The quote that stuck out to me was: “The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” – Steven Spielberg
This sticks out to me because though we can learn a lot from veteran teachers, the goal is that we become our own great teacher. We all have different personalities, different strengths, and bring different things to the classoom- this is true for new teachers, as well. I can easily tell people how I do things in my own class, but that does not mean it is the best way, or that it will work in a different classroom with different personalities, ages, content, etc. Instead, as much of the content has pointed out, it's a mentors job to see what the goals of the mentee is, what they want observed, what their needs are, and support them in working towards those with their own skills and habits, rather than making them someone they are not. This is absolutely done through time, encouragement, and allowing the mentee to ask questions, share concerns, and find resources and tools that will help them become the best teacher they can be.
This sticks out to me because though we can learn a lot from veteran teachers, the goal is that we become our own great teacher. We all have different personalities, different strengths, and bring different things to the classoom- this is true for new teachers, as well. I can easily tell people how I do things in my own class, but that does not mean it is the best way, or that it will work in a different classroom with different personalities, ages, content, etc. Instead, as much of the content has pointed out, it's a mentors job to see what the goals of the mentee is, what they want observed, what their needs are, and support them in working towards those with their own skills and habits, rather than making them someone they are not. This is absolutely done through time, encouragement, and allowing the mentee to ask questions, share concerns, and find resources and tools that will help them become the best teacher they can be.