Mentoring is the establishment of a personal relationship for the purpose of professional instruction and guidance. In education, the value of mentoring has been recognized in the use of teachers and other professionals in one-on-one instruction of students for vocational education, science, and reading (Evenson, 1982). Mentoring programs have been implemented recently for beginning teacher induction and continuing staff development. This digest describes teacher mentoring and its different applications.
WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS AND ACTIVITIES OF MENTORING?
From the literature on mentoring in professions, Bova and Phillips (1981) compiled a list of ten characteristics inherent in any mentor-protege relationship.
What would be your top ten characteristics of a mentor-mentee relationship? Bova and Phillilps created the following list:
1. Mentor-protege relationships grow out of voluntary interaction.
2. The mentor-protege relationship has a life cycle: introduction; mutual trust-building; teaching of risk-taking, communication, and professional skills; transfer of professional standards; and dissolution.
3. People become mentors to pass down information to the next generation.
4. Mentors encourage proteges in setting and attaining short- and long-term goals.
5. Mentors guide technically and professionally. Mentors teach proteges skills necessary to survive daily experiences and promote career-scope professional development.
6. Mentors protect proteges from major mistakes by limiting their exposure to responsibility.
7. Mentors provide opportunities for proteges to observe and participate in their work.
8. Mentors are role models.
9. Mentors sponsor proteges organizationally and professionally.
10. Mentor-protege relationships end, amiably or bitterly.
Many of us are teachers, but what qualifies someone as a mentor? This article got me to thinking about the qualities and characteristics of a mentor.
Today, I believe students are seeking out mentors in more and more accessible ways with the use of technology. Mentors provide an environment of growth and encouragement by promoting a need for the mentee/proteges to seek out understanding of new skills and information.
I believe mentors develop a stronger bond with the mentee/proteges than a teacher or instructor does. Many teachers I had were mentors because they went beyond the expectations of a the classroom teacher to develop the one on one relationship with me in regards to the subject material at hand.
My father was an agricultural teacher in a small West Texas Panhandle town. He was a mentor to many students as well as parents. He worked hard to develop the relationships with his counterparts but expected them to participate in the development of the relationship as well. He expected each person to carry their own weight, stretch their boundaries and grow. He was always there for assistance and guidance when they faltered or needed the gentle nudge in the right direction.
Today I see my father's approach to working with students in public education becoming more apparent each year I teach. He and my mother were both dedicated to not my little brother and I but also to each and every contact they had on a daily basis. Thank you Daddy and Mother for providing such a rich environment for me to learn to mentor others.
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