I think that the video helped to relay the message of the importance a mentor has on their intern’s experience. It placed a lot of the learning goals on the intern, rather than on the mentor. Just like we want our classrooms to be student-lead, this experience should be mentee/intern-led. Another important message from the TedX video, was the time that this commitment will take. It is not something that happens overnight. Being a positive, effective mentor will require the mentor to put in a lot of time and effort to that cause.
From the self-assessment, I thought back to my first year as a part time teacher in two buildings – starting the week of Thanksgiving break. Not only did I lack experience, I did not know the district’s curriculum and had a large learning curve to catch up to already 3 months into the school year. I heavily relied on my mentors to encourage and support me in becoming the teacher that I am today. I think as a mentor now, I have been in the district since 2012 and have an understanding of the culture/curriculum of our school that I can share with an intern. I am also flexible and understanding, so I hope that my mentee feels that in our conversations and collaboration.
I think the biggest struggle I will have is with time. Making sure that we have our meeting dates on the calendar well ahead of time so that we can really set aside that time to prioritize the mentee’s needs (rather than the needs of our team as a whole, for example).
From the self-assessment, I thought back to my first year as a part time teacher in two buildings – starting the week of Thanksgiving break. Not only did I lack experience, I did not know the district’s curriculum and had a large learning curve to catch up to already 3 months into the school year. I heavily relied on my mentors to encourage and support me in becoming the teacher that I am today. I think as a mentor now, I have been in the district since 2012 and have an understanding of the culture/curriculum of our school that I can share with an intern. I am also flexible and understanding, so I hope that my mentee feels that in our conversations and collaboration.
I think the biggest struggle I will have is with time. Making sure that we have our meeting dates on the calendar well ahead of time so that we can really set aside that time to prioritize the mentee’s needs (rather than the needs of our team as a whole, for example).