruth did something right, she would commend her and entrust her with more responsibilities as a sign that Ruth has gained her confidence. She also talked highly of Ruth with other teachers and with the parents of their children and generously praised her for coming up with the great ideas for their class. The mentoring relationship would not have been a success if the mentee was not at par with the greatness of the mentor. Ruth has proven herself as worthy of being a protégé of a great mentor. Her openness and humility were ideal qualities at the beginning of the mentoring relationship, as she welcomed and embraced all the wisdom and knowledge Anna had to offer. She was also made aware of every new learning situation and opportunity by keeping a journal. Following the suggestion of Smyth (1991) that journal writing makes reflection and evaluation of events easier, Ruth was tasked to describe her experiences with the children each day, inform what happened objectively, confront herself about her true beliefs and attitudes towards teaching and the children were and why she adopts such views, and reconstruct conflicting views with new beliefs she develops along the way. Although a grueling process, Ruth appreciated it because it made her go beneath the surface of her motivations to teach. The mentoring relationship of Anna and Ruth traversed all three levels of learning theorized by Hay (1995). The first level of traditional learning commenced when Anna modeled to Ruth how teaching young children should be done. Anna patiently walked Ruth through the process, by stopping once in a while to explain why she was doing what she was doing with the children and how must be able to do it. The next learning level of transitional learning happens when they meet and plan the children’s lessons. They discuss how things are normally done, and how they can adjust the activities to a level that will be more appropriate for each student in their class. Anna also challenged Ruth to think out of the box and come up with innovative ways to present and implement the activities. The third level, which is the deepest level of learning is transformational learning. This manifests when they discuss and evaluate various viewpoints to consider to come up with a high quality of education for their students. Ruth benefits much from this as she integrates such learning in her student requirements in graduate school. Anna went further in her mentoring role as she has taken the initiative to help out Ruth in her graduate studies. She served as a guiding light to Ruth to illuminate yet unseen paths. Like a parent of a toddler learning to walk, Anna stretched out her hands for Ruth to reach while she slowly walked backwards in order for Ruth to find the courage to make her first steps forward. Scaffolding Ruth’s teaching duties from mere assistant into lead teacher was carefully orchestrated. In the few months of their mentorship, Ruth has taken leaps in her development as a teacher. With the able guidance of Anna, she was able to discover her passion in teaching her zeal in learning. She has emerged as a confident and efficient teacher with small roots growing to keep her grounded to the realities of the challenges in teaching young children, and vestiges of growing wings to keep her focused on optimizing her potentials and venturing into unlimited possibilities teaching has to offer. References Hay, J. (1995). Learning and changing. Transformational mentoring: creating developmental alliances for changing organizational cultures. London: McGraw-Hill. [pp. 131–147]. http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/mentor/1.html Smyth, J. (1991). Teachers as collaborative learners. Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press. Stoll, L., Fink, D. & Earl, L., (2003) It’s About Learning. Read More