If you are taking this course with me, you have read my writing about my "Yoda" as the only colleague that has been close to a mentor for me. Yes, I have certainly had co-workers that have shown me the ropes or had been at the specific school longer than me and pointed me in the right direction (to mix metaphors), but Yoda held a position of power higher than mine, supported my development in a new role, and gave me the guidance and grace to try, fail, and try again. This, in turn, gave me the confidence to lead my own team and support them in their professional growth. Though I don’t aspire to be a principal or administrative leader, I do feel comfortable and excited to one day become a teacher-mentor myself.
Adult learning theory posits that successful learning occurs in 4 stages (David A. Kolb Experiential Learning Theory):
Additionally, Betty Achinstein, Susan O’Hara, Robert Pritchard, and Jeff Zwiers outline steps of strategic mentoring in their article for Language Magazine called Strategic Mentoring. Mentor professional development is vital too, they write, as we cannot assume that all mentors come with the knowledge of how to improve Academic Language development in content areas for ELLs (CALP). One PD suggestion I was interested in was a Mentor/Mentee meeting to determine linguistic obstacles for content lessons. Achinstein et al write:
Adult learning theory posits that successful learning occurs in 4 stages (David A. Kolb Experiential Learning Theory):
- Concrete Experience
- Reflective Observation
- Abstract Conceptualization
- Active Experimentation
Additionally, Betty Achinstein, Susan O’Hara, Robert Pritchard, and Jeff Zwiers outline steps of strategic mentoring in their article for Language Magazine called Strategic Mentoring. Mentor professional development is vital too, they write, as we cannot assume that all mentors come with the knowledge of how to improve Academic Language development in content areas for ELLs (CALP). One PD suggestion I was interested in was a Mentor/Mentee meeting to determine linguistic obstacles for content lessons. Achinstein et al write:
“Teachers and mentors were given five versions of the same math problem, each written to represent what a student at each level of language proficiency (beginning, early intermediate, intermediate, early advanced, advanced) would be likely to understand. The table groups were told:
(a) the first figure is what students at the beginning level of language proficiency might comprehend;
(b) that blanks indicate words students likely would not understand;
(c) to try to solve the problem, thinking about what they could determine from the information given;
(d) to repeat the process for each level in the order presented; and
(e) to note the features of each problem that create difficulty for students.
This activity and its debriefing demonstrated the importance of determining whether ELLs are struggling with content concepts or language proficiency.”
Have you had a mentoring experience before? Would you like to be a mentor in the future?