To Mentor Is to Teach: Following Christ and Classrooms of Mutual Peace

Abstract

Once new teachers enter the K-12 setting, the call to mentoring relationships has strong historical, social, and cultural foundations. Not only is mentoring “best practice” for educational stakeholders in terms of mentoring teacher candidates and new teachers, it is also a worthy approach for student learning. Research overwhelmingly supports the conclusion that providing high-quality, well-trained mentors is an effective means for producing efficacious, self-confident, and proactive individuals. The chapter examines a biblical approach to mentoring, how this can inform the practice of mentoring, emphasizing the mindset and practices that teachers can utilize with students in their own classrooms.

Appendix

The following are recommended strategies for overcoming barriers found in each of the core elements of mentoring.

Belief in Others

• 1. Demonstrate a consistent belief in the capacity of people to grow and learn—even oneself.

• 2. Provide a written description of the mentoring program including a philosophical statement defining its positive purpose and referring to the benefits of mentoring. This should be addressed in orientation to the program and clearly articulated throughout the district.

• 3. Use positive presuppositions throughout—concentrate on developing efficacy and consciousness.

• 4. Clear expectations and goals with very clear norms generated and adhered to.

Trust

Practical strategies to eliminate or diminish barriers to trust are shown below:

• 1. Mentor needs to realize that trust is essential to learning and without taking the time and effort to build trust; no learning relationship will follow. Mentor must acquire skills of trust building and rapport —listening intently, mirroring, non-judgmental questioning and responding.

• 2. Mentor and protégé need to consciously focus on building trust.

• 3. Hold open dialog in which mentors and protégés discuss trust.

• 4. Have both parties read books on the importance of trust.

• 5. Make confidentiality explicit as part of the coaching agreement. Inform administrator’s supervisor that this is an essential component for success.

• 6. The protégé needs to know he/she is working with someone they can trust and share.

• 7. Include in a first “grounding conversation,” specific agreements regarding confidentiality. These agreements should address who will know/not know about the coaching/mentoring relationship, what words will be said to those who know about the coaching/mentoring relationship, and what specific topics and information are confidential (perhaps everything), and, if there is a supervisor who holds some expectations regarding the coaching /mentoring, what precisely will and will not be shared with that supervisor.

• 8. Leave nothing to chance!!

Training

Strategies for appropriate mentor training include:

• 1. Provide a formal mentor training program.

• 2. Provide coaching of mentors, mentor support groups, and regular meetings.

• 3. Provide feedback loops regarding effective practices.

• 4. Provide a framework and process for coaching and mentoring (like the UC Santa Cruz—CLASS model) rather than expecting support providers to shoot from the hip.

• 5. Provide Cognitive Coaching^SM training.

  • Train mentors in purpose and goals of coaching, coaching maps, response behaviors of pausing , paraphrasing , probing , providing data, and questioning skills.

  • Provide meetings for mentors in which they share what works with support and practice sessions for the mentors.

  • Mentors need to be taught skills prior to being a mentor.

  • Provide training in dialog, communication skills for both parties—coach prior to beginning, as a prerequisite to being a coach and protégé in the beginning stages of the process.

Communication

Establish criteria for mentors:

• 1. Establish selection criteria for coaches/mentors; then select only coaches/mentors who are noted for their interpersonal and communication skills.

• 2. Program director must have clear criteria for the choice of mentors that includes communication skills in addition to a high level of professional experience.

• 3. Find a person who is a people-person to do the job and get him/her trained in Cognitive Coaching .

Provide appropriate training in communication and interpersonal skills:

• 1. Provide training in dialog, communication skills for both parties—coach prior to beginning, as a prerequisite to being a coach and protégé in the beginning stages of the process.

• 2. Go slow to go fast, communication skills need to be developed.

• 3. Mentor needs to be a good listener, asking the appropriate questions so the protégé can see for themselves what needs to be done.

• 4. Protégé (at the conclusion of each session) must be able to phrase, rephrase, and paraphrase action items and next steps.

• 5. Review expectations, procedures, guidelines, roles, address process for miscommunication, and stress open communication.

• 6. Use a variety of communication forms—feedback forms, written plans, journaling, and verbal discussions.

Time

The following are suggested strategies to overcome time constraints:

• 1. Set time as a specific goal, with success indicators.

• 2. Schedule in advance in each party’s calendar and both keep sessions as a priority—only reschedule when absolutely necessary.

• 3. Establish regular meeting times, use electronic and phone connections, and use frequent short meetings instead of prolonged infrequent ones.

• 4. Put mentoring in place for a school year; put regular meeting dates on the calendar and make them a priority—does not have to be long—even 30 min will work.

• 5. The process takes time—agreement needs to be made in the beginning of the process must be established and adhered to.

• 6. Establish guidelines/requirements for coaching /mentoring, i.e., a minimum of two 45-min coaching interactions per month for a minimum of six months.

Process

Barriers to process center on the lack of a plan of action. Suggestions to remedy this include:

• 1. Discuss nature of mentoring relationship and how support can be coaching, collaborating and/or consulting early in relationship; assess protégé needs and use those needs to plan for action, maintain confidentiality, find ways to connect to personal concerns as well as professional concerns, use the Concerns-Based Adoption Model to diagnose and make decisions about interventions.

• 2. Provide a template and suggested activities for both parties.

• 3. Develop plan of action based on mentors who have contributed to value-added achievement gains by protégés .

• 4. Include social and trust building activities at onset.

• 5. Engage in a “grounding conversation” as the first major interaction. During this grounding conversation, the wants, needs, and expectations for a learning relationship are established; the purpose(s) for coaching /mentoring is(are) clarified; relationship norms/agreements are set mutually; and broad short-term and long-term goals are set for the coaching/mentoring experience.

• 6. Relationship needs to be structured to allow off-ramps at early intervals on a no-fault basis.

• 7. During the first meeting of coach and protégé, the coach should describe what the relationship would be like and the optimal commitments in time, trust, and insight on the protégé’s part.

• 8. Set clear expectations for time, commitment, meeting times, and goals, and confidentiality should be discussed and agreed upon by both parties.

• 9. Provide suggested guidelines for short- and long-term needs and goals as well as means to evaluate progress.

• 10. Review the goals in measurable increments.