Mentoring

// This page is devoted to exploring mentoring as a form of leadership, teaching, and learning in foreign language education. // toc

= MENTORING OBJECTIVES: =

1) Students will define mentoring. 2) Students will identify pedagogical strategies for initiating and sustaining healthy mentoring relationships with students and colleagues. 3) Students will practice mentoring strategies for mediating thinking.

**GUIDING QUESTIONS:**


 * What is mentoring?
 * How does mentoring differ from other forms of teaching?
 * What are some of the strategies that effective mentors use to build shared cultures of learning?
 * In what ways might mentoring be considered a form of leadership?
 * How might mentoring be used to support students? Beginning teachers? Colleagues? Professional Learning Communities? Other organizations?
 * How might mentoring be used as a tool for initiating, implementing, and sustaining change?

=KEY CONCEPTS:=


 * "We don't learn from doing, we learn from thinking about doing" (Laura Lipton)
 * Mentoring is a way to foster a CULTURE that supports learning.
 * Mentoring is a PROCESS--one that allows leaders to initiate productive relationships, identify needs and concerns, determine effective responses to resistance, and empower others through collaborative learning.
 * Mentoring is a LEARNING process--it is not about telling someone what to do, how to think, or why they should change. It is about building their internal capacity to make better professional decisions.
 * Mentoring is a RECIPROCAL process--one which recognizes that all individuals enter relationships with strengths and weaknessess, and that the mentor and the mentee both learn from one another.

=KEY PRINCIPLES:=


 * In order to progress, mentees need to have their existing thinking ** challenge ** d, their ** vision ** of what is possible for themselves and for their students expanded, and adequate ** support ** (in terms of emotional, intellectual, physical, and social resources). (Lipton, 2003)
 * ** Begin where the mentee is **, not where you want them to be.
 * Select your ** mentoring stance ** (coaching, collaborating, or consulting) based on the mentee's perspective and skill level. (Lipton, 2003)
 * Monitor ** nonverbal cues ** continuously so that you can adjust your stance when necessary during the course of the interaction.
 * Listen for the ** story BEHIND the words ** . In other words, __ "Listen __ to what is being said and the // events // being related . . . . Listen to the // feelings // being expressed. Listen to the // needs // being expressed. __ Understand __ by putting yourself in the other person's shoes as best you can" (Lundberg & Lundberg, 2000, p. 38).
 * ** Pause ** before you respond, ** paraphrase ** what you think was said, and ** probe ** with follow-up questions. (Lipton, 2003). "When you use the operative words of the person speaking, then he knows that he is being listened to because he hears his lead being followed. His path is not being challenged or diverted . . . . " (Lundberg & Lundberg, 2000, p. 51).
 * Provide ** non-judgmental feedback ** that ** invites additional thinking ** and conversation. "Be non-judgmental" (Lipton). "Get rid of the 'buts' in your conversations. They nearly always invalidate whatever validation you previously gave" (Lundberg & Lundberg, 2000, p. 54).
 * "When relationships are strained and the air charged with emotion, an attempt to teach is often perceived as a form of judgment and rejection" (Lundberg & Lundberg, 2000, p. 62).

=ACTIVITIES:=

1: You Raise Me Up
[|You Raise Me Up] - // From Closer by Josh Groban // (What does this song have to do with mentoring?)

3: Think/Pair/Share
Share a recent mentoring experience with a partner

4: The Complexity of Teaching
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5: Needs of Mentees
Needs of Mentee - Support, Challenge, Vision


 * What kind of support?
 * What kind of challenge?
 * What kind of vision?

6: Learning-focused Conversations

 * Listen for the "meaning behind the words"
 * Avoid: Personal Referencing, Personal Curiosity, Personal Certainty
 * [|Learning-focused Conversations: A Continuum of Interaction]
 * [|Learning-focused Verbal Toolkit]
 * [|How to Talk So Teachers Listen]
 * [|Learning-focused Supervision: Navigating Difficult Conversations]
 * Principles of Validation - [|I Don't Have to Make Everything All Better!]

__ **7: Giving & Receiving Feedback** __

 * Principles for Evaluating the Quality of Feedback: **


 * Is it non-judgmental?
 * Is it based on observable data?
 * Does it mediate thinking by helping the mentee to see patterns in circumstances and behavior (both positive and negative)?
 * Does it focus on things that are within the mentee's locus of control/sphere of influence?
 * Does it help the mentee to see what to do next (in terms of the VERY NEXT step) and does it provide the support the mentee needs in order to accomplish that?
 * Does it invite additional, learning-focused conversation?


 * A Process for Giving Feedback **


 * **Perspective** – Start by ASKING for the learner’s perspective (because behavior doesn't change until perspective changes).**Feel -** How did you feel about your lesson today?
 * **Think –** What do you think went well today?
 * **Do** – What will you change for next time?
 * **Probe -** Ask questions instead of making statements (to invite thinking).
 * **Personal Observations** – Use “I” statements, and be descriptive, not evaluative.
 * **Possible to Change** - Focus on behavior that can be changed.
 * **Prioritize** - Focus on 1 to 3 high priority issues (to limit the "cognitive load"

8: Mentoring Scenarios
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=READINGS:=

- Ball, William. (1984). // A sense of direction: Some observations on the art of directing. // Hollywood, CA: Drama Publishers. ISBN 0-89676-082-0. This phenomenal book (particularly Chapters 1, 2, and 5) provides unique insights into the nature of directing and acting, teaching and learning, leading and mentoring, and intuition and creativity

DePorter, Bobbi, Mark Reardon, & Sarah Singer-Nourie. (1999). // Quantum teaching: Orchestrating student success. // Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. ISBN 0-205-28664-X.

Eisner, Elliot W. (2002). // The arts and the creation of mind. // New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09523-6.

Ganser, Tom. (1997, Winter). [|What are the important mentor roles?] // MLRN's Mentor Journal, 1. // Retrieved February 21, 2007, from []

This article provides results of a study on mentoring roles based on interview data from 26 participants.

Garmston, Robert J., & Wellman, Bruce M. (1999). // The adaptive school: A sourcebook for developing collaborative groups. // Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-926842-91-9. This book provides a series of useful strategies for facilitating collaborative groups.

Lambert, Linda. (1998). // [|Building leadership capacity in schools]. // Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. ISBN 0-87120-307-3. [|http://www.ascd.org]

Lipton, Laura, Wellman, Bruce, & Humbard, Carlette. (2003). // Mentoring matters: A practical guide to learning-focused relationships. // Sherman, CT: MiraVia, LLC. ISBN 0-9665022-2-1. [|http://www.miravia.com]

This teacher-friendly book contains information regarding the tensions inherent in mentoring new teachers, offers practical strategies for balancing these tensions, outlines verbal techniques for mediating thinking, and provides a useful collection of reproducible inventories, rubrics, templates, and other tools to support both mentors and mentees.

- This book by Max Lucado demonstrates how well-meaning mentors can sometimes stifle the very growth they are trying to promote by failing to recognize the individual gifts and talents of those they serve

- Lundberg, Gary, & Joy Lundberg. (2000). // [|I don't have to make everything all better: Six practical principles that empower others to solve their own problems while enriching your relationships]. // NY: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-028643-8.

Lundberg, Gary, & Joy Lundberg. (2000). // I don't have to make everything all better: Six practical principles that empower others to solve their own problems while enriching your relationships. // NY: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-028643-8. [|http://www.penguinputnam.com]

Lundin, Stephen C., Harry Paul, & John Christensen. (2000). // Fish! // NY: Hyperion. ISBN 0-7868-6602-0.

[|What I Learned from my First Student Teacher] - A National Board Certified Teacher reflects on her first experience as a mentor teacher

=RESOURCES:=

[|Creating a Professional Development Plan] - This PDF contains a workbook with tons of resources that will help you to guide colleagues in creating professional development plans that can serve as a guide to mentoring and support.

How to Train a Student Teacher



- Excellent overview of the whats, whys, and hows of mentoring from Educause

- Outlines advantages and disadvantages of each for both the mentor and the mentee (from Educause)

__//The Power of Conversation//__
// **Engage in Continuous Conversation -** // "Persistence does not mean patiently waiting for people to 'see the light.' Rather, it entails listening, posing tough questions, describing, mediating, and surfacing and confronting conflict. When opposition occurs in the form of active resistance or passive aggressiveness, . . .it is vital to secure agreement to stay in the dialogue" (Lambert, p. 86).

// **Nurture Understanding -** // ". . . variance in understandings will be widened by the lack of opportunity for conversation" (Lambert, p. 91).

// **Offer Support -** // "They're skeptical because they're scared" (Lundin, Paul, & Christensen, p. 81).

**//__The Power of Empowerment__//**
"Help that is not good is the kind that continually subsidizes a person and makes him dependent on you" (Lundberg & Lundberg, 2000, p. 279).

"When you start thinking up solutions for others you change the focus to yourself" (Lundberg & Lundberg, 2000, p. 279).

__//The Power of Feedback//__
"In real life, negative feedback doesn't mean failure--or anything else. It has no intrinsic meaning. It's just a message that says, 'Try again.'" (DePorter, Reardon, & Singer-Nourie, 1999, p. 196).

"Self-reflection on one's own teaching, though important, is seldom sufficient . . . . We often simply don't know what we are unaware of . . . . What we need is critical yet supportive feedback from those who know how to // see // . . . ." (Eisner, pp. 56-57).

__//The Power of Learning//__
"There has been an assumption that if the student is the learner, then the teacher must be someone who is not a learner" (Torbe & Medway, 1981, p. 10).

**//__The Power of Listening__//**
"One of the greatest compliments you can give another person is your complete attention" (Lundberg & Lundberg, 2000, p. 56).

"The more we preach, the more they will feel compelled to keep defending that point of view through their actions" (Lundberg & Lundberg, 2000, p. 125).

"When you offer help you must attempt to see through the eyes of the other person what is needed and wanted. The only way to do this is to ask nonthreatening questions" (Lundberg & Lundberg, 2000, p. 28).