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[SpecialTopics 1424] Re: No mentoring in Adult Literacy?

Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt

katherine.gotthardt at gmail.com
Tue Sep 29 08:40:40 EDT 2009


What would formal mentoring "look like"? Obviously, I have never had a
formal mentor : )

On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 10:35 PM, Rosemary Dill <rhdill at yahoo.com> wrote:


> In my years of Adult ESL ( more than 20) I have never been formally

> mentored. In a couple of settings, I was informally mentored which was very

> very helpful to me.

> I would like to see more formal mentoring in the Adult Education

> community.New teachers usually have lots of questions, both educational and

> procedural, and they often are not sure where to turn for help.

>

> Rosemary Dill

>

>

>

> *Mon, 9/28/09, David J. Rosen <djrosen123 at gmail.com>* wrote:

>

>

> From: David J. Rosen <djrosen123 at gmail.com>

> Subject: [SpecialTopics 1413] No mentoring in Adult Literacy?

> To: specialtopics at nifl.gov

> Date: Monday, September 28, 2009, 8:08 PM

>

>

> Colleagues,

>

> I am disappointed at the poor response to these two questions about

> mentoring. Perhaps you have meant to reply but have put it off. Don't delay

> much longer. This discussion ends tomorrow, Tuesday, September 29th.

>

> - * Have you been formally or informally mentored by an experienced

> adult education leader? If so, was that a positive experience? If so, what

> made it especially beneficial?*

> - *Have you mentored a potential adult literacy education leader? If

> so, was that a positive experience? If so, what do you think was especially

> effective?*

>

> Maybe not many people in our field have mentored someone, or have been

> mentored. If so, we may have a serious leadership problem. Leadership

> requires good models, of course, but would-be leaders also need help,

> support, encouragement, people who believe in them, people who will take the

> time to show them how to be effective.

>

> I have been mentored and I have mentored. My mentors did not necessarily

> think of themselves as my "mentor", and I am sure the people I have mentored

> have thought of me more as just someone who cared enough about them to

> answer their questions, take them seriously, suggest some other ways of

> solving problems, and most important, someone who believed they had the

> makings of good leadership and wanted to see them succeed.

>

> I am less interested in whether we have formal mentorships with that name,

> although these might be useful. I am interested to know whether mentoring is

> taking place, if people new to our field are getting the support they need

> to be education leaders.

>

> Now is the time to speak up, please. What and how is our field doing with

> mentoring? Even if all you have to say about this is "I never thought about

> this before. I have never seen mentoring in this field. What is it?" now

> would be a good time to say that.

>

> Of course, if you have mentored or been mentored, tell us about that, too.

>

> David J. Rosen

> Special Topics Discussion Moderator

> djrosen at theworld.com<http://us.mc576.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=djrosen@theworld.com>

>

>

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--
Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt
Community Writer for NEWS AND MESSENGER
www.insidenova.com
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