PREFACE
This book is written for mentors and those who wish to serve as mentors, and for individuals who are responsible for establishing and evaluating mentor programs. It is a book of practical ideas about mentoring, directed towards the teaching profession. Hopefully, other professions and fields also may find ideas in this book that will be helpful for mentoring or for setting up mentoring programs in their organizations.
Interest in mentoring has increased dramatically in the past five years as part of a sweeping reform of education in the United States. During the 1980's, extensive efforts have been directed toward restructuring the teaching profession. These efforts have led many educators to focus their energy on the development of stronger support systems for beginning teachers. To come to the aid of beginning teachers, many school districts and regions throughout the United States have begun to establish mentor teacher programs. Such programs are expected to increase the success of beginning teachers and encourage them to remain in the profession.
A second audience served by mentor programs includes "cross-over" teachers--those expert teachers who volunteer to teach a subject other than their own in an area where there is a critical shortage and an unmet need (as currently is the case for science and mathematics teachers).
The design of the handbook follows a natural sequence of questions that are frequently asked by mentors and others interested in mentoring. Its emphasis is on mentoring strategies; but readers also will learn about the rewards of mentoring and how to avoid the risks. By making this book available to those interested in mentoring, it is hoped that the quality of the mentoring experience is enriched for both mentor and mentee.
Rita W. Peterson
August 8, 1989
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. What is a Mentor?
Mentors Play Many Roles
The Concept of Mentoring
II. How to Select Promising Mentors
Characteristics of Mentors
"Should I Become a Mentor?" Checklist
III. Establishing Productive Mentoring Relationships
The Nature of Mentoring Relationships
Stages in the Development of Mentoring Relationships
Clarifying Expectations in Mentoring Relationships
The Importance of Matching in Mentoring Relationships
IV. Is Training Really Necessary?
The Most Difficult Challenges of Mentoring
V. Ways of Mentoring
Sharing Expertise
Communicating Support and Challenge
VI. Avoiding the Risks of Mentoring
Risk Awareness and Prevention
VII. The Joys of Mentoring
"My Most Rewarding Experience as a Mentor"
VIII. How to Organize and Evaluate a Mentor Program
Recruitment
Organizing a Mentor Training Program
Implementation: Structure to Keep a Mentor Program Going
Evaluation of Mentor Programs and Final Reports
Bibliography
I: WHAT IS A MENTOR ?
Mentors play many roles.
A Mentor, in the historical sense, is seen as someone who:
is a loyal friend, confidant and advisor
is a teacher, guide, coach and role model
is entrusted with the care and education of another
has knowledge and advanced or expert status and who is attracted to and nurtures a person of talent and ability
is willing to give away what he or she knows in a non-competitive way
represents skill, knowledge, virtue and accomplishment
The most effective mentors:
welcome newcomers into the profession and take a personal interest in their career development and well-being
want to share their knowledge, materials, skill and experience with those they mentor
offer support, challenge, patience and enthusiasm while they guide others to new levels of competence
point the way and represent tangible evidence of what one can become
expose the recipients of their mentoring to new ideas, perspectives and standards, and to the values and norms of the profession
are more expert in terms of knowledge but view themselves as equal to those they mentor
The Concept of Mentoring
The concept of mentoring has a long history, one that comes to us from Greek mythology. In Homer's Odyssey, Mentor was the teacher of Telemachus, the son of Odysseus. But Mentor was more than a teacher. Mentor was half-God and half-man, half-male and half-female, believable and yet unreachable. Mentor was the union of both goal and path, wisdom personified (Daloz, 1983).
Today, some 3500 years later, mentoring relationships are still valued. In many professions mentors are thought to enhance if not ensure the professional development and success of talented newcomers. Increasingly, mid-career professionals seek mentors when they wish to develop new levels of expertise and to advance in the profession.
Yet, if mentoring were only a means for aspiring young professionals to gain a career foothold or to be given a boost up the career ladder, mentoring would be a one-way street. Common experience tells us that one-sided relationships do not work as well as reciprocal relationships where there is an even exchange of some kind. In fact, mentoring relationships most likely are reciprocal if they achieve their fullest potential.
What does a mentor derive from mentoring? Erickson's description of the Eight Stages of Man sheds some light on the question:
"For the mentor, Erickson's seventh stage of 'generativity' adds further substance to the mentoring relationship. The desire that one's work and influence 'live on' is an important life goal. The nurturing and influencing of young adults and the facilitation of their efforts to form and live out their hopes and wishes can fulfill the generative needs of the mentor" (Rodriquez, et. al.,1984).
Thus, among the strongest and most compelling reasons for serving as a mentor may be the desire to fulfill one's own felt need to contribute to the growth, development and wish fulfillment of an aspiring professional. The act of mentoring allows one to repay, in some measure, the intrinsic benefits he or she has derived from the profession.
A Special Note to Mentor Teachers
Many mentor teacher programs have expanded the concept of mentoring to include activities such as curriculum development projects and staff development workshops. These activities are crucial services in school districts and deserve to be supported. However, such activities have not been included in the definition of mentoring presented here. In this handbook, mentoring is defined as the individualized support, assistance, guidance and optimum amount of challenge which one professional gives to another - whether newcomer or mid-careerist in the profession. The decision to more narrowly define mentoring here is consistent with the recommendation of the California Commission on the Teaching Profession (Commons, 1985).
II: HOW TO SELECT PROMISING MENTORS
Effective mentors share a number of characteristics. The profile sketched below is based on a synthesis of observations described by many mentors and authors. While any single mentor may not possess all of the characteristics, effective mentors have many of these qualities:
Knowledge of Their Field
They are considered by peers to be experts in the field.
They set high standards for themselves.
They enjoy and are enthusiastic about their field.
They continue to update their background in the field.
Demonstrated Skills in Their Field
Their work demonstrates superior achievement.
They use a variety of techniques and skills to achieve their goals.
Earned Respect of Colleagues
They listen to and communicate effectively with others.
They exhibit a good feeling about their own accomplishments and about the profession.
They recognize excellence in others and encourage it.
They are committed to supporting and interacting with their colleagues.
They are able to role-play others and understand their views.
They enjoy intellectual engagement and like to help others.
They are sensitive to the needs of others and generally recognize when others require support, direct assistance or independence.
They exercise good judgment in decisions concerning themselves and the welfare of others.
"SHOULD I BECOME A MENTOR?" CHECKLIST
As one considers the possibility of serving as a mentor, it is time to stop and ask "Should I become a mentor?" The checklist below is designed to guide the self-reflection of individuals who are thinking about becoming mentors. The checklist provides a description of the qualities that are most often thought to be conducive to successful mentoring. Successful mentors generally have many of the qualities listed here, along with some other valuable qualities that are not listed but that are unique to them as individuals. Space is provided at the conclusion of this checklist for respondents to add those qualities that represent their unique or special assets to mentoring.
To use the checklist, respondents should read each statement and place an X in the appropriate column which represents the degree to which the statement characterizes the way the respondent sees himself or herself. After ranking each statement (1) Strongly Agree that the statement is representative; (2) Agree; (3) Neutral; (4) Disagree; and (5) Strongly Disagree, respondents may reflect on their own strengths and weaknesses. Items 1-10 and 15-20 apply to many professional fields while items 11 -14 focus exclusively on the teaching profession.
There is no single "ideal profile", but respondents who possess many of these qualities are likely to serve well as mentors. If one has serious doubts about the strength of his or her own qualifications, it might be useful to get a second opinion from a colleague who knows the respondent well. It is also important to recognize that many of the qualities listed here are developed or learned and the result of practice.
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Disagree Strongly
1 2 3 4 5
1. I see myself as being people-oriented;___ ___ ___ ___ ___
I like and enjoy working with other
professionals.
2. I am a good listener and respect my ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
colleagues.
3. I am sensitive to the needs and feelings ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
of others.
4. I recognize when others need support or___ ___ ___ ___ ___
independence.
5. I want to contribute to the professional ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
development of others and to share
what I have learned.
6. I am willing to find reward in service to___ ___ ___ ___ ___
someone who needs my assistance.
7. I am able to support and help without ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
smothering, parenting or taking charge.
8. I see myself generally as flexible and ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
willing to adjust my personal schedule to
meet the needs of someone else.
9. I usually am patient and tolerant when ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
teaching someone.
10. I am confident and secure in my knowledge ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
of the field and make an effort to remain
up-to-date.
11. I enjoy the subject(s) I teach. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
12. I set high standards for myself and my ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
students.
13. I use a variety of teaching methods and my___ ___ ___ ___ ___
students achieve well.
14. Others look to me for information about my ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
subject matter and methods of teaching.
15. Overall, I see myself as a competent ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
professional.
16. I am able to offer assistance in areas that ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
give others problems.
17. I am able to explain things at various ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
levels of complexity and detail.
18. Others are interested in my professional ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
ideas.
19. * ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
20. * ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
* Items 19 and 20 are reserved for descriptions of one's unique and special
assets for mentoring.
III: ESTABLISHING PRODUCTIVE
MENTORING RELATIONSHIPS
Once a person has decided to become a mentor, thoughts quite naturally turn toward questions about how to establish a productive mentoring relationship. "Will I choose the right person?" "How can I get off to a good start?" These and many other questions are typical first thoughts. In this section readers will find practical answers to such questions.
The Nature of Mentoring Relationships
Establishing a positive mentoring relationship is very much like establishing other valued human relationships in a number of respects. Both parties usually have a genuine desire to understand the values and expectations of the other person, and to respect and become sensitive to one another's feelings and needs.
At the same time, mentoring relationships differ in an important way from other personal relationships because they are professional in nature. Mentors are responsible for conveying and upholding the standards, norms, and values of the profession. They are responsible for offering support and challenge to the recipient of their mentoring while the recipient strives to fulfill the profession's expectations.
Healthy mentoring relationships are evolutionary rather than static in nature. They change because the purpose of the relationship is to enable the recipient to acquire new knowledge, skill, and standards of professional competence. The perceptions of both members of the relationship evolve as the recipient's performance evolves to new levels of competence under the mentor's guidance and support. The person who once said, "No man steps into the same stream twice," could very well have been describing the changing nature of mentoring relationships.
Stages in the Development of Mentoring Relationships
One way to view the evolutionary nature of mentoring relationships is to think of them in terms of stages of development.
Stage 1: The mentor and recipient become acquainted and informally clarify their common interests, shared values and professional goals. Occasionally matchmakers who assign mentors to recipients can foresee "mentor marriages made in heaven," but more often mentors and recipients prefer to choose one another. Taking time to become acquainted with one another's interests, values and goals (Stage 1 ) seems to help mentoring relationships gain a better start than when such activity is given a low priority. (More will be said shortly about situations which do not offer choice of mentors or mentees.)
Stage 2: The mentor and recipient communicate initial expectations and agree upon some common procedures and expectations as a starting point. In the very few cases where a major disparity is found to exist between the needs and expectations of the two individuals--and where neither party can accommodate to the other--the pair is able to part company on a friendly basis before the actual mentoring and inevitable frustration begins.
Stage 3: Gradually, needs are fulfilled. Objectives are met. Professional growth takes place. New challenges are presented and achieved. This stage may last for months or years.
Stage 4: The mentor and recipient redefine their relationship as colleagues, peers, partners and/or friends.
Clarifying Expectations in Mentoring Relationships
Most professionals place a high value on taking the initiative to clarify their own expectations and to understand the expectations of others. This quality contributes to the establishment of strong and positive mentoring relationships.
What are examples of expectations that might be communicated during the exploratory stages (Stages 1 and 2) of a mentoring relationship?
The frequency of contact, the availability and the accessibility of the mentor and recipient.
The amount and kind of support that are needed by the recipient or that can be provided by the mentor.
The various roles the mentor finds comfortable: listener, supporter, advisor, guide, counselor, role model, friend, nurturer or resource in the background. Many other roles might be identified.
The range of roles the recipient will find natural: listener, observer, initiator of requests for help or guidance, need for nurture or autonomy, self-expectations as peer or co-equal. Many other roles might be communicated.
Can experienced professionals mentor to one another? Certainly they can and with great success. For example, highly skilled teachers called "cross-over" teachers who wish to teach in new content areas or take on administrative duties benefit from mentoring relationships. In cases where the mentors and the recipients see themselves as equal and share many common interests and values, Stage 3 is the starting point for their relationship.
The Importance of Matching in Mentoring Relationships
Historically, individuals who have desired to become mentors have looked over aspiring newcomers in their profession or field--such as law, medicine, business, painting, dance, writing, or teaching -- and have selected promising young proteges to nurture. Most of the time, these mentoring relationships work out very well. Occasionally they do not, and the protege moves on in search of another mentor or the mentor seeks another protege. What should individuals who are contemplating a mentoring relationship look for during the exploratory stages of getting to know one another and sharing expectations? Several important factors are considered below.
Degree of eagerness
to have a mentoring
relationship
Similarity in personal styles: Similarity of expected
gregarious, animated, spontaneous, professional assignments
vs. low-key, retiring, reflective and responsibilities
Similarity in preference Academic preparation
for nurture vs. autonomy courses, majors, alma mater
when establishing and previous experience
expectations for support
It is difficult to predict the combination of personal and professional qualities that attract individuals to one another in mentoring relationships. Large numbers of experienced mentors say there is no magic combination. Some individuals are attracted to opposites; others are attracted to similar interests, styles and backgrounds.
What if choice is not an option? Most professionals view the term "professional" to mean, among other things, that one is able to rise above personal considerations, differences or desires when providing service to those who need one's professional help or expertise. Thus, among professionals, any match in a mentoring relationship should be productive. While some freedom of choice is desirable if choice is possible in mentoring relationships, many employment situations do not offer this opportunity. Where mentors are not free to choose the recipient of their mentoring, they might expect--with preparation or training for the role--to be equally as effective as mentors who choose their proteges but who have no preparation for this role.
IV: IS TRAINING REALLY NECESSARY?
Mentors can have a significant effect upon the professional development of aspiring young or mid-career adults in their profession. Whether a mentor's impact is positive or negative depends in large part upon how well informed and skilled the mentor is, and upon the mentor's commitment and availability. It seems only natural to ask: Is training to be a mentor really necessary? Research at the University of California, Irvine, suggests that training is not only important to the success of mentoring relationships but that it can be directed toward the most difficult challenges faced by mentors.
When mentor teachers of one, two and three years of experience as mentors were asked "Do you think mentors need to be trained?", one in five (20%) thought training was unnecessary. Their comments, which are illustrated here, generally reflect the view that mentoring is a natural extension of teaching. They suggest that mentoring essentially is normal teacher-talk, but talk that takes place between two people in a mentoring relationship.
"The best mentoring is on a one-to-one basis where neither party thinks of himself as a mentor (or recipient). Untrained mentors are probably less threatening."
"Enthusiasm is difficult to infuse or train someone to have. If a teacher is good, he will have fun teaching others, even teachers."
"Teaching comes naturally so I suppose mentoring does too."
Yet the majority of mentor teachers (80%) surveyed expressed the view that training would be helpful.
"Where do teachers get the skills to work with adults? Very few people are 'natural' mentors. Training would be valuable, especially to have others share what works for them."
"The personality for mentoring--that nurturing personality--comes naturally, but the nurturing quality becomes focused by training."
"Mentors need training so that they can feel more confident about helping others. They need to know how to help teachers who need help but will not actively seek help."
But "helpful" doesn't mean "necessary." A better way to understand the need for mentor training is to examine the difficulties that mentor teachers encounter while fulfilling their roles. When asked, "What are the most difficult aspects of mentoring for you?" most mentor teachers cited examples which illustrated the need for basic information and training:
"Making the initial contact and building trust. Sharing my ideas at first....I don't want to sound like a know-it-all even when I am asked for help."
"Overcoming my hesitation to tell (the recipient) that he is wrong and to suggest alternatives. I feel like I am offending him."
"Trying to explain (to the recipient) that her material was too difficult. I helped her revise it but certain parts were still too difficult. When do you stop correcting and revising? When does helping become hurting?"
Rejection, I offered help at her convenience but my help wasn't wanted.... It's hard to help people."
"Working with someone for a whole year and then finding that he can't make it."
All of these responses suggest a need for basic information about mentoring relationships or for mentor training. The candid and sensitive responses of these mentors point to the value of some preparation for their role as mentors and the value of specific skills that allow mentors to feel confident and successful as they fulfill their expectations and goals as mentors.
V: WAYS OF MENTORING
When most people think of mentoring, they think of experts sharing technical knowledge with less experienced individuals in a profession. Certainly sharing one's expertise is a large part of mentoring, but so is the communication of support, challenge, feeling and many other kinds of information. A brief glance at the opening page of this handbook, I: What Is A Mentor? is a helpful reminder of the multiple dimensions of mentoring. Here we focus on sharing expertise and communication of support and challenge.
Sharing Expertise
Every mentor has a specific body of professional knowledge and skill to share. To illustrate, in the teaching profession a part of this pedagogical knowledge is referred to as "content." The content or subject matter to be taught to students--for example, history or mathematics--must be transformed from the teachers' university level knowledge of the subject into a form that is appropriate for the readiness level of each particular group of students. In other words, the subject matter must be repackaged to fit the students' maturational, developmental or grade level, and the range of previous experiences the students are likely to have had. Experienced teachers develop a sense of how well various groups of students will understand specific subject matter when the content is presented at different levels of complexity. They are able to "repackage" the content to fit different needs. Similarly, teachers use a variety of teaching methods, each adopted to achieve a specific outcome. Every profession has its own content or body of knowledge in the field and the variety of methods practiced when professionals utilize their knowledge in service to others.
Suggestions for Sharing Expertise on Planning
Find out how you can be the most helpful in the area of planning.
Team up during the orientation week before school begins and schedule regular times to meet for discussion and planning sessions.
Discuss goals for the year or semester and objectives for units or lessons.
Describe various classroom climates and environments you have observed or created and how these variations worked out.
Review the State or district curriculum guidelines together and discuss how they can be woven into the curriculum.
Share catalogs for ordering instructional materials and equipment.
Show how you organize your planning for the year, the semester, the week and the day.
Share your ideas about planning for contingencies.
Talk about how and where to anticipate students' errors and misconceptions.
Describe the labor saving steps you use in planning that pay off later in reduced workload.
Talk about the patterns of students' physical, social and academic development in your classes; and demonstrate your understanding and valuing of differences among cultural, ethnic and linguistic groups of students in your school.
Describe alternative strategies that are successful for teaching in classrooms where students have diverse or conflicting needs.
Collaborate on a special unit of instruction or a project.
Work together to design a new lab or learning centers.
Share syllabi, units of study or lessons that have worked well for you.
Offer to share your computer software or show where other software can be found.
Suggestions for Sharing Expertise on Instruction
Structure times at noon or the end of the day to share reactions to the day's teaching.
Provide opportunities for the mentee to talk about any teaching concerns and to ask questions.
Listen with interest when he or she talks about teaching a particular lesson or unit, and if asked, offer your own reaction or analysis and support.
Be willing to share information about your own teaching successes and failures, if appropriate.
Volunteer to receive an evening or early morning phone call in an emergency.
Talk about timing, pacing and sequencing in teaching concepts that are difficult for students to master.
Offer to demonstrate lessons or labs--live or on videotape.
Discuss several kinds of lessons and the teaching methods that work best with various groups of students; explain the rationale for using various approaches.
Brainstorm a wide range of solutions that might be fitting for common problems.
Describe strategies you use to increase student attention, motivation or participation .
Talk about "brick walls" and "roadblocks" that particular groups or all students encounter, and share your strategies for helping students move forward.
Offer to prepare to videotape lessons or classes and offer to give feedback if he or she has any questions.
Suggestions for Sharing Expertise on Management
Take time to listen to concerns about management.
Ask what kinds of feedback on classroom management would be most useful.
Discuss standards for classroom management and share strategies for meeting those standards.
Talk about the importance of organizational routines and describe the routines that contribute most to classroom management.
Describe ways to let students know you understand their needs and concerns, and demonstrate ways to link that knowledge with long-range and short-term planning.
Share examples of ways to enhance students' self-concepts.
Talk about the most difficult management problems you have encountered and various ways to address them.
Describe techniques you tried that didn't work and analyze why they didn't work, demonstrating an experimental orientation.
Talk about standards of schoolwide conduct.
Demonstrate a wide range of classroom management techniques--either live or on videotapes.
Offer to analyze (as a colleague and peer) the videotape of a new teacher's performance in the area of classroom management, and be willing to share your own videotapes.
Share exemplary professional books or workshop materials on classroom management techniques.
Suggestions for Sharing Your Expertise on Evaluation
Listen to the mentee's concerns about evaluation and share ideas about the overall purposes of evaluation in the classroom and the school.
Talk about the variety of ways (formal and informal, verbal and nonverbal) that one can evaluate student learning and attitudes in specific subjects or at specific grade levels.
Share your own system for grading and record keeping, and describe other models that you know about.
Collaborate on the development of tests that might be used in identical or similar classes.
Offer to share a collection of tests or other evaluation measures you have developed.
Offer to give feedback on the mentee's evaluation instruments and their results.
Review the standardized test program used by the school or district, and talk about its role in relation to curriculum planning and evaluation of student learning in the classroom.
Describe various strategies to handle the expected paperwork associated with students' assignments.
Explore various approaches for sharing evaluation results with students, site administrators and parents.
Discuss and compare various techniques for evaluation of one's own teaching effectiveness.
Help the new teacher to prepare for the review and evaluation of his or her first year of teaching.
Communicating Support and Challenge
The effectiveness of verbal and nonverbal communication is high on the list of important factors that contribute to the success of mentoring relationships--and of all professional and personal relationships. Mentors have a special responsibility for effective communication because they are a primary source of information, support and challenge to the recipients of their mentoring .
Professional organizations and offices depend so much upon effective communication to accomplish their missions that they frequently provide training in communication skills for their staff members. Such training may focus on the enhancement of specific communication skills or a wide variety of them.
The essence of schools is communication: of knowledge, of skills, of values, of attitudes and of expectations. Thus, the quality of communication in schools affects all that happens in schools and the achievement of their goals and objectives. Everyone associated with schools including students, teachers, administrators, parents, the school board, the community and governmental agencies depend upon the clear expression of goals, objectives and points of view in order to engage in any cooperative activity.
As mentors think about the importance of communicating support and challenge to recipients of their mentoring, it is helpful for them to review a checklist that focuses on the key features of effective communication. Such checklists are most meaningful when individuals make them up for themselves. An example of a communications checklist appears next.
COMMUNICATION CHECKLIST FOR MENTORS
How do I perceive myself in the many roles a mentor plays?
How well do I understand the recipient's overall expectations for our mentoring relationship?
In general, is my communication with him or her effective, including verbal and nonverbal communication?
What is my objective in this specific conversation or message?
Does my delivery mode (face-to-face, phone, written communication) fit my purpose?
Am I too formal or informal for the purpose of this communication?
What assumptions have I made or shared in this communication?
What kind of response do I expect from the recipient?
Am I prepared for a very different kind of response?
Have I given him or her enough time to respond, to ask questions or to ask for clarification?
If I think I have been misunderstood, can I clarify and paraphrase?
Am I willing to set aside my own communication agenda to listen to his or hers at any time?
How should I react to his/her communication to further our mentoring relationship?
While the checklist above identifies a number of features of effective communication training at a general level, targeted communication training also is available. Examples of training which is available in many school districts include Peer Coaching and Conference Skills.
Support can be communicated in many ways. Mentors find it helpful to make a list of the various kinds of support they are comfortable providing as they share their expertise. The examples below illustrate a few ways that mentors communicate support.
o A nod of the head, a smile, or a wink at a tense moment.
o A compliment, a pat on the back, or a hug after a challenge has been met.
o A coffee break or lunch together at a time when the mentee needs to talk.
o An opportunity to spend an evening together reviewing the results of a task or planning for the next one.
o An invitation to visit a resource center together, a map to a good bookstore across town, or a shared ride to some event.
o Information about ways to gain the support of key individuals.
o Suggestions for acquiring scarce resources.
o An invitation to a weekend barbecue or small get-together with other colleagues.
Mentors also need to offer their proteges challenges that stimulate professional growth and cause them to stretch. Challenges lead to the development of new levels of expertise. When the amount of challenge is well matched to the mentee's readiness for growth, the tasks become motivating. Challenges that are not matched well with the individual's level of development can be overwhelming and create feelings of being unable to cope. Then, rather than producing growth, the challenge may lead to frustration, panic or feelings of failure.
It becomes important then, for mentors to become sensitive to the growth needs of those to whom they mentor, and attempt to offer optimal challenges for their protege's professional development. Some mentors develop mentoring plans to help maintain optional levels of challenge for the protege. The primary function of a mentoring plan is to focus on the developmental nature of becoming a professional and to establish mileposts or markers which will guide and serve as reminders that the recipient is growing in knowledge and skill. Since the perceptions of both mentors and recipients alike change as mentoring evolves, mentoring plans help the observant mentor to keep one eye on the recipient's development and the other eye on his or her readiness for the next challenge.
VI: AVOIDING THE RISKS OF MENTORING
Are there risks associated with mentoring? The answer is, "Relatively few," if risks are thought of as the lack of predictability and personal control over events that could harm us in some way. Fortunately the major risks associated with mentoring can be avoided or reduced through knowledge and planning.
Risk Awareness and Prevention
What are the risks and how can they be avoided or reduced? Four of the most commonly mentioned risks--or fears of risks--are identified below and illustrated by examples of comments often made by mentors and would-be mentors. Brief descriptions are offered of the kinds of knowledge or actions that help to avoid such risks or to reduce fears of them.
Mismatch between mentor and recipient/protege/mentee
Mentors express this fear with statements like: "Our personal styles may clash. We may not be able to work together. I'm afraid I will overpower or threaten him. She has become too demanding and too dependent. Can he take honest, well-intentioned criticism?"
Knowledge/Action: Individuals who take time at the outset to become acquainted with one another's interests, shared values, professional goals and expectations greatly enhance the development of a strong foundation for a mentoring relationship, as pointed out earlier in III: Establishing Productive Mentoring Relationships. Such knowledge allows individuals to deal with major differences in expectations, to prevent unwelcomed surprises later on, and to recognize those relatively rare instances where serious personal clashes are foreseeable and avoidable.
Threat to one's professional image
This concern is expressed by statements like: "I may be misunderstood; he, she, or my colleagues may think I'm a know-it-all. If she fails to make the grade in spite of my mentoring, people may begin to wonder about my own competence. I could be responsible for his success or failure!"
Knowledge/Action: Individuals who are familiar with the multiple roles that mentors can play (see I: What Is a Mentor? and III: Establishing Productive Mentoring Relationships) avoid stereotyped perceptions of mentors and their proteges, and can help to dispel misconceptions about the degree of responsibility a mentor has for the success or failure of the recipient of the mentoring. It is always helpful to remember that many persons contribute to the development of any new or advancing professional. Wise mentors encourage such broadly based support and avoid over-identifying with the success or failure of their mentee.
Failure as a mentor
Mentors express this fear or concern with statements like, "I might get in over my head. I'm trying to help, but maybe I'm hindering her. What works for me may not work for anyone else. Should I let him make mistakes that can be avoided so that he can profit from them?"
Knowledge/Action: Knowledge of successful mentoring techniques contributes to the professional growth of both individuals in a mentoring relationship, and thus, decreases the likelihood of frustration, failure or fear of failure for either member. More than 50 mentoring techniques are suggested in V: Ways of Mentoring.
The development of a mentoring plan can increase the sense of personal control that both members of the relationship have or may need. Such plans can identify in a systematic way the frequency and times of regular meetings or get-togethers and the topics or issues to be covered. A mentoring plan helps to remind everyone concerned that becoming a professional is a developmental process. And at the end of a year, both members can look back at the plan and recognize the protege's growth.
Competition or rivalry
Fear of competition or rivalry is evident in statements like: "He may be more talented than I am--can I handle professional jealousy? I have shared my best secrets and strategies with her and now she is surpassing me! How will his or her success affect my status, perquisites or income?"
Knowledge/Action: Competition or rivalry can be destructive to any mentoring relationship. Knowledge of the evolutionary nature of mentoring relationships helps to prepare everyone for changes in a relationship (See again III: Establishing Productive Mentoring Relationships). Occasionally a few mentoring relationships last for a professional lifetime; but more often mentoring relationships are of much shorter duration because of other changes in professional careers and organizations. When the mentor's guidance no longer seems to be needed and the emerging or advancing professional begins to demonstrate expert competence and knowledge, the wise mentor takes the lead in redefining the relationship. Such leadership generally leads to a mutually rewarding respect for one another, and the mentor can then take justifiable pride in his or her contribution to the professional development of another individual.
VII: THE JOYS OF MENTORING
Since childhood many of us have been reminded that:
"It is better to give than to receive."
And in many languages and cultures, the idea has been expressed that:
"It is not what we give but what we share,
For the gift without the giver is bare."
Both ideas capture an important aspect of mentoring: that many joys and benefits result from sharing one's expertise, one's time, and one's self. The most obvious of these joys come bounding in the form of appreciation that others express for mentoring assistance. A different kind of joy accrues when others value our expertise so much that they incorporate our ideas into their own thinking and behavior. And then quite unexpectedly still a third kind of joy emerges when, in the midst of sharing our expertise with others, we rediscover long-buried feelings of pride and accomplishment that were forgotten--feelings that occurred when we first mastered our craft for ourselves. These are just a few of the joys of mentoring.
When mentor teachers where asked what their most rewarding experiences were as mentors, and whether they were glad they had served as mentors, they replied with statements like those that follow .
As a mentor, what were your most rewarding experiences?
"Seeing her excitement and enthusiasm--watching her gain insights into concepts that are difficult for a student to learn."
"His comments, his requests for assistance, and the fact that he returned week after week was incentive enough for me to prevail in the face of countless hours of my own preparation."
"Helping a beginning teacher so that he decided to stay in the profession for a second year."
"They (new teachers) told me that I unknowingly role-modeled a lesson idea and classroom management techniques, and they voluntarily and successfully adapted these ideas."
"Demonstrating the proper use of science equipment in her 6th grade class, and hearing the 'oohs' and 'aahs'."
"Watching him try out and expand the ideas that we planned together!"
"The greatest reward was helping him to understand where the pitfalls are in the material and how to get the ideas across to the students."
"Having her report how well her kids responded to or learned from materials I had shared with her."
(And from a high school teacher who mentored to an elementary teacher:)" I just attended her open house last week. She had on display the science fair project that resulted from my consultation. A speech given by one of her students was one of the best...! She is developing into a first-class teacher!"
"The overwhelming appreciation I receive! And watching them grow into colleagues."
"Getting her to realize and accept the idea of teaching being an art of communication: knowledge without communication skills to establish two-way communication between teacher and student is less productive."
VIII: HOW TO ORGANIZE AND EVALUATE A MENTOR PROGRAM
This section is written for readers who have responsibility for mentor training. It includes practical ideas for organizing, implementing, and evaluating the effectiveness of mentor training programs.
Organizing for Recruitment: The first challenge facing many readers who are responsible for mentor training is the recruitment of a core of individuals who will consider becoming mentors. In thinking about their recruitment, it is helpful to recall the kinds of knowledge and skills that would-be mentors will want to know. A brief review of the Table of Contents in this book will provide a quick overview.
Basic information about what mentoring is (Section I) and how one decides whether he or she is cut out for mentoring (Section II) is important for recruiting people to be mentors. Likewise, references to the personal benefits or joys of mentoring (Section VII) and how to avoid the risks of mentoring (Section VI) may be useful for recruiting mentors. This information can be presented in a brochure, newsletter, office announcement, or some other form such as in a meeting or at a special reception, depending upon organizational customs and the preferences of the recruiter.
Organizing a Mentor Training Program: Every organization will have its own reasons or purposes for establishing a mentor program. The agenda for a mentor training program should reflect those goals or purposes.
The program agenda shown below illustrates how one might organize a successful mentor training program around the four stages of development in mentoring relationships which were described earlier in Section III: Establishing Productive Mentor Relationships.
MENTOR TRAINING PROGRAM
Orientation and Reception
Overview of the Mentor Program
Purposes and benefits of the Mentor Program
Getting to Know One Another: Stage One
The importance of Mentor-Recipient pairs sharing interests, values and professional goals
Multiple roles of mentors; self-concepts of mentors
Role playing Mentor-Recipient pairs at Stage I
Developing Common Expectations In Mentor Relationships: Stage Two
Communicating and clarifying expectations
Developing consensus or dealing with major differences in expectations of Mentors and Recipients
Role playing Mentor-Recipient pairs at Stage 2
Ways of Mentoring: Stage Three
Sharing expertise
Communicating support and challenge
Role playing Mentor-Recipient pairs at Stage 3
Redefining the Relationship: Stage Four
The evolutionary nature of mentoring relationships
Avoiding the risks of mentoring
Enjoying the benefits of a mentoring relationship
Role playing Mentor-Recipient pairs at Stage 4
Evaluation of The Mentor Training Program
Implementation: Structure to Keep a Mentor Program Going
Once the initial mentor training has been completed, people are ready to begin mentoring. But unless some structure is created which guides the course of events and which provides opportunities for mentors as well as their mentees (either together or separately) to share and review their progress, it is easy for mentor programs to lose momentum or to suffer from a lack of direction or communication.
Someone in the organization needs to be responsible for:
Moving the mentor program forward in a positive direction
Providing opportunities for mentors to share their experiences and their views about the effectiveness of the mentor program
Providing opportunities for recipients of mentoring to share their views about the effectiveness of the mentoring program
Addressing any problems or unmet needs that emerge during the course of the year.
Any of a number of structures will work. In some organizations, informal but regular social get-togethers over lunch best enhance the exchange of information that is necessary between the person responsible for the mentor program and the participants in the program. Other organizations may choose to hold more formal quarterly or monthly meetings to accomplish this same purpose. The meeting structure may include brief reports which are written or given orally by mentors to summarize their progress, to identify any special problems or needs they have, or to account for the resources they have directed toward mentoring.
The structure shown below illustrates how a mentor teacher program might create forward motion by using a timeline that is tied to the public school calendar year. These regular exchanges of information are sometimes called formative evaluation.
TIMELINE FOR A MENTOR TEACHER PROGRAM
Date
1. Mentor Teachers are recruited and selected. date ________
The Mentor Training program is offered. date ________
Mentors develop first draft of personal plan for mentoring. date ________
2. Welcome/orientation for New Teachers and Mentors. date ________
Mentors are matched with New Teachers. date ________
Evaluation of Mentor Training. date ________
3. Mentor and New Teacher share expectations, develop 6-week plan
and schedule regular meetings. date ________
Mentors begin Portfolios to track mentor activities. date ________
4. Instruction begins. Mentors support New Teachers and meet with
them regularly to share information, to compare expectations, and
to revise plans to meet New Teacher's needs. Mentors add to
Portfolio. date ________
5. End of first 6-week period, Mentors review their progress as
mentors, identify new challenges, and offer support to New
Teachers. Mentors meet to share experiences and Portfolios. date ________
6. End of Fall Semester, all Mentor-New Teacher pairs meet to share
progress, identify needs, and revise plans for Spring Semester,
Midpoint evaluation of Mentor Program. date ________
7. Continue Steps 3-6 through Spring semester. Final evaluation of
Mentor Program: Mentor and New Teacher Self-Assessment, past-
evaluation of Mentor Training, review of Mentor Portfolios. date ________
Evaluation of Mentor Programs and Final Reports
Typically, the person in charge of the mentor program is responsible for mentor training, program implementation, and evaluation. This individual generally is expected to prepare a final report which summarizes the results of the mentor program and makes recommendations regarding future mentor programs. Others may review the final report and make decisions or recommendations regarding the program.
To evaluate the effectiveness of a mentoring program, it is important to assemble background information which describes the program and its participants, and to gather feedback from all who have participated in the program. Background information might include a description of:
Participants (number and professional standing)
Overview of the training and other services provided
A timeline and highlights of events throughout the program's duration
The resources (time, fixed costs, unexpected costs, etc. ) required to operate the program
Gathering feedback from participants in the program is worth considerable thought so that participants feel they have had the opportunity to fully share their views about their participation and about the effectiveness and values of the program. For example, the evaluator may design a formal survey instrument or checklist which participants are expected to complete and return (perhaps but not necessarily anonymously); or the evaluator may informally ask participants to share their views about the effectiveness of the mentor program at a final meeting and suggest ways to improve it. Obviously, feedback gathered over the course of the program provides more information than a single survey at the end of the program.
However feedback is gathered, the evaluator is then expected to prepare a written report which summarizes the feedback, compares the feedback with his or her own expectations--given the resources and constraints that pertained, to identify problems or concerns about the program, and make recommendations or decisions regarding the continuation of the program.
BLIOGRAPHY
Banner, James M. Jr., "The Master Teacher's Greatest Reward," Educational Leadership, November, 1985.
Commons, Dorman, et. al., Who Will Teach Our Children?, California Commission on the Teaching Profession, November, 1985.
Daloz, Laurent A., "Mentors: teachers who make a difference," Change, September, 1983.
Dombart, Patricia M., "The 'Vision' of an Insider: A Practitioner's View," Educational Leadership, November, 1985.
Eddy, E., Becoming a Teacher: The Passage to Professional Status , New York, Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 1969.
Erickson, Erick H., "Generativity and Ego Identify," in Bernice L. Neugarten (Ed.), Middle Age: A Reader in Social Psychology , Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1968.
Furtivengler, Carol, "Tennessee's Career Ladder Plan: They Said It Couldn't Be Done," Educational Leadership, November, 1985.
Gray, William A. and Gray, Marilynne, "Synthesis of Research on Mentoring Teachers, " Educational Leadership, November, 1985.
Kent, Karen M., "A Successful Program of Teachers Assisting Teachers," Educational Leadership, November, 1985.
Little, Judith Warren, "Teachers as Teacher Advisors: The Delicacy of Collegial Leadership, " Educational Leadership, November, 1985.
O'Neil, James M.,"Toward a Theory and Practice of Mentoring in Psychology, " Paper presented at the 89th Convention of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, California, 1981.
Peterson, Ken and Mitchell, Anthony, "Teacher-Controlled Evaluation in a Career Ladder Program," Educational Leadership, November, 1985.
Rodriguez, Jaime; Schetter, David; Martinez, John and Wold, Richard, Faculty Mentoring of Minority Graduate and Professional Students: The Irvine Experiment, under FIPSE Grant No.G008102552, 1984.
Shulman, Lee S. "Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations of the New Reform, Harvard Educational Review, February, 1987.
Wagner, Laura A., "Ambiguities and Possibilities in California's Mentor Teacher Program, Educational Leadership, November, 1985.
From India, Nizamabad
13This book is written for mentors and those who wish to serve as mentors, and for individuals who are responsible for establishing and evaluating mentor programs. It is a book of practical ideas about mentoring, directed towards the teaching profession. Hopefully, other professions and fields also may find ideas in this book that will be helpful for mentoring or for setting up mentoring programs in their organizations.
Interest in mentoring has increased dramatically in the past five years as part of a sweeping reform of education in the United States. During the 1980's, extensive efforts have been directed toward restructuring the teaching profession. These efforts have led many educators to focus their energy on the development of stronger support systems for beginning teachers. To come to the aid of beginning teachers, many school districts and regions throughout the United States have begun to establish mentor teacher programs. Such programs are expected to increase the success of beginning teachers and encourage them to remain in the profession.
A second audience served by mentor programs includes "cross-over" teachers--those expert teachers who volunteer to teach a subject other than their own in an area where there is a critical shortage and an unmet need (as currently is the case for science and mathematics teachers).
The design of the handbook follows a natural sequence of questions that are frequently asked by mentors and others interested in mentoring. Its emphasis is on mentoring strategies; but readers also will learn about the rewards of mentoring and how to avoid the risks. By making this book available to those interested in mentoring, it is hoped that the quality of the mentoring experience is enriched for both mentor and mentee.
Rita W. Peterson
August 8, 1989
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. What is a Mentor?
Mentors Play Many Roles
The Concept of Mentoring
II. How to Select Promising Mentors
Characteristics of Mentors
"Should I Become a Mentor?" Checklist
III. Establishing Productive Mentoring Relationships
The Nature of Mentoring Relationships
Stages in the Development of Mentoring Relationships
Clarifying Expectations in Mentoring Relationships
The Importance of Matching in Mentoring Relationships
IV. Is Training Really Necessary?
The Most Difficult Challenges of Mentoring
V. Ways of Mentoring
Sharing Expertise
Communicating Support and Challenge
VI. Avoiding the Risks of Mentoring
Risk Awareness and Prevention
VII. The Joys of Mentoring
"My Most Rewarding Experience as a Mentor"
VIII. How to Organize and Evaluate a Mentor Program
Recruitment
Organizing a Mentor Training Program
Implementation: Structure to Keep a Mentor Program Going
Evaluation of Mentor Programs and Final Reports
Bibliography
I: WHAT IS A MENTOR ?
Mentors play many roles.
A Mentor, in the historical sense, is seen as someone who:
is a loyal friend, confidant and advisor
is a teacher, guide, coach and role model
is entrusted with the care and education of another
has knowledge and advanced or expert status and who is attracted to and nurtures a person of talent and ability
is willing to give away what he or she knows in a non-competitive way
represents skill, knowledge, virtue and accomplishment
The most effective mentors:
welcome newcomers into the profession and take a personal interest in their career development and well-being
want to share their knowledge, materials, skill and experience with those they mentor
offer support, challenge, patience and enthusiasm while they guide others to new levels of competence
point the way and represent tangible evidence of what one can become
expose the recipients of their mentoring to new ideas, perspectives and standards, and to the values and norms of the profession
are more expert in terms of knowledge but view themselves as equal to those they mentor
The Concept of Mentoring
The concept of mentoring has a long history, one that comes to us from Greek mythology. In Homer's Odyssey, Mentor was the teacher of Telemachus, the son of Odysseus. But Mentor was more than a teacher. Mentor was half-God and half-man, half-male and half-female, believable and yet unreachable. Mentor was the union of both goal and path, wisdom personified (Daloz, 1983).
Today, some 3500 years later, mentoring relationships are still valued. In many professions mentors are thought to enhance if not ensure the professional development and success of talented newcomers. Increasingly, mid-career professionals seek mentors when they wish to develop new levels of expertise and to advance in the profession.
Yet, if mentoring were only a means for aspiring young professionals to gain a career foothold or to be given a boost up the career ladder, mentoring would be a one-way street. Common experience tells us that one-sided relationships do not work as well as reciprocal relationships where there is an even exchange of some kind. In fact, mentoring relationships most likely are reciprocal if they achieve their fullest potential.
What does a mentor derive from mentoring? Erickson's description of the Eight Stages of Man sheds some light on the question:
"For the mentor, Erickson's seventh stage of 'generativity' adds further substance to the mentoring relationship. The desire that one's work and influence 'live on' is an important life goal. The nurturing and influencing of young adults and the facilitation of their efforts to form and live out their hopes and wishes can fulfill the generative needs of the mentor" (Rodriquez, et. al.,1984).
Thus, among the strongest and most compelling reasons for serving as a mentor may be the desire to fulfill one's own felt need to contribute to the growth, development and wish fulfillment of an aspiring professional. The act of mentoring allows one to repay, in some measure, the intrinsic benefits he or she has derived from the profession.
A Special Note to Mentor Teachers
Many mentor teacher programs have expanded the concept of mentoring to include activities such as curriculum development projects and staff development workshops. These activities are crucial services in school districts and deserve to be supported. However, such activities have not been included in the definition of mentoring presented here. In this handbook, mentoring is defined as the individualized support, assistance, guidance and optimum amount of challenge which one professional gives to another - whether newcomer or mid-careerist in the profession. The decision to more narrowly define mentoring here is consistent with the recommendation of the California Commission on the Teaching Profession (Commons, 1985).
II: HOW TO SELECT PROMISING MENTORS
Effective mentors share a number of characteristics. The profile sketched below is based on a synthesis of observations described by many mentors and authors. While any single mentor may not possess all of the characteristics, effective mentors have many of these qualities:
Knowledge of Their Field
They are considered by peers to be experts in the field.
They set high standards for themselves.
They enjoy and are enthusiastic about their field.
They continue to update their background in the field.
Demonstrated Skills in Their Field
Their work demonstrates superior achievement.
They use a variety of techniques and skills to achieve their goals.
Earned Respect of Colleagues
They listen to and communicate effectively with others.
They exhibit a good feeling about their own accomplishments and about the profession.
They recognize excellence in others and encourage it.
They are committed to supporting and interacting with their colleagues.
They are able to role-play others and understand their views.
They enjoy intellectual engagement and like to help others.
They are sensitive to the needs of others and generally recognize when others require support, direct assistance or independence.
They exercise good judgment in decisions concerning themselves and the welfare of others.
"SHOULD I BECOME A MENTOR?" CHECKLIST
As one considers the possibility of serving as a mentor, it is time to stop and ask "Should I become a mentor?" The checklist below is designed to guide the self-reflection of individuals who are thinking about becoming mentors. The checklist provides a description of the qualities that are most often thought to be conducive to successful mentoring. Successful mentors generally have many of the qualities listed here, along with some other valuable qualities that are not listed but that are unique to them as individuals. Space is provided at the conclusion of this checklist for respondents to add those qualities that represent their unique or special assets to mentoring.
To use the checklist, respondents should read each statement and place an X in the appropriate column which represents the degree to which the statement characterizes the way the respondent sees himself or herself. After ranking each statement (1) Strongly Agree that the statement is representative; (2) Agree; (3) Neutral; (4) Disagree; and (5) Strongly Disagree, respondents may reflect on their own strengths and weaknesses. Items 1-10 and 15-20 apply to many professional fields while items 11 -14 focus exclusively on the teaching profession.
There is no single "ideal profile", but respondents who possess many of these qualities are likely to serve well as mentors. If one has serious doubts about the strength of his or her own qualifications, it might be useful to get a second opinion from a colleague who knows the respondent well. It is also important to recognize that many of the qualities listed here are developed or learned and the result of practice.
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Disagree Strongly
1 2 3 4 5
1. I see myself as being people-oriented;___ ___ ___ ___ ___
I like and enjoy working with other
professionals.
2. I am a good listener and respect my ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
colleagues.
3. I am sensitive to the needs and feelings ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
of others.
4. I recognize when others need support or___ ___ ___ ___ ___
independence.
5. I want to contribute to the professional ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
development of others and to share
what I have learned.
6. I am willing to find reward in service to___ ___ ___ ___ ___
someone who needs my assistance.
7. I am able to support and help without ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
smothering, parenting or taking charge.
8. I see myself generally as flexible and ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
willing to adjust my personal schedule to
meet the needs of someone else.
9. I usually am patient and tolerant when ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
teaching someone.
10. I am confident and secure in my knowledge ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
of the field and make an effort to remain
up-to-date.
11. I enjoy the subject(s) I teach. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
12. I set high standards for myself and my ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
students.
13. I use a variety of teaching methods and my___ ___ ___ ___ ___
students achieve well.
14. Others look to me for information about my ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
subject matter and methods of teaching.
15. Overall, I see myself as a competent ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
professional.
16. I am able to offer assistance in areas that ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
give others problems.
17. I am able to explain things at various ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
levels of complexity and detail.
18. Others are interested in my professional ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
ideas.
19. * ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
20. * ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
* Items 19 and 20 are reserved for descriptions of one's unique and special
assets for mentoring.
III: ESTABLISHING PRODUCTIVE
MENTORING RELATIONSHIPS
Once a person has decided to become a mentor, thoughts quite naturally turn toward questions about how to establish a productive mentoring relationship. "Will I choose the right person?" "How can I get off to a good start?" These and many other questions are typical first thoughts. In this section readers will find practical answers to such questions.
The Nature of Mentoring Relationships
Establishing a positive mentoring relationship is very much like establishing other valued human relationships in a number of respects. Both parties usually have a genuine desire to understand the values and expectations of the other person, and to respect and become sensitive to one another's feelings and needs.
At the same time, mentoring relationships differ in an important way from other personal relationships because they are professional in nature. Mentors are responsible for conveying and upholding the standards, norms, and values of the profession. They are responsible for offering support and challenge to the recipient of their mentoring while the recipient strives to fulfill the profession's expectations.
Healthy mentoring relationships are evolutionary rather than static in nature. They change because the purpose of the relationship is to enable the recipient to acquire new knowledge, skill, and standards of professional competence. The perceptions of both members of the relationship evolve as the recipient's performance evolves to new levels of competence under the mentor's guidance and support. The person who once said, "No man steps into the same stream twice," could very well have been describing the changing nature of mentoring relationships.
Stages in the Development of Mentoring Relationships
One way to view the evolutionary nature of mentoring relationships is to think of them in terms of stages of development.
Stage 1: The mentor and recipient become acquainted and informally clarify their common interests, shared values and professional goals. Occasionally matchmakers who assign mentors to recipients can foresee "mentor marriages made in heaven," but more often mentors and recipients prefer to choose one another. Taking time to become acquainted with one another's interests, values and goals (Stage 1 ) seems to help mentoring relationships gain a better start than when such activity is given a low priority. (More will be said shortly about situations which do not offer choice of mentors or mentees.)
Stage 2: The mentor and recipient communicate initial expectations and agree upon some common procedures and expectations as a starting point. In the very few cases where a major disparity is found to exist between the needs and expectations of the two individuals--and where neither party can accommodate to the other--the pair is able to part company on a friendly basis before the actual mentoring and inevitable frustration begins.
Stage 3: Gradually, needs are fulfilled. Objectives are met. Professional growth takes place. New challenges are presented and achieved. This stage may last for months or years.
Stage 4: The mentor and recipient redefine their relationship as colleagues, peers, partners and/or friends.
Clarifying Expectations in Mentoring Relationships
Most professionals place a high value on taking the initiative to clarify their own expectations and to understand the expectations of others. This quality contributes to the establishment of strong and positive mentoring relationships.
What are examples of expectations that might be communicated during the exploratory stages (Stages 1 and 2) of a mentoring relationship?
The frequency of contact, the availability and the accessibility of the mentor and recipient.
The amount and kind of support that are needed by the recipient or that can be provided by the mentor.
The various roles the mentor finds comfortable: listener, supporter, advisor, guide, counselor, role model, friend, nurturer or resource in the background. Many other roles might be identified.
The range of roles the recipient will find natural: listener, observer, initiator of requests for help or guidance, need for nurture or autonomy, self-expectations as peer or co-equal. Many other roles might be communicated.
Can experienced professionals mentor to one another? Certainly they can and with great success. For example, highly skilled teachers called "cross-over" teachers who wish to teach in new content areas or take on administrative duties benefit from mentoring relationships. In cases where the mentors and the recipients see themselves as equal and share many common interests and values, Stage 3 is the starting point for their relationship.
The Importance of Matching in Mentoring Relationships
Historically, individuals who have desired to become mentors have looked over aspiring newcomers in their profession or field--such as law, medicine, business, painting, dance, writing, or teaching -- and have selected promising young proteges to nurture. Most of the time, these mentoring relationships work out very well. Occasionally they do not, and the protege moves on in search of another mentor or the mentor seeks another protege. What should individuals who are contemplating a mentoring relationship look for during the exploratory stages of getting to know one another and sharing expectations? Several important factors are considered below.
Degree of eagerness
to have a mentoring
relationship
Similarity in personal styles: Similarity of expected
gregarious, animated, spontaneous, professional assignments
vs. low-key, retiring, reflective and responsibilities
Similarity in preference Academic preparation
for nurture vs. autonomy courses, majors, alma mater
when establishing and previous experience
expectations for support
It is difficult to predict the combination of personal and professional qualities that attract individuals to one another in mentoring relationships. Large numbers of experienced mentors say there is no magic combination. Some individuals are attracted to opposites; others are attracted to similar interests, styles and backgrounds.
What if choice is not an option? Most professionals view the term "professional" to mean, among other things, that one is able to rise above personal considerations, differences or desires when providing service to those who need one's professional help or expertise. Thus, among professionals, any match in a mentoring relationship should be productive. While some freedom of choice is desirable if choice is possible in mentoring relationships, many employment situations do not offer this opportunity. Where mentors are not free to choose the recipient of their mentoring, they might expect--with preparation or training for the role--to be equally as effective as mentors who choose their proteges but who have no preparation for this role.
IV: IS TRAINING REALLY NECESSARY?
Mentors can have a significant effect upon the professional development of aspiring young or mid-career adults in their profession. Whether a mentor's impact is positive or negative depends in large part upon how well informed and skilled the mentor is, and upon the mentor's commitment and availability. It seems only natural to ask: Is training to be a mentor really necessary? Research at the University of California, Irvine, suggests that training is not only important to the success of mentoring relationships but that it can be directed toward the most difficult challenges faced by mentors.
When mentor teachers of one, two and three years of experience as mentors were asked "Do you think mentors need to be trained?", one in five (20%) thought training was unnecessary. Their comments, which are illustrated here, generally reflect the view that mentoring is a natural extension of teaching. They suggest that mentoring essentially is normal teacher-talk, but talk that takes place between two people in a mentoring relationship.
"The best mentoring is on a one-to-one basis where neither party thinks of himself as a mentor (or recipient). Untrained mentors are probably less threatening."
"Enthusiasm is difficult to infuse or train someone to have. If a teacher is good, he will have fun teaching others, even teachers."
"Teaching comes naturally so I suppose mentoring does too."
Yet the majority of mentor teachers (80%) surveyed expressed the view that training would be helpful.
"Where do teachers get the skills to work with adults? Very few people are 'natural' mentors. Training would be valuable, especially to have others share what works for them."
"The personality for mentoring--that nurturing personality--comes naturally, but the nurturing quality becomes focused by training."
"Mentors need training so that they can feel more confident about helping others. They need to know how to help teachers who need help but will not actively seek help."
But "helpful" doesn't mean "necessary." A better way to understand the need for mentor training is to examine the difficulties that mentor teachers encounter while fulfilling their roles. When asked, "What are the most difficult aspects of mentoring for you?" most mentor teachers cited examples which illustrated the need for basic information and training:
"Making the initial contact and building trust. Sharing my ideas at first....I don't want to sound like a know-it-all even when I am asked for help."
"Overcoming my hesitation to tell (the recipient) that he is wrong and to suggest alternatives. I feel like I am offending him."
"Trying to explain (to the recipient) that her material was too difficult. I helped her revise it but certain parts were still too difficult. When do you stop correcting and revising? When does helping become hurting?"
Rejection, I offered help at her convenience but my help wasn't wanted.... It's hard to help people."
"Working with someone for a whole year and then finding that he can't make it."
All of these responses suggest a need for basic information about mentoring relationships or for mentor training. The candid and sensitive responses of these mentors point to the value of some preparation for their role as mentors and the value of specific skills that allow mentors to feel confident and successful as they fulfill their expectations and goals as mentors.
V: WAYS OF MENTORING
When most people think of mentoring, they think of experts sharing technical knowledge with less experienced individuals in a profession. Certainly sharing one's expertise is a large part of mentoring, but so is the communication of support, challenge, feeling and many other kinds of information. A brief glance at the opening page of this handbook, I: What Is A Mentor? is a helpful reminder of the multiple dimensions of mentoring. Here we focus on sharing expertise and communication of support and challenge.
Sharing Expertise
Every mentor has a specific body of professional knowledge and skill to share. To illustrate, in the teaching profession a part of this pedagogical knowledge is referred to as "content." The content or subject matter to be taught to students--for example, history or mathematics--must be transformed from the teachers' university level knowledge of the subject into a form that is appropriate for the readiness level of each particular group of students. In other words, the subject matter must be repackaged to fit the students' maturational, developmental or grade level, and the range of previous experiences the students are likely to have had. Experienced teachers develop a sense of how well various groups of students will understand specific subject matter when the content is presented at different levels of complexity. They are able to "repackage" the content to fit different needs. Similarly, teachers use a variety of teaching methods, each adopted to achieve a specific outcome. Every profession has its own content or body of knowledge in the field and the variety of methods practiced when professionals utilize their knowledge in service to others.
Suggestions for Sharing Expertise on Planning
Find out how you can be the most helpful in the area of planning.
Team up during the orientation week before school begins and schedule regular times to meet for discussion and planning sessions.
Discuss goals for the year or semester and objectives for units or lessons.
Describe various classroom climates and environments you have observed or created and how these variations worked out.
Review the State or district curriculum guidelines together and discuss how they can be woven into the curriculum.
Share catalogs for ordering instructional materials and equipment.
Show how you organize your planning for the year, the semester, the week and the day.
Share your ideas about planning for contingencies.
Talk about how and where to anticipate students' errors and misconceptions.
Describe the labor saving steps you use in planning that pay off later in reduced workload.
Talk about the patterns of students' physical, social and academic development in your classes; and demonstrate your understanding and valuing of differences among cultural, ethnic and linguistic groups of students in your school.
Describe alternative strategies that are successful for teaching in classrooms where students have diverse or conflicting needs.
Collaborate on a special unit of instruction or a project.
Work together to design a new lab or learning centers.
Share syllabi, units of study or lessons that have worked well for you.
Offer to share your computer software or show where other software can be found.
Suggestions for Sharing Expertise on Instruction
Structure times at noon or the end of the day to share reactions to the day's teaching.
Provide opportunities for the mentee to talk about any teaching concerns and to ask questions.
Listen with interest when he or she talks about teaching a particular lesson or unit, and if asked, offer your own reaction or analysis and support.
Be willing to share information about your own teaching successes and failures, if appropriate.
Volunteer to receive an evening or early morning phone call in an emergency.
Talk about timing, pacing and sequencing in teaching concepts that are difficult for students to master.
Offer to demonstrate lessons or labs--live or on videotape.
Discuss several kinds of lessons and the teaching methods that work best with various groups of students; explain the rationale for using various approaches.
Brainstorm a wide range of solutions that might be fitting for common problems.
Describe strategies you use to increase student attention, motivation or participation .
Talk about "brick walls" and "roadblocks" that particular groups or all students encounter, and share your strategies for helping students move forward.
Offer to prepare to videotape lessons or classes and offer to give feedback if he or she has any questions.
Suggestions for Sharing Expertise on Management
Take time to listen to concerns about management.
Ask what kinds of feedback on classroom management would be most useful.
Discuss standards for classroom management and share strategies for meeting those standards.
Talk about the importance of organizational routines and describe the routines that contribute most to classroom management.
Describe ways to let students know you understand their needs and concerns, and demonstrate ways to link that knowledge with long-range and short-term planning.
Share examples of ways to enhance students' self-concepts.
Talk about the most difficult management problems you have encountered and various ways to address them.
Describe techniques you tried that didn't work and analyze why they didn't work, demonstrating an experimental orientation.
Talk about standards of schoolwide conduct.
Demonstrate a wide range of classroom management techniques--either live or on videotapes.
Offer to analyze (as a colleague and peer) the videotape of a new teacher's performance in the area of classroom management, and be willing to share your own videotapes.
Share exemplary professional books or workshop materials on classroom management techniques.
Suggestions for Sharing Your Expertise on Evaluation
Listen to the mentee's concerns about evaluation and share ideas about the overall purposes of evaluation in the classroom and the school.
Talk about the variety of ways (formal and informal, verbal and nonverbal) that one can evaluate student learning and attitudes in specific subjects or at specific grade levels.
Share your own system for grading and record keeping, and describe other models that you know about.
Collaborate on the development of tests that might be used in identical or similar classes.
Offer to share a collection of tests or other evaluation measures you have developed.
Offer to give feedback on the mentee's evaluation instruments and their results.
Review the standardized test program used by the school or district, and talk about its role in relation to curriculum planning and evaluation of student learning in the classroom.
Describe various strategies to handle the expected paperwork associated with students' assignments.
Explore various approaches for sharing evaluation results with students, site administrators and parents.
Discuss and compare various techniques for evaluation of one's own teaching effectiveness.
Help the new teacher to prepare for the review and evaluation of his or her first year of teaching.
Communicating Support and Challenge
The effectiveness of verbal and nonverbal communication is high on the list of important factors that contribute to the success of mentoring relationships--and of all professional and personal relationships. Mentors have a special responsibility for effective communication because they are a primary source of information, support and challenge to the recipients of their mentoring .
Professional organizations and offices depend so much upon effective communication to accomplish their missions that they frequently provide training in communication skills for their staff members. Such training may focus on the enhancement of specific communication skills or a wide variety of them.
The essence of schools is communication: of knowledge, of skills, of values, of attitudes and of expectations. Thus, the quality of communication in schools affects all that happens in schools and the achievement of their goals and objectives. Everyone associated with schools including students, teachers, administrators, parents, the school board, the community and governmental agencies depend upon the clear expression of goals, objectives and points of view in order to engage in any cooperative activity.
As mentors think about the importance of communicating support and challenge to recipients of their mentoring, it is helpful for them to review a checklist that focuses on the key features of effective communication. Such checklists are most meaningful when individuals make them up for themselves. An example of a communications checklist appears next.
COMMUNICATION CHECKLIST FOR MENTORS
How do I perceive myself in the many roles a mentor plays?
How well do I understand the recipient's overall expectations for our mentoring relationship?
In general, is my communication with him or her effective, including verbal and nonverbal communication?
What is my objective in this specific conversation or message?
Does my delivery mode (face-to-face, phone, written communication) fit my purpose?
Am I too formal or informal for the purpose of this communication?
What assumptions have I made or shared in this communication?
What kind of response do I expect from the recipient?
Am I prepared for a very different kind of response?
Have I given him or her enough time to respond, to ask questions or to ask for clarification?
If I think I have been misunderstood, can I clarify and paraphrase?
Am I willing to set aside my own communication agenda to listen to his or hers at any time?
How should I react to his/her communication to further our mentoring relationship?
While the checklist above identifies a number of features of effective communication training at a general level, targeted communication training also is available. Examples of training which is available in many school districts include Peer Coaching and Conference Skills.
Support can be communicated in many ways. Mentors find it helpful to make a list of the various kinds of support they are comfortable providing as they share their expertise. The examples below illustrate a few ways that mentors communicate support.
o A nod of the head, a smile, or a wink at a tense moment.
o A compliment, a pat on the back, or a hug after a challenge has been met.
o A coffee break or lunch together at a time when the mentee needs to talk.
o An opportunity to spend an evening together reviewing the results of a task or planning for the next one.
o An invitation to visit a resource center together, a map to a good bookstore across town, or a shared ride to some event.
o Information about ways to gain the support of key individuals.
o Suggestions for acquiring scarce resources.
o An invitation to a weekend barbecue or small get-together with other colleagues.
Mentors also need to offer their proteges challenges that stimulate professional growth and cause them to stretch. Challenges lead to the development of new levels of expertise. When the amount of challenge is well matched to the mentee's readiness for growth, the tasks become motivating. Challenges that are not matched well with the individual's level of development can be overwhelming and create feelings of being unable to cope. Then, rather than producing growth, the challenge may lead to frustration, panic or feelings of failure.
It becomes important then, for mentors to become sensitive to the growth needs of those to whom they mentor, and attempt to offer optimal challenges for their protege's professional development. Some mentors develop mentoring plans to help maintain optional levels of challenge for the protege. The primary function of a mentoring plan is to focus on the developmental nature of becoming a professional and to establish mileposts or markers which will guide and serve as reminders that the recipient is growing in knowledge and skill. Since the perceptions of both mentors and recipients alike change as mentoring evolves, mentoring plans help the observant mentor to keep one eye on the recipient's development and the other eye on his or her readiness for the next challenge.
VI: AVOIDING THE RISKS OF MENTORING
Are there risks associated with mentoring? The answer is, "Relatively few," if risks are thought of as the lack of predictability and personal control over events that could harm us in some way. Fortunately the major risks associated with mentoring can be avoided or reduced through knowledge and planning.
Risk Awareness and Prevention
What are the risks and how can they be avoided or reduced? Four of the most commonly mentioned risks--or fears of risks--are identified below and illustrated by examples of comments often made by mentors and would-be mentors. Brief descriptions are offered of the kinds of knowledge or actions that help to avoid such risks or to reduce fears of them.
Mismatch between mentor and recipient/protege/mentee
Mentors express this fear with statements like: "Our personal styles may clash. We may not be able to work together. I'm afraid I will overpower or threaten him. She has become too demanding and too dependent. Can he take honest, well-intentioned criticism?"
Knowledge/Action: Individuals who take time at the outset to become acquainted with one another's interests, shared values, professional goals and expectations greatly enhance the development of a strong foundation for a mentoring relationship, as pointed out earlier in III: Establishing Productive Mentoring Relationships. Such knowledge allows individuals to deal with major differences in expectations, to prevent unwelcomed surprises later on, and to recognize those relatively rare instances where serious personal clashes are foreseeable and avoidable.
Threat to one's professional image
This concern is expressed by statements like: "I may be misunderstood; he, she, or my colleagues may think I'm a know-it-all. If she fails to make the grade in spite of my mentoring, people may begin to wonder about my own competence. I could be responsible for his success or failure!"
Knowledge/Action: Individuals who are familiar with the multiple roles that mentors can play (see I: What Is a Mentor? and III: Establishing Productive Mentoring Relationships) avoid stereotyped perceptions of mentors and their proteges, and can help to dispel misconceptions about the degree of responsibility a mentor has for the success or failure of the recipient of the mentoring. It is always helpful to remember that many persons contribute to the development of any new or advancing professional. Wise mentors encourage such broadly based support and avoid over-identifying with the success or failure of their mentee.
Failure as a mentor
Mentors express this fear or concern with statements like, "I might get in over my head. I'm trying to help, but maybe I'm hindering her. What works for me may not work for anyone else. Should I let him make mistakes that can be avoided so that he can profit from them?"
Knowledge/Action: Knowledge of successful mentoring techniques contributes to the professional growth of both individuals in a mentoring relationship, and thus, decreases the likelihood of frustration, failure or fear of failure for either member. More than 50 mentoring techniques are suggested in V: Ways of Mentoring.
The development of a mentoring plan can increase the sense of personal control that both members of the relationship have or may need. Such plans can identify in a systematic way the frequency and times of regular meetings or get-togethers and the topics or issues to be covered. A mentoring plan helps to remind everyone concerned that becoming a professional is a developmental process. And at the end of a year, both members can look back at the plan and recognize the protege's growth.
Competition or rivalry
Fear of competition or rivalry is evident in statements like: "He may be more talented than I am--can I handle professional jealousy? I have shared my best secrets and strategies with her and now she is surpassing me! How will his or her success affect my status, perquisites or income?"
Knowledge/Action: Competition or rivalry can be destructive to any mentoring relationship. Knowledge of the evolutionary nature of mentoring relationships helps to prepare everyone for changes in a relationship (See again III: Establishing Productive Mentoring Relationships). Occasionally a few mentoring relationships last for a professional lifetime; but more often mentoring relationships are of much shorter duration because of other changes in professional careers and organizations. When the mentor's guidance no longer seems to be needed and the emerging or advancing professional begins to demonstrate expert competence and knowledge, the wise mentor takes the lead in redefining the relationship. Such leadership generally leads to a mutually rewarding respect for one another, and the mentor can then take justifiable pride in his or her contribution to the professional development of another individual.
VII: THE JOYS OF MENTORING
Since childhood many of us have been reminded that:
"It is better to give than to receive."
And in many languages and cultures, the idea has been expressed that:
"It is not what we give but what we share,
For the gift without the giver is bare."
Both ideas capture an important aspect of mentoring: that many joys and benefits result from sharing one's expertise, one's time, and one's self. The most obvious of these joys come bounding in the form of appreciation that others express for mentoring assistance. A different kind of joy accrues when others value our expertise so much that they incorporate our ideas into their own thinking and behavior. And then quite unexpectedly still a third kind of joy emerges when, in the midst of sharing our expertise with others, we rediscover long-buried feelings of pride and accomplishment that were forgotten--feelings that occurred when we first mastered our craft for ourselves. These are just a few of the joys of mentoring.
When mentor teachers where asked what their most rewarding experiences were as mentors, and whether they were glad they had served as mentors, they replied with statements like those that follow .
As a mentor, what were your most rewarding experiences?
"Seeing her excitement and enthusiasm--watching her gain insights into concepts that are difficult for a student to learn."
"His comments, his requests for assistance, and the fact that he returned week after week was incentive enough for me to prevail in the face of countless hours of my own preparation."
"Helping a beginning teacher so that he decided to stay in the profession for a second year."
"They (new teachers) told me that I unknowingly role-modeled a lesson idea and classroom management techniques, and they voluntarily and successfully adapted these ideas."
"Demonstrating the proper use of science equipment in her 6th grade class, and hearing the 'oohs' and 'aahs'."
"Watching him try out and expand the ideas that we planned together!"
"The greatest reward was helping him to understand where the pitfalls are in the material and how to get the ideas across to the students."
"Having her report how well her kids responded to or learned from materials I had shared with her."
(And from a high school teacher who mentored to an elementary teacher:)" I just attended her open house last week. She had on display the science fair project that resulted from my consultation. A speech given by one of her students was one of the best...! She is developing into a first-class teacher!"
"The overwhelming appreciation I receive! And watching them grow into colleagues."
"Getting her to realize and accept the idea of teaching being an art of communication: knowledge without communication skills to establish two-way communication between teacher and student is less productive."
VIII: HOW TO ORGANIZE AND EVALUATE A MENTOR PROGRAM
This section is written for readers who have responsibility for mentor training. It includes practical ideas for organizing, implementing, and evaluating the effectiveness of mentor training programs.
Organizing for Recruitment: The first challenge facing many readers who are responsible for mentor training is the recruitment of a core of individuals who will consider becoming mentors. In thinking about their recruitment, it is helpful to recall the kinds of knowledge and skills that would-be mentors will want to know. A brief review of the Table of Contents in this book will provide a quick overview.
Basic information about what mentoring is (Section I) and how one decides whether he or she is cut out for mentoring (Section II) is important for recruiting people to be mentors. Likewise, references to the personal benefits or joys of mentoring (Section VII) and how to avoid the risks of mentoring (Section VI) may be useful for recruiting mentors. This information can be presented in a brochure, newsletter, office announcement, or some other form such as in a meeting or at a special reception, depending upon organizational customs and the preferences of the recruiter.
Organizing a Mentor Training Program: Every organization will have its own reasons or purposes for establishing a mentor program. The agenda for a mentor training program should reflect those goals or purposes.
The program agenda shown below illustrates how one might organize a successful mentor training program around the four stages of development in mentoring relationships which were described earlier in Section III: Establishing Productive Mentor Relationships.
MENTOR TRAINING PROGRAM
Orientation and Reception
Overview of the Mentor Program
Purposes and benefits of the Mentor Program
Getting to Know One Another: Stage One
The importance of Mentor-Recipient pairs sharing interests, values and professional goals
Multiple roles of mentors; self-concepts of mentors
Role playing Mentor-Recipient pairs at Stage I
Developing Common Expectations In Mentor Relationships: Stage Two
Communicating and clarifying expectations
Developing consensus or dealing with major differences in expectations of Mentors and Recipients
Role playing Mentor-Recipient pairs at Stage 2
Ways of Mentoring: Stage Three
Sharing expertise
Communicating support and challenge
Role playing Mentor-Recipient pairs at Stage 3
Redefining the Relationship: Stage Four
The evolutionary nature of mentoring relationships
Avoiding the risks of mentoring
Enjoying the benefits of a mentoring relationship
Role playing Mentor-Recipient pairs at Stage 4
Evaluation of The Mentor Training Program
Implementation: Structure to Keep a Mentor Program Going
Once the initial mentor training has been completed, people are ready to begin mentoring. But unless some structure is created which guides the course of events and which provides opportunities for mentors as well as their mentees (either together or separately) to share and review their progress, it is easy for mentor programs to lose momentum or to suffer from a lack of direction or communication.
Someone in the organization needs to be responsible for:
Moving the mentor program forward in a positive direction
Providing opportunities for mentors to share their experiences and their views about the effectiveness of the mentor program
Providing opportunities for recipients of mentoring to share their views about the effectiveness of the mentoring program
Addressing any problems or unmet needs that emerge during the course of the year.
Any of a number of structures will work. In some organizations, informal but regular social get-togethers over lunch best enhance the exchange of information that is necessary between the person responsible for the mentor program and the participants in the program. Other organizations may choose to hold more formal quarterly or monthly meetings to accomplish this same purpose. The meeting structure may include brief reports which are written or given orally by mentors to summarize their progress, to identify any special problems or needs they have, or to account for the resources they have directed toward mentoring.
The structure shown below illustrates how a mentor teacher program might create forward motion by using a timeline that is tied to the public school calendar year. These regular exchanges of information are sometimes called formative evaluation.
TIMELINE FOR A MENTOR TEACHER PROGRAM
Date
1. Mentor Teachers are recruited and selected. date ________
The Mentor Training program is offered. date ________
Mentors develop first draft of personal plan for mentoring. date ________
2. Welcome/orientation for New Teachers and Mentors. date ________
Mentors are matched with New Teachers. date ________
Evaluation of Mentor Training. date ________
3. Mentor and New Teacher share expectations, develop 6-week plan
and schedule regular meetings. date ________
Mentors begin Portfolios to track mentor activities. date ________
4. Instruction begins. Mentors support New Teachers and meet with
them regularly to share information, to compare expectations, and
to revise plans to meet New Teacher's needs. Mentors add to
Portfolio. date ________
5. End of first 6-week period, Mentors review their progress as
mentors, identify new challenges, and offer support to New
Teachers. Mentors meet to share experiences and Portfolios. date ________
6. End of Fall Semester, all Mentor-New Teacher pairs meet to share
progress, identify needs, and revise plans for Spring Semester,
Midpoint evaluation of Mentor Program. date ________
7. Continue Steps 3-6 through Spring semester. Final evaluation of
Mentor Program: Mentor and New Teacher Self-Assessment, past-
evaluation of Mentor Training, review of Mentor Portfolios. date ________
Evaluation of Mentor Programs and Final Reports
Typically, the person in charge of the mentor program is responsible for mentor training, program implementation, and evaluation. This individual generally is expected to prepare a final report which summarizes the results of the mentor program and makes recommendations regarding future mentor programs. Others may review the final report and make decisions or recommendations regarding the program.
To evaluate the effectiveness of a mentoring program, it is important to assemble background information which describes the program and its participants, and to gather feedback from all who have participated in the program. Background information might include a description of:
Participants (number and professional standing)
Overview of the training and other services provided
A timeline and highlights of events throughout the program's duration
The resources (time, fixed costs, unexpected costs, etc. ) required to operate the program
Gathering feedback from participants in the program is worth considerable thought so that participants feel they have had the opportunity to fully share their views about their participation and about the effectiveness and values of the program. For example, the evaluator may design a formal survey instrument or checklist which participants are expected to complete and return (perhaps but not necessarily anonymously); or the evaluator may informally ask participants to share their views about the effectiveness of the mentor program at a final meeting and suggest ways to improve it. Obviously, feedback gathered over the course of the program provides more information than a single survey at the end of the program.
However feedback is gathered, the evaluator is then expected to prepare a written report which summarizes the feedback, compares the feedback with his or her own expectations--given the resources and constraints that pertained, to identify problems or concerns about the program, and make recommendations or decisions regarding the continuation of the program.
BLIOGRAPHY
Banner, James M. Jr., "The Master Teacher's Greatest Reward," Educational Leadership, November, 1985.
Commons, Dorman, et. al., Who Will Teach Our Children?, California Commission on the Teaching Profession, November, 1985.
Daloz, Laurent A., "Mentors: teachers who make a difference," Change, September, 1983.
Dombart, Patricia M., "The 'Vision' of an Insider: A Practitioner's View," Educational Leadership, November, 1985.
Eddy, E., Becoming a Teacher: The Passage to Professional Status , New York, Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 1969.
Erickson, Erick H., "Generativity and Ego Identify," in Bernice L. Neugarten (Ed.), Middle Age: A Reader in Social Psychology , Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1968.
Furtivengler, Carol, "Tennessee's Career Ladder Plan: They Said It Couldn't Be Done," Educational Leadership, November, 1985.
Gray, William A. and Gray, Marilynne, "Synthesis of Research on Mentoring Teachers, " Educational Leadership, November, 1985.
Kent, Karen M., "A Successful Program of Teachers Assisting Teachers," Educational Leadership, November, 1985.
Little, Judith Warren, "Teachers as Teacher Advisors: The Delicacy of Collegial Leadership, " Educational Leadership, November, 1985.
O'Neil, James M.,"Toward a Theory and Practice of Mentoring in Psychology, " Paper presented at the 89th Convention of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, California, 1981.
Peterson, Ken and Mitchell, Anthony, "Teacher-Controlled Evaluation in a Career Ladder Program," Educational Leadership, November, 1985.
Rodriguez, Jaime; Schetter, David; Martinez, John and Wold, Richard, Faculty Mentoring of Minority Graduate and Professional Students: The Irvine Experiment, under FIPSE Grant No.G008102552, 1984.
Shulman, Lee S. "Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations of the New Reform, Harvard Educational Review, February, 1987.
Wagner, Laura A., "Ambiguities and Possibilities in California's Mentor Teacher Program, Educational Leadership, November, 1985.
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