One of the video points resonated with me more deeply than others because of my personal experiences being mentored at SH. It was learning about your mentee's goals and using those to create a plan. Because I came to SH 10 years into my career, some of the checkboxes I had to complete with my mentor seemed silly, and there were other areas I would've liked to explore that were never approached. I feel like getting to know your mentee (personality, professional history, areas of strength, desired areas of growth) is the first step to maximizing the power of the mentoring relationship.
When thinking about the self-assessment inventory, I am drawn to the question of "What is it about them that you connect with?". My answer to this is that my professional mentor not only encourages me to push myself into new experiences and areas professionally, but he also trusts me to do so. When we work together on a project, we define roles and he trusts that I will get my part done to the standard set out. This fits well with my personality and style of working. I feel like this ties back into my answer from above about getting to know your mentee. There are different styles in which people like to be communicated. Some people need a lot of encouragement to feel secure in what they are doing while others get annoyed by the "fluff". Understanding how to communicate and work with your mentee can help them feel more connected to you.
Seeing as I have never mentored for SH, it would be beneficial for me to know the mentoring goals from the district, the mandated steps that need to occur, as well as places where new teachers at SH in the past needed more support. I am hopeful that future parts of these mentoring badges begin to address these needs. Personally, I will need to remind myself, that just because there is one area where I feel I want to help the mentee grow, does not mean that they are also wanting to grow in that direction. I will need to correct things that may be considered incorrect, but beyond that, I should follow the lead of their goals for themself. In the past with pre-service teachers who were not sure of areas of focus, I have made documents of areas where we could focus and we looked to that document as a starting point for making goals.
