So much interesting stuff to read.  
I was lucky enough to be mentored when I was first became a program
coordinator the Dept. of Ed. actually paid someone who was more experienced
to walk me through the requirements (and there were many) she also
informally gave me inside info when I felt like I had landed on the moon. 
I have informally mentored teachers in our program. Two have gone on for
their masters in TESL and one of those now has his PHD from Univ. of New
Mexico.  We would talk about theory, methods, goals, and anything else that
came up. THey became as enthused about teaching as I am.  For me it's a
calling I believe and I think they both felt that.  
I have been informally mentored as well by professors in college who saw
what potential I had before I was even aware of it. I had one professor
approach me in the elevator she asked me if I had thought about tutoring. I
replied "Oh, you think I need a tutor?" she laughed and said "No, I think
you could be a tutor." and so my journey began.
Mentoring students is also something I do.  Two students who "practice
taught" classes last year are now officially teaching in our program. They
have come full circle.  Our staff reflects our student body and we are very
happy about that.  These two teachers still meet with me and with another
teacher to ask questions and run lesson plans by us.  
I guess I never thought of all of this as mentoring but reading everything
people wrote I realize it is.
MEG
 

"Life's not about waiting for the storms to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain."
~Vivian Greene

 

  _____  

From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt
Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 11:56 AM
To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 1431] Re: No mentoring in Adult Literacy?


Thank you, Paul, for clarifying what we all mean when we discuss mentoring!


On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 9:52 AM, <JURMO at ucc.edu> wrote:


Hi, Colleagues,

 

I've been very lucky to have had many, many great mentors in my adult
education career.   In some cases they were supervisors. In others they were
peers (including adult learners) with whom I worked on projects.  

 

They provided a mix of guidance (feedback, suggestions, ideas), material
support (they might have been my employer or someone who helped me get
funding for a project), encouragement (especially when we ran into
resistance or a lack of resources), and a sounding board (during
brainstorming and gripe sessions). 

 

I won't list them all here right now, but I want to thank all those great
mentors. 

 

Paul Jurmo

 

From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt
Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 8:41 AM
To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 1424] Re: No mentoring in Adult Literacy?

 

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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www.insidenova.com


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www.insidenova.com

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