What Is My Role as a Mentor?
- The Mentorship Role in an Additional Qualifications' Course:
In Standards in Practice: A Resource for Educators, The Ontario College of Teachers
(OCT) acknowledges the importance of professional inquiry situated in a teacher's own practice.
They also recognize the complexity and diversity that informs the interdependent relationships
necessary to sustain growth in the profession.
You have agreed to assume the role of ‘ Mentor ' in an AQ course. Building on the OCT's
principles, the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Ontario developed a ‘Reflective
Practice Project'. This project aims to focus teacher professional inquiry to an area of course
related interest. An overview, guidelines, questions to consider, and various report forms
are included for students to work through this process. To take a look at what the student
sees, view the RPP Overview .
- What is my role as an AQ mentor?
Your mentee has chosen you as a mentor for many reasons often described as:
- your expertise and experience in a particular area in which the mentee is attempting to develop
further;
- your professional conduct which the mentee would like to emulate;
- a prior trusting relationship that the mentee is comfortable with.
A place to begin then, especially in a new mentor/mentee relationship is simply to build a
relationship. You can do this face-to-face, by phone, or by electronic communication (chat,
email). It is important that in this phase there is a focus on communication that builds mutual
trust, respect, confidentiality and professionalism. The following table outlines how this
might evolve in an AQ relationship.
| 1. Establish contact |
- Once you have agreed to mentor, it would be helpful to establish what the working relationship
will entail. For example, in a full term course, you may decide to meet briefly or dialogue
electronically once per week.
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| 2. Clarify expectations |
- The role of the mentor in this course is to dialogue with, and respond to work that
the student develops.
- Part A: Dialoguing about a topic that is achievable in a given time frame
- Part B: Reading the student's one page proposal and offering suggestions, theories to
consider, resources to investigate. You also are likely to have a broader perspective to
help the student contextualize their inquiry, or alternatively to extend it.
- Part C: provide written feedback that is shared with the course instructor, that addresses
the progress to date. This can be sent to the mentee via email to be included, and is generally
less than one page in length.
- Part D: Viewing the end product of your mentee's inquiry, and indicating their success
in the process as well as commenting on the learning process itself. This is also expected
to be brief, and is usually less than one page.
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| 3. Observing/Listening
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- In your interactions, think about the mentee's approach to teaching and learning. Communicate
what you see/hear, and help them employ strategies for expanding their repertoire of
teaching modalities, problem solving, use of resources etc.
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| 4. Decision Making
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- Share your process of decision making. How do you go about constructing a process of
ongoing reflection in a way that informs your teaching learning decisions.
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What Is My Role as a Mentee?
What do I hope to get out of the mentor/mentee relationship?
This exercise is simply meant to help guide your thinking as you prepare to participate in this
relationship. By identifying what your expectations are before you begin, you will be able to
identify what plans and processes will need to be put in place in order to ensure that you meet
as many of those expectations as possible. It will also help you to articulate your expectations
to your partner in this relationship. Click here to
view the exercise.
Mentor Connection
| “Grade Seven Teacher Mentee seeking Mentor with similar teaching experience and
interest and experience in History. If you are interested, please contact me at 555-1212”. |
How do you currently find appropriate matches for mentors? Are the same one or two people doing
all the mentoring? This survey may help you
collect information about the teachers working on your staff to determine the ways in which they
may want to participate in a culture of mentoring.
Promoting Reflective Practice
One of the goals of working in a culture of mentoring is to model professional reflective practice.
The Ontario College of Teachers has put together a Resource
Kit designed to foster professional inquiry. The 'Critical
Incidents in Teaching' exercise may be helpful as a springboard to develop such inquiry as
a ‘habit of mind'.
Providing Feedback to Your Mentee
The way in which you provide feedback to your mentee says a great deal about the relationship
that you have nurtured. These suggestions may help you think through some issues ahead of your
meeting time in order to make your feedback meaningful, thoughtful and constructive.
- Recognize that there may be a level of anxiety associated with these meetings. Take the time
to make some positive comments. Set the stage by modeling a self-assessment of your own teaching,
and inviting your mentee to raise questions about your teaching.
- Determine what the mentee already knows/feels about the object of your feedback. For example,
if you were observing a lesson, begin by demonstrating good listening skills, and respecting
their (evolving) ability to assess their own development. Consider asking:
- How did that lesson go from your perspective?
- At what point were the students most engaged in their learning?
- Were there points where the students' body language led you to believe they were less
engaged?
- What might you do differently?
- What did you learn from this experience?
- Address the strengths of the lesson. Do this as a way of both offering support and encouragement
but also as an opportunity to discuss what you may have learned from the mentee from what you
observed. Ask questions about the thinking that went into the decisions that were made in the
planning and execution of the lesson.
- Address the weakness of the lesson. Focus on the instructional points, and demonstrate a
willingness to work together to improve those areas. Provide examples of how you overcame the
same or a similar weakness in your teaching. Ask your mentee what strategies he/she has for
restructuring or reconceptualizing the lesson to improve it. Provide further strategies, resources
and ideas to assist with this.
- Review and summarize what you both gained from the feedback discussion and what your next
steps will be.
Mentor/Mentee Discussion Points
There is a great deal for someone new to a school, division or teaching to learn. The
following list, while comprehensive, is certainly not complete. It does offer ideas to
help stimulate discussion and to help think about areas of focus. Rather than reviewing the
entire list at one time, consider anchoring discussions around one area at a time.
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