Developing+a+Relationship+with+your+Mentee

home I say... Jim Knight writes about what he calls a “Partnership Mindset”; a relationship in which the mentee and mentor are equals whose ideas, experiences, and voices are both valued and respected. From this footing, a truly collaborative model of coaching can be established. Once that is present, the mentee will feel safe enough to hear feedback and be reflective. And So... Without a strong relationship, a true partnership, there is less likelihood that the mentee will be able to benefit from the wealth of knowledge and expertise the mentor has to offer. Great ideas are only good if they are actually put into practice by the mentee and that will only happen if the mentee feels valued as an equal with the mentor.
 * //It says... (Maureen)//**
 * //“Having a broad repertoire of best practices to share with a teacher is only one part of what a coach (mentor) needs. A subtler, but equally important goal for (mentors) is to establish emotional connections with collaborating teachers.” Instructional Coaching: A Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction” Jim Knight, pg. 24//**

I think you have made an important point here. One of the ways this might be accomplished would be for the mentor to check in regularly with the mentee, especially in the early weeks of the relationship so that the mentee is willing to seek the mentor out if ever there is a need. The proximity of the mentor mentee is something that should be considered as well, however, having meetings set up weekly to ensure that these check-ins are happening might be a suggestion? At our school, we organize a luncheon for our Mentor / Mentee partners at the end of August, in an effort to help to establish a connection. We also invite our Mentors to our after school New Teacher workshops to encourage a strong connection based on shared learning. These strategies have worked for a few years now. Perhaps we could mention this?

I say... Being aware of what a mentee will go through in that critical first year empowers the mentor to be able to address the emotional and mental needs of the new teacher in a sensitive and caring manner, deepening the partnership between the two colleagues. As mentors, we can help our mentees reflect themselves on these challenges so they are aware that what they may be feeling is typical for a new teacher and that tough times will not last forever. And so... Developing a relationship with your mentee is the most challenging and, yet, the most important part of being a mentor. Without it, we will have little impact on the instructional practice of our mentors. Being sensitive to their emotional needs as they change throughout that first year will allow the mentee to feel supported and understood and will help strengthen the trust and bond between mentee and mentor. Another soft skill would be to ask the mentee open ended questions that encourage the mentee to share details - e.g. instead of asking "how was your week" try "tell me about your week" It truly is about the wording - the request to tell about the week invites the mentor to reflect more deeply and will likely draw a less emotional response from the mentee. Being sensitive to emotional needs is vital, I think. Could we include the developmental phases diagram in our monograph? A visual representation might be appreciated, with an approximated school year timeline?
 * //It says... (Maureen)//**
 * //“Beginning teachers needs vary widely...However, there are some generalizations that can be made about the needs, expectations and emotional phases during the first year of teaching. (Researchers) have identified a series of challenges that occur in developmental phases: Anticipation, Survival, Disillusionment, Rejuvenation, Reflection and Anticipation...As mentors, awareness and sensitivity to these phases helps us maintain a developmentally appropriate balance of support and challenge while facilitating professional vision. “ ( Mentoring Matters, pg. 5)//**

I say... There are many reasons to provide mentors for new teachers. Probably the most important is to provide support as a new teacher enters a challenging, multi-faceted profession. Almost equally important is the need to ensure that the instructional practices of our newest members are developing as they should and that all teachers are working toward excellence in their teaching. Getting a new teacher to reflect on her or his practice critically and recognize the need for change requires more than just informal chats. There needs to be planned, ongoing, meaningful dialogue between the mentor and mentee and a partnership based on trust and mutual respect. A strategy to support new teachers is to have conversations about the learning objectives for a lesson or unit and the sorts of things/ behaviors/ attitudes they would look for in the classroom that would tell them whether or not students were on the right track. Another topic for conversation would be to talk about possible problems and/or misconceptions they feel students might encounter during instruction. This sort of collaboration is beneficial for all teachers, but the opportunities in the mentor -mentee relationship make them possible in a way that doesn't always come about in the regular school year. And so... As we are reflecting on our own mentoring, we need to ask ourselves (Excellent questions - bulleted?) :
 * //It says... (Maureen)//**
 * //“The most popular strategy for helping new teachers get off to a good start is an informal buddy system, in which mentors offer technical advice and emotional support...When mentoring means little more than occasional check-ins or informal chats, it is unlikely to influence instruction.” ( Beyond Solo Teaching, Educational Leadership May 2012, pg. 13)//**
 * Am I going beyond the “informal chat strategy” of mentoring?
 * Have I provided a developmentally appropriate balance between support and challenge?
 * What might I do to deepen my relationship with my mentee so that I am developing a level of trust that will allow me to deliver difficult feedback?


 * //It says.. (Maureen)//**
 * //“Effective mentoring takes time. Giving the beginning teacher a quick solution to a problem takes an exchange of only a few minutes; coaching the beginning teacher into a deeper understanding of what is happening in the classroom demands longer, more structured sessions together. Helping beginning teachers to discover a solution for themselves builds self-confidence. (Mentoring Begininng Teachers, pg. 40)//**

I say... No one will argue against the importance of building capacity in our mentees rather than simply giving them the answers. Deepening the relationship with your mentee through planned, ongoing conversations will allow you to foster these problem-solving skills. Conferences can include a variety of conversational tools such as questioning, paraphrasing, pausing, mirroring and reflecting. The mentee can be prompted to reflect on the best solution to a problem or on why they made a particular instructional choice and the mentor can use this dialogue to offer feedback. Through this thoughtful exchange, professional development can occur. And so... Using this as the opening sentence is a great idea. Perhaps using some of the Hard Conversations for this would be useful as well as the outline.
 * The most important tool in the mentor’s tool kit is the ability to develop a relationship with her or his mentee through careful, planned conversations that foster independence and reflection.** **( I think this would be a great opening sentence for this part of our monograph!! ** )These interactions need to be ongoing and meaningful. Mentors must be careful not to offer a quick answer, but take the time to probe gently until the mentee is able to come to some understanding independently.

source : “Beyond Solo Teaching”, Sharon Feiman-Nemser, //Educational Leadership//, May 2012
 * It Says…**

Case studies of thoughtful mentors at work show that they act as co-thinkers and co-planners, helping new teachers reframe challenges, design and modify instruction and assessments, and analyze and promote student learning. Mentors also deliver difficult feedback and strive for a balance between supporting new teachers and challenging them to grow. (Wang, Strong, & Odell, 2004; Yusko & Feiman-Nemser, 2008)

Many individuals in the Side by Side program say that co-Planning lessons centered around specific learning objectives and success criteria is valuable opportunity in the mentor and mentee learning relationship. The mentor, having the concrete teaching experiences to draw on, plays a key role in guiding the conversations and helping the new teacher to generate ideas, but both mentors and mentees come up with new ideas and approaches they would not have identified if they were to work in isolation. I feel that this approach works best. As I planned alongside with my mentee and using our ideas combined, the relationship and trust was greatly impacted and it helped to make our working relationship stronger.
 * I say …**

And so... Being a mentor provides new and experienced teachers with opportunities to collaborate naturally and have authentic learning experiences; it is not just the mentee who will be learning!

source : “Beyond Solo Teaching”, Sharon Feiman-Nemser, //Educational Leadership//, May 2012
 * It Says…**

Case studies of thoughtful mentors at work show that they act as co-thinkers and co-planners, helping new teachers reframe challenges, design and modify instruction and assessments, and analyze and promote student learning. Mentors also deliver difficult feedback and strive for a balance between supporting new teachers and challenging them to grow. (Wang, Strong, & Odell, 2004; Yusko & Feiman-Nemser, 2008)

I wonder if there is anything we could pull from Having Hard Conversations, or if we could refer mentors to this book for such conversations. This resource should be referenced and perhaps even used...there is the graphic organizer that helps lay out the conversation that may be of use. Perhaps we could quote this in the bibliography or have a small diagram of it to refer to. Appendices that consist of these organizers would be an easy, helpful reference for Mentors to use. There is no way we will be able to cover all of the possible things we could cover in our monograph. Lets include an annotated bibliography of some useful resources at the end of the momograph!
 * I say …**
 * and so...**

‍I agree completely that there are a lot of things we should add but have not even close enough room. An annotated bibliography would be great. Perhaps also a link to the website (Side by Side) so they could access the site as well.

source : “ The Challenges of Supporting New Teachers”, by Marge Scherer, //Educational Leadership//, May 2012 “Teachers want to be in environments where they are going to be successful with students, where they’re getting help to do that, where they have good colleagues, where they are working as a team.Teachers, especially those just entering the profession, are generally collaboratively oriented people. “
 * It Says…**

It Says... "Ellen Moir...and her colleagues have identified a series of mental and emotional challenges that occur in developmental phaes across the first year of practice. They note that while every new teacher goes through this exact sequence, these generalizations are a useful map for predicting and responding to the needs of novices. The six phases descrive in their work are: Anticipation, Survival, Disillusionment, Rejuvenations, Reflection and Anticipation." //Mentoring Matters//, Wellman, pg. 5
 * The Phases of First Year Teaching**

I Say... The relationship between Mentor and Mentee will naturally evolve as the year proceeds. The phases through which the Mentee will be travelling should be recognized by the Mentor throughout the year, as the Mentor has an opportunity to guide his/her own actions/reactions around each of these phases.

And So... For our purposes: I think that is a great idea! We should Peel-ize it though. We know that in Secondary progress reports in October and March I believe, as well as mid term and final reports. So a note about supporting mentees in their understanding of report writing and communication with parents could go in there. Also we could find out what the focus of the two evaluations are. I definitely think we need some references to the phase of teaching. It was one of the things I found most powerful when I read Mentoring Maters
 * A condensed calendar of the phases (akin to Wellman's on pages 13-17 could be helpful for Mentors to post for themselves to remind them of these phases, and provide some strategies throughout the year