All,

I think adult education is more art than science.  I think we learn the art from our mentors.

Our organized PD efforts tend to get less than we hope for, because they tend to focus on the science.  I've been involved in adult education since the mid-1970s and for all that time, our PD efforts have been about standardization in one form or another, when teaching and learning is really about personalization.

My mentors have always brought me back to the idea of personalization, whether they guided me to student-centered lessons, or the use of evocative, authentic materials, or creating a classroom of acceptance, playfulness and discovery.

We train new teachers about learning styles; I hope they have a mentor like mine who'll tell them that, really, everyone learns through their heart.

New teachers are told to be multi-sensorial in their instruction; maybe, they'll have a mentor like mine who'll suggest a simulation where the student LIVES the lesson, or that a game can take the student farther than grammar, or that imagination is more important than cognition, or that the subconscious is where the student lives.

Courage grows through mentoring, for both the mentor and the other.

Michael Tate


From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2009 5:09 PM
To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 1413] No mentoring in Adult Literacy?

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<mailto:djrosen at theworld.com>

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