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=The Role of the Mentor: A Change in Philosophy= Pg. 1 || ** A dual role ** Mentors are charged with two important tasks which are equally important. First, the mentor (Agreement problem within this paragraph...we either have to stick with one Mentor and one Mentee or Mentors and Mentees - you are right thanks for catching that ) must **//impart the knowledge//** //**and skills**// mentees need to navigate their first years in a classroom. Second, mentors need to **//help build capacity//** within the new teacher - the ability to apply this knowledge in the mentee’s own unique way. New teachers must have the opportunity to try many things, make many mistakes, and **//receive feedback//** **//rather than evaluation.//** (suggest: and receive feedback, rather than __not__ evaluation) agree The role of the mentor has **//fundamentally changed in recent years. (//** suggest adding: in recent years **//)//** No longer is the novice teacher being told what to do and how to do it. Rather, they (again, there's an agreement problem) are working **//collaboratively with their mentors//** to learn, to make mistakes, in a safe learning environment, suggest adding: in a safe learning environment and to try again until they are confident educators who can solve problems and make decisions independently. It truly needs to be a **//“Side by Side” approach//** in which the mentor provides descriptive, specific feedback in order to help the mentee become a **//reflective practitioner//**. || The Role of the Mentor, page 2. This is (Is something missing here?? or is this from the page heading?) No, it was going to be a note about my missing image but you fixed it for me! //** Preparing for the Role **//
 * Collaboration to build capacity… **
 * //**“We have moved away from thinking that beginning teachers should mimic or copy the methods of experienced teachers. The emphasis is now on new teachers becoming reflective thinkers who explore their own individual teaching styles. “ (Boreen, Johnson, Niday, Potts, 2009)**//
 * Mentoring through collaboration and reflection **
 * ** A balance: support and challenge ** //**“**////**Challenge without support will create anxiety and fear of**// //**failure.**// //**Support and challenge without vision may leave us wandering on a**// //**journey looking only at the ground beneath**// //**us rather**// //**than**// //**at the road ahead.” (Lipton, Wellman, 2003**////**)**//

On that website, find links to other **online resources**

Take advantage of the **professional learning** provided for mentors by the Peel District School Board through their **Side by Side** program
|| ==** The Role of the Mentor, continued **== In their work, Lipton and Wellman have identified three roles, or **//“functions”//** of the mentor: = = = Interconnected roles = = Finding the right balance = A new teacher experiences times during the year when they are excited and hopeful and other times when they **//feel frustrated or disillusioned//**. The later may be a time to **//provide emotional support//**, rather than creating challenge. When the mentee has experienced **//a moment of success//**, the mentor encourages reflection and pushes the new teacher to build upon that success. In this way, **//challenge and support are provided simultaneously.//** The third element is to model and foster a desire for life-long professional learning. Encouraging reflection at times when support is provided and challenge is created may help to achieve the last of Wellman and Lipton’s three functions - Facillitating a Professional Vision (suggest: -- Facilitating a Professional Vision). The challenge for mentors is to provid e support, **//appropriate//** challenge, and encourage mentees to **//stay focused on their vision//**, even at the most difficult times of the year. = Mentors may ask, “Where do I Start?” = //**“Effective mentoring, like effective lesson planning, starts long before the bell rings.”**// //**(Boreen, Johnson, Niday, Potts, 2009)**// The mentor-mentee collaboration should **//provide support while building capacity//** and needs to be **//thoughtfully planned//**. When mapping out their role, effective mentors take time to consider how they will meet the needs of the new teacher. (this may not work because there is more than one thing being sugested for consideration) suggest:One important consideration is the wide range of possible supports. how they might move the mentee toward independence.
 * v Offering Support:** Emotional, physical, instructional and institutional
 * v Creating Challenge:** Engaging in goal setting, reflecting on practice, engaging the mentor in problem-solving and decision making
 * v Facilitating a Professional Vision:** Developing the mentee’s desire to become a lifelong learner, setting high but realistic expectations, providing a big-picture context for professional learning
 * //Offering support//** may include the sharing of resources, ideas and time, or even something as simple as helping the mentee suggest: even something as simple as helping the mentee to find the photocopy room. Once these supports are in place, **//creating challenge//** can involve encouraging the mentee to try some of these ideas in an environment where (suggest: where) there is **//no fear judgment or reprisal//**. Through this, mentors help mentees move toward an understanding of their own **//professional vision//** and an understanding of who they want to be as educators, while setting a **//very high standard of practice.//**

I would have the paragraph read as follows:

The mentor-mentee collaboration should **//provide support while building capacity//** and needs to be **//thoughtfully planned//**. When mapping out their role, effective mentors take time to consider how they will meet the needs of the new teacher. Important to consider is the wide range of possible supports and how they might move the mentee toward **//independent practice (OR//** toward **//independence.)//** //The authors of// //Mentoring Beginning Teachers: Guiding, Reflecting, Coaching// //offer these questions as a guide for mentors:// // v // //**“How can I help the new teacher learn about the culture of the school?**// // v // //**How can I assist the new teacher in developing rapport with the students?**// v //**What strategies can I make and what approaches can I model for proactive classroom ma**////**nagement?”**// Below is an example of a template mentors may use to plan their support. ||

** A Planned Collaboration **

I added the Wellman phases of the first year of teaching to try to incorporate the content from the chart in the next section into this one. *Lipton and Wellman’s “Phases of a First Year Teacher”, Mentoring Matters pgs. 5-11
 * || ** Offering Support **  ||  ** Creating Challenge **  ||  ** Facilitating vision **  ||
 * ** Beginning of the school year/Fall ** Anticipation/Survival* ||  ||   ||   ||
 * //Possible activities// || ** Sharing of bulletin board ideas, preparing for Open House and parent - teacher interviews ** || ** Helping prepare for the TPA process, co-planning of lessons, co-writing of progress reports, look at and grade student work ** || ** Attending a Side-by-Side workshop together, sharing personal professional learning goals (e.g., Annual Learning Plan) ** ||
 * ** Winter (from progress report to end of term one) ** Survival/Disilusionment* ||  ||   ||   ||
 * //Possible activities// || ** Providing emotional support; many mentees experience disillusionment at this point in the year ** || ** Co-planning of a short unit, observe or videotape a lesson and debrief classroom management strategies ** || ** Attending a book talk together or choosing a professional resource for the two of you to read ** ||
 * ** Late Winter (first half of term two) ** Rejuvenation* ||  ||   ||   ||
 * //Possible activities// || ** Helping with pacing of the curriculum, review procedures for ** filing completed Suggest: __filing__ completing ** reports, continuing contact with parents ** || ** Celebrating successes, helping mentee to reflect on instructional strategies, helping to set goals ** || ** Sharing of progress ** Suggest : delete -on own ** Annual Learning plan, invite mentee to join a committee with you **
 * I includeded "on own" because I thought that, to shate the mentor's Annual learning plan with the mentee would be a way for the mentor to model Professional Vision. Would that be inappropriate to suggest? ** ||
 * ** Spring ** ** (second half of term two) ** Rejuvenation/Reflection* ||  ||   ||   ||
 * //Possible activities// || ** Co-planning a field trip or other year-end event; preparing for completion of final report cards ** || ** Collaboratively evaluating student work and preparing report card marks, reflecting on assessment strategies used and what might be more effective ** || ** Attending a workshop for mentors, sharing with mentee, and others, what was learned and how it relates to the mentors Annual Learning Plan ** ||
 * ** June/End of Year ** Anticipation* ||  ||   ||   ||
 * //Possible activities// || ** Collaboratively completing year-end activities like preparing OSR’s, ** thinking Suggest: ??? encouraging mentee to reflect on ** changes in classroom organization ** || ** Reflecting on classroom management and creating an equitable environment and planning how to start the year off more effectively ** || ** Modelling how to reflect on the success the mentor’s own professional learning and encouraging the mentee to do the same ** ||

** Developing a Relationship with Your Mentee **
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. Developing a relationship with your (a) mentee may be challenging for a mentor, but it is the most important and most rewarding step in your (the) mentoring journey. This relationship, which relies on **mutual trust,** will lead to the development of strong instructional practices and growth for both the mentee //and// mentor. Creating a trusting, open, and supportive relationship (suggest: from the beginning) is key**//.//**
 * // “To mentor is to teach. //**
 * // To teach is to learn.” //** Bruce Wellman

Suggest: not starting a new paragraph after first line and writing in a different voice: "most rewarding step in __the__ mentoring journey", rather than "__your__ mentoring journey." What would the missing images be? ( images are of the phases of first year teachers and quotes...they don't show up for some reason.)
 * || [[image:http://sidebysidewriting.wikispaces.com/site/embedthumbnail/placeholder?w=200&h=50 width="200" height="50"]] ||
 * || [[image:http://sidebysidewriting.wikispaces.com/site/embedthumbnail/placeholder?w=200&h=50 width="200" height="50"]] ||


 * //“Skillful Mentors provide challenge, as well as emotional and cognitive support for protégés. They do so by helping the mentee develop identity as teachers, through an expanding technical and knowledge base and enhanced Instructional repertoire.” Lipton and Wellman//**

When beginning the mentoring journey, it is important ( for mentors) agree to begin thinking about how to develop a relationship with (their) your mentee (s). To facilitate this, mentors may want to Consider another existing professional relationship in which you (suggest: they have experienced success and use that as a guideline for developing the relationship with the mentee) then omit the following: ( would like to produce growth. This will help facilitate your conversation and be the stepping stones to your relationship) agree
 * Mindset ** (suggest: A Mentoring Mindset) agree
 * //Consider these questions to help develop your relationship.//** (question: Are these prompts to help the mentor develop a relationship with the mentee OR more general prompts to help guide the mentor in understanding their role? they are prompts for the mentor to develop relationship with mentee as well understanding their role. could be used for both sections?
 * **//What are some goals or outcomes you have for your mentee?//**
 * **//What are some goals or outcomes you have for the relationship?//**
 * **//What are some strategies you are presently using to support your goals and outcomes?//**
 * **//What are some challenges and barriers to achieving your goals and outcomes?//**

Suggest: omit the following and just use the sentence below (Once you have the answers to these questions, you are ready to understand the phases of a First year teacher, as well as move into Learning Focused conversations.) agree

As a mentor, __you__ (it is important to) __have to__ keep in mind what the mentee may be experiencing:

In each phase while developing the relationship, a mentor will **//support, challenge, and facilitate vision.//** This will look different at each phase. It is important to use professional judgment ( suggest: to decide what the focus will be at any given time) and omit ( provide at any if you are providing support or a challenge or if you are facilitating vision)

Here are some examples to help with Support, Challenge and Facilitate Vision:

Question: Is this too similar to the chart in the previous section, a bit of a repeat? I agree, can the content of each be combined? That was my thought as well. Just add the phases to the chart above and then have the chart below be an explanation of the phases, maybe? yes very similar....should be combined as one?

Suggestion: provide an explanation of each phase good idea but will it be too heavy in terms of information when combined?

-mentor share vision of professionalism -offer ideas -gently challenge by having mentee keep reflection journal to help with focus of future conversations || -celebrate goals achieved and set new ones -have conversations about why you teach and what made them want teaching as a career -collaborate jointly -check in often || -coach thinking and support reflection check for signals that they are overwhelmed || -ask mentee to identify examples of growth so far and share concrete examples of things you have observed -continue to connect mentee with other staff || -help organize for the end of year || -continue to challenge -focus on instructional outcomes -seek collaborative opportunities to team teach and to try new ideas || -collaborate with mentee -plan field trip or a shared unit of instruction -have learning focused conversations that focus on goals for upcoming year || -make connections between what was expected and what actually occurred. -collaborate on a professional growth plan for the coming year.
 * Phases of First year Teacher || Support || Challenge || Facilitate Vision ||
 * Anticipation Phase || -provide information, first day activities || -have goal setting conversation, establish initial goals for learning and for relationship || -have mentee share their vision
 * balance long term thinking with support in the short term ||
 * Survival Phase || -share materials and management tips || -ask questions to help mentee recognize effective choices
 * can use Hard Conversations resource if needed** ||
 * Disillusionment || -continue to assist by sharing materials and tips
 * Rejuvenation || -celebrate share and mark goals achieved and milestones passed
 * try something new that your mentee has suggested and ask for some coaching** ||
 * Reflection || -provide information and tips for the end of year paperwork/routines || -analyze student performance

CELEBRATE! ||

Learning Focused Conversations

//“Mindfulness of the intention to produce and support thoughtfulness about practice is an important function of a learning-focused relationship.//
 * Lipton and Wellman**


 * When working with a mentee, a mentor must take cues from the mentee. These external cues signal the mentee ' s inner process of thinking and feeling. Things to look for are gestures, facial expressions, posture and muscle tension, as well as what they say.**

__ Strategy __**: when making decisions on** (suggest regarding rather than on) **what your mentee needs at the time, consider the “**Whether, When and How “ questions. **For example,** Whether**: When discussing a lesson plan, is there a judgment that needs to be made? If so, then** ask yourself “when **and** how” **will you address this.**
 * As a mentor, use these cues to determine which stance is most appropriate and how to start the conversation. Conversations are driven by the mentee, and should not to be scripted. Learning focused conversations happen both** in the moment **and** over time**. By reading your** (the) mentees cues, you (a mentor) **will be able to determine if they need support, or whether it ' s time for a challenging question. As a mentor, it is also very important to monitor your own internal processes as well in order to effectively modify your behavior and actions to support the relationship with your mentee and produce learning.**
 * Suggest: writing in a different voice, without the use of the word "you" agree **


 * In //Mentoring Matters//, Lipton and Wellman have provided a template for Planning and Problem-Solving as well as one for** Reflecting ( template on pg. 42)**. These templates are great for a conversation starting point for what will be discussed** //when meeting.// (Suggest: These templates could be used as )**//As a//** //learning tool for both the mentor and mentee meeting. These// **templates provide a framework to prepare for a conversation so that it is focused and is outcome oriented.** (The end of this sentence is confusing?) ( see changes above???)

// Helpful tips to developing the relationship: //**

These are great!
 * At the beginning, establish clear and shared expectations for the learning-focused relationship
 * Ask open-ended questions
 * Be aware of your language -- verbal and non-verbal
 * Meet regularly with your mentee / Set up weekly visits and stick to them
 * Find out the needs of the mentee and respect their experience
 * Be ready to co-learn with your mentee-- it is truly rewarding
 * Try to be non-judgmental and allow the mentee the opportunity to be open and honest with you
 * Be willing to give the time needed to the mentee when they feel there is a pressing issue

Suggest - putting this in a text box, link to Jennifer Abrams website agree When engaging in a conversation that may be a difficult one, here is a useful resource to refer to. Sometimes the conversation needs a focus/goal/outcome and this resource can help facilitate the conversation with useful graphic organizers.
 * ( picture of the Hard conversations book to be here)

=The three C's of Coaching=

Thanks for including this, Candice, it helps to visualize the final product!

How it will look:
 * ~ ===How it will look:=== ||~  ||
 * [[image:sidebysidewriting/3cs page 1.png width="322" height="360"]] || [[image:sidebysidewriting/3cs page 2.png width="170" height="246"]] ||

As the relationship between mentor and mentee develops throughout the school year, the mentor’s role (suggest: approach) (I agree) shifts, based on the mentee’s needs. Bruce Wellman describes these shifts as stances, of which there are three: **Consultant, Collaborator,** and **Coach**. || // “The mentor’s role has been replaced from the ‘sage on the stage’ to the ‘guide on the side.’” //  - **Lois Zachary,** || // - //**// Mentoring Beginning Teachers //** Suggest: These are great quotes - they refer to the inforamtion contained in the first section - the changing role of the mentor. Are there quotes that could be used that refer specifically to the "approach" taken in a given situation? || = = Before the mentor decides which stance would be appropriate for each scenario that the mentee presents, each (suggest: replace each with "the") issue must be fully communicated and understood (suggest: by both teachers or by the mentor). During a learning-focused conversation, the mentor’s job is to listen, inquire, and probe to ensure this understanding. However, there are some practices that often prevent this understanding from taking place. Wellman describes these practices as Blocks to Understanding, of which there are three: **Personal Referencing, Personal Curiosity,** and **Personal Certainty.** = = || // To gain full understanding in a Learning-Focused Conversation, the Mentor: //
 * ===What it will say:=== ||  ||
 * ** The Roles of a Mentor ** Suggest: __The Stances of a Mentor__ or __A Mentor's Toolkit__, so that the word "role" isn't confused with the first section, in which it has a different meaning.
 * // The Mentor’s Guide //** ||
 * [[image:sidebysidewriting/Picture1.png width="365" height="305"]] || “Traditionally, mentors have been the experts who pass on to beginning teachers the ‘tricks of the trade’ …More recently, however, the mentor’s role has been one of listening, questioning, and encouraging reflection.”
 * = Blocks to Understanding =
 * // Listens //
 * // Inquires //
 * // Probes // ||

Note: Personal referencing does have its place if the information conveyed leads to problem-solving. Note: Personal curiosity may serve to strengthen a personal bond between mentor and mentee when appropriately timed. Note: Personal certainty may be necessary when using the Consultant Stance, when indisputable information must be conveyed.
 * Personal Referencing** – interrupting the flow of conversation by responding to questions or statements with personal anecdotes for a purpose other than helping.
 * Personal Curiosity** – interrupting the flow of conversation by responding to questions or statements with questions that deviate from the main issue being expressed to satisfy personal curiosity.
 * Personal Certainty** – interrupting the flow of conversation or responding to questions or statements with absolute statements that suggest that there are no other alternative options and often infer judgement.

This is excellent and the side bars here are right on point. ||

**// Cautions of Blocks to Understanding: //** * // Waste of precious time //
 * // Complete understanding not gained //
 * // Loss of mentee’s confidence due to feelings of not being heard //

**// Avoid phrases such as: //**  // “You need to…” //   // “You should…” //   **// Try phrases such as: //**   // “You might…” //   // “What if…” //  ||

= = = Tips for Successful Conversations = = = = = ||
 * Be mindful of stance -- consultant, collaborator and coach – based on your Mentee’s needs.
 * Demonstrate active-listening skills to convey interest and understanding
 * Use data as a third point wherever possible to establish a focus for the conversation.
 * Share ideas rather than give advice; explore alternatives rather than give solutions.
 * Avoid personal referencing, personal curiosity and personal certainty to ensure that the novice teacher feels safe and valued.
 * Remember to pause, paraphrase and use mediational questioning to facilitate deeper thinking (See Mentoring Matters, Section Four)

**// Active Listening Skills: //** * // Eye contact //
 * // Leaning in //
 * // Nodding //
 * // Smiling //
 * // Mirroring posture //
 * Pausing

**// Possible Third-Point Data: //** * // Student Samples // || Love it!!!
 * // Lesson Plans //
 * Video Footage

=Resources Section=