The one person who is responsible for 50% of who I am as a teacher, someone I consider a dear mentor, a colleague to whom I go to with the tough questions that I can’t answer did something to me yesterday. He had the nerve to ask me for advice. Now I no longer know my role in this relationship, and I was so intimidated to give him an answer. Life was easier when he had all the answers and I had all the questions.
If you are comfortable…I am curious if you consider yourself a mentor, a mentee, or just hanging around in bewtween. Can you be a mentor without a mentee? Is mentee a word? Are most mentors blind to the fact that they are mentors? I think I want to be a mentor when I grow up.
8 responses so far ↓
Hi Paul!
I see….
Firstly, I don’t know what those words mean because I am a year 6 student! So, can you tell me what they mean and then I’ll answer back and say what i think I am.
P.S Do your students have blogs? I hope they do so I can comment, if they do please link them to my blog, or write their blog address.
Thanks and bye!
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I don’t know if I’m a mentor or mentee. I think everyone is a little of both. My students seem surprised when I ask them their opinion on things related to my teaching (which unit next? where should I shelve these new books?) but they love it. I like to ask everyone questions, even stupid ones. Many times as soon as I ask it, others say, “I was just wondering that!” but I love sharing what I know. I was just talking to a first-year teacher and giving her advice…
I do know that I am NOT someone who loves emoticons (or really, even the word “emoticon) and an over use od exclamation marks.
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Hi Nadine,
I would say that a mentor is someone who is looked up to by their peers as someone who can give them guidance. A mentee(I might be making that word up! would be someone who is in a position of learning from the guidance and wisdom of another person. When I was writing the post I was thinking specifically that to be a mentor you have to have a mentee, and to be a mentee you need a mentor. Not just be a person who is learning from a lot of folks, and a person who is giving guidance to a lot of random folks. Did I make it more confusing for you?
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First, mentee is indeed a word: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mentee
Secondly, I think we can, nay, *should* all be both.
When I was a first year teacher, I was assigned a mentor, and she was great! However, she was really good at answering only one set of my questions. So I sought out 2 more mentors, getting specialized help and advice from 3 different teachers. One was for paperwork, one was for professionalism advice with sticky situations regarding parents, colleagues, etc, and the other was for general teaching dilemmas. I respect them all greatly and knew that I was so full of questions that one person would never do it for me.
Now, I really enjoy being a mentor for my colleagues and I give each of them advice that really tends to be along the same lines…one gets tech advice, one gets professionalism advice, and another gets planning advice…because that’s what they ask for from me.
But now, for my own mentoring, I love this online piece! I have 20 mentors from across the globe, all with their own strengths! yay!
And yah Paul, you ARE one who mentors me.
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Ginger your comment made me think of something….
Because of all the “stuff” teachers can put online–lesson plans, personal opinion blogs, maybe we have hit a place where your mentor might be someone you have never met, or never had a real mentee/mentor conversation. Which means you can a be a mentor to someone 2,000 miles away and never know it. I know that last spring/summer I came across two people and since then I essentially have just tried to copy what they do. They used a wiki, I started a wiki. They had a podcast, I started a podcast. They video conferenced, I started to video conference. They found a class to work with across the globe, so I found a class. At any time my kids could call me Mr. Wilkoff or Mr. Lewman because I have essentially just been trying to keep up with both of you and copying everything you do over the last year.
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Paul,
The former CEO of GE Jack Welch wrote in his book “Winning” that you only truly become a leader when you move beyond simply worrying about advancing yourself and move into worrying about how to help others advance.
This is the essence of being a mentor. In my school, I am one of the junior-most faculty members, yet I consider myself moving into this mentor and leadership role because my focus is quite often on how I can help my colleagues become better at what they do.
But I always believe in having mentors who have traveled the road I am on. I think no matter what level you reach, this is wise.
The situation you describe is interesting since someone who has always been your mentor wants your opinion. I think this can happen as we gain experience and wisdom. Heck, my own dad asks me for advice in areas he knows I am good at. Talk about a role reversal!
So yes, I think you can, and should be both.
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Bill,
Love your opening line from Jack Welch and when I read it last night I thought it was perfect. But then I thought about a person who I found as my mentor. He does not worry about changing others. He stays to himself. So maybe leaders are not always mentors, and mentors are not always leaders.
Yoda was a mentor, would he be considered a leader?
Always in motion is the future.
– Yoda
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Will you be my mentor?
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