As a basketball coach, I was immediately drawn to the John Wooden quote, as I've read up on him over the years and he has several pearls of wisdom. The one listed on the referenced site says: "It is important for us to see that our mentors are human and, therefore, fallible; it makes our own short-comings more tenable." I've referenced in earlier evidence in this badge process that nothing or nobody is perfect. I think it is important for mentors to share their own shortcomings or struggles so younger teachers don't feel there is some impossible standard to attain. Even us as experienced educators make mistakes and struggle...hopefully not as much as when we just started out, but we're imperfect nonetheless. We strive to do the best we can...by preparing the proper way, delivering quality lessons and reflecting. And we find out along the way, inevitably, we can tweak things or look at things from a different perspective and improve ourselves.
The other one that grabbed my attention was this quote from John Crosby: “Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.” I think this sums up our entire role as mentors. Answer whatever questions a new teacher may have. Sometimes we need to just listen if they need to vent. And sometimes we need to offer a better way of doing things in some corrective suggestions or in a little extra motivation. I think a mentor wears several hats and a good mentor knows when to wear each one.
The other one that grabbed my attention was this quote from John Crosby: “Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.” I think this sums up our entire role as mentors. Answer whatever questions a new teacher may have. Sometimes we need to just listen if they need to vent. And sometimes we need to offer a better way of doing things in some corrective suggestions or in a little extra motivation. I think a mentor wears several hats and a good mentor knows when to wear each one.