Mentoring is a tricky word at least in our cases, because our mentees are assigned not so much chosen as a mentor should be, I have come to the conclusion that it is like a work in progress.
Definitely being there professionally and sometimes personally, it´s rewarding, sharing experiences but also showing alternatives, these might not always be followed! For me mentoring is never prescriptive but always reflective.
Having a controlled and meaningful flow of communication is the key to have them observe colleagues teaching (if they are new), teach their load, comply with administrative procedures and still manage to live their lives and care for themselves and their families.

Mentoring is a challenging job.Its demands are great and the mentor needs to be a composed, tolerant and friendly person. It is a two -way relationship and both mentor and mentee grow professionally and personally on this journey .Mentoring leads to leadership growth.
Rubina

Mentoring is a collaborative process that is meant to support and guide both new and experienced teachers. Mentoring also encourages professional growth in both parties, while strengthening and building effective instructional (best) practices. Collaborative, supportive, constructive, reflective, positive, these are the words that come to mind when I think about mentoring. I hope to develop and evolve to become an effective mentor.
In a mentoring relationship, the mentee learns from sharing ideas and getting feedback and from watching the example of the mentor. It may be a lopsided relationship, but a true mentor will also learn significantly from the mentee him/herself and from vicariously experiencing the mentee’s position and challenges.

Mentoring is an enriching and rewarding job. Mentoring does not only entile guiding teachers throughout their professional development process, but it also involves sharing with them... and learning from them!!! When you start working with teachers, you discover that there are many different ways to do magic inside the four walls (which also goes beyond these walls), and you have a privileged position because of having the amazing opportunity to help these educators find all their potential... while you discover your own!!!

Just to add. And as a result of this cooperation your start reflecting about issues which would probably never come across your mind. Developping others helps you to develop yourslef

I agree with you Rony.Not only sharing what we know with novice, but also learning from them when mentoring.And in order to provide effective teaching in our intitutions, mentoring is playing an important role nowadays.In order to control the quality and help teachers get a better professional development in my workplace , mentoring was implemented.After mentoring for two years, we came to the conclusion that quality is the result of developing better ways to teach and/or helping others.That is why now we say "mentoring" is an "extra eye" in your classroom to take notes of your performance , tell you what you did well and discuss other ways to teach.

i'm an English teacher and a Life coach as well, and sometimes mentoring and coaching are two concepts that get mixed up. Mentoring requires a lot of knowledge which demands a great deal of responsibility from the mentor's part. A mentor should be aware of the impact he will cause in the mentee. However, the mentor should also be ready to learn from the mentee at all times.

Some really good ideas being posted here! Most folks are posting their thoughts on mentoring at the bottom of the "Week 1" page. Make sure you go in and read them - we are developing a very fulsome concept of mentoring by posting and responding together!

Wow finally Ii have been able to register and start to participate. Looking at the synonyms for mentor: adviser, coach, counsellor, guide, instructor, teacher, trainer, tutor, I would consider a mentor a kind of `knowledge and skill` philantropist in a very close and personal way. For instance, langueage teaching would be done in such a way that the teaching approach would empower students to
apply not only new vocabulary and structures, but also new ways of learning and dealing with problems. It´s a very active and dynamic process and should to the individual needs of each learner. All teachers have to be mentors at some time during a class.

Hi, Few things are as rewarding as being someone's mentor. In our context, a mentor is assigned to a new teacher. His or her role is to guide/help/coach/encourage... (etc... so much more) the teacher in the learning process involved in working in the institution. To me, a Mentor should be able to help a mentee discover all the potential he or she has. A Mentor is a "Teacher Educator", someone that is knowledgable in terms of the teaching practice in the context, experienced in teaching in general, open minded, accessible and fully identified with his mentee's needs. The reward comes when we see our mentees take charge of their teaching and realize that there are no limits to what they can accomplish.

I've worked as an English teacher for EFL summer schools in the UK and also academies in Spain.
I feel that the majority of time I've been left to wing it on my own, which has been very stressful. Luckily I'm a very sociable person and have no problems expressing my doubts and satisfactions with work colleagues whom I have had the most support from informally. None of the places I worked at including my current job have had any type of personal mentor available for newly qualified nor experienced teachers. I did work in a school my first year in Spain where the DOS was preparing to do the DELTA diploma and was offering teacher development in-house sessions. She was also very kind when listening to my concerns and frustrations but was very busy with her own workload. I, along with other teachers, helped a newly qualified teacher to cope with the stress by listening to her and offering suggestions and sharing personal success and failure experiences. She suffered terribly from tension migraines and was near to having a mental breakdown. I feel that hearing about others experiences has helped me a lot as I was and still am finding my way. A mentor to me is someone who may not know all the answers but is willing to share from their experiences and work together with me. A mentor to me is someone who will at times walk ahead of you to guide the way, behind you, watching that you are safe, along side you holding your hand if needed but at all times encouraging you to walk your own path. Someone who understands what it is to be in your situation. I hope to be able to help others find their way to a place where they enjoy teaching. I have spent a lot of my time trying to be organized and produce good lessons. It's just very sad that very little recognition and encouragement is given by the Directors of academies considering the low pay and tremendous amount of extra non-paid hours involved in preparing lessons, correcting exams, writing reports in a foreign language etc.

I'm quite new here and also relatively new to the world of mentoring and teaching, generally. I do have experience as a mentor in a college classroom setting and with students of yoga and qi gong. My experience is that in any mentoring relationship there is a level of trust between the mentor and mentee that must be addressed in some way. Of course a poor start can be overcome through the careful building of a relationship, however, the whole encounter will be most successful when each person starts off with a realistic and authentic concept of what the experience can offer and perhaps what the other person can offer. That way each person (especially the mentee) can feel free to explore, ask questions, and dare to make mistakes, which are necessary for growth. I also agree with the person who spoke about one of the responsibilities of a mentor being to have an awareness about the impact he or she is likely to have on the mentee, and that that influence informs the importance of being extremely knowledgeable in the subject in which one mentors.

Hi everybody, I hope I am posting in the right page. I´m very sorry for beeing lost in the technology world.
I agree with Oscar I think mentoring is reflective, both the mentor and the mentoring together. they borth learn and refect on what is happening in their classes.

Hi, I'm an English language teacher working in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Mentoring is an ongoing process of guidance and support (not criticism!) given by someone who is more experienced or more knowledgeable than the mentoree. Ideally, it should be a collaborative process where both participants are willingly engaged with the process. It could take place either formally or informally. A formal mentoring process is likely to have more structure and more definable goals but that does not necessarily always make it the best option.

Welcome, and you are in the right wiki! Lots of people posted on the welcome page, which is just fine. Just check out the other postings on the Week 1 page - there are lots of interesting posts there as well.

Hi,
I have a question about the seminars - will they be recorded in case we cant be online at the time of the session? I am working on Wednesday 25th.....

I 've read the wonderful thoughts shared by most of the attendants.
I would only like to add that this powerpoint reminded me of the fact that as mentors, teachers, facilitators
or anything else we are often trapped in the"box"of our routine, perception of reality, culture etc.
Thus an important mentoring skill would be to be able to get out of the box by unlocking our minds..
And I think mentors should be trained to do so, it is not a charisma.

The images are interesting and thought provoking. We are usually so caught up with our duties and responsibilities that there is hardly time to ponder over the different facets of a problem or possibility. Image 3 is an artistic image - I loved the face profile of the woman in a flowery frame. Image 6 is complex and an amalgam of various things. Quite an assortment relaying the message of diversity and tolerance perhaps.The image of hand cuffs is depressing. The issue of space is somewhat cultural.Wish had more time to reflect and interpret the images elaborately. But definitely they have triggered a lot of ideas and made me more flexible and open about acceptings things. Rubina Khan

This TED talk is full of mentoring lessons; awareness of filters (culture, language, beliefs, expectations, intentions), avoiding personal broadcasting, conscious listening, nonjudgment and appreciative understanding will cause mentee’s openness and willingness and s/he will feel valued and secure to communicate. Final result will be empathy, community-building, connectedness, understanding and peace as Julian said.

My last experience was in a seminar while one of the participants approached me and talked about his intention to develop some ESP (English for specific purposes) teaching material for airport ground handlers and asked for help. I think, I followed the RASA except missing the first A(appreciation) which I’m going to practice from now on.

Hello everyone. I'm a bit late arriving here on this page but just wanted to say how thankful I am for this online workshop. I split my time at a community college between the ESL program and the ESL Teaching Certificate Program. I over see the teaching practicum as well as teach some of the courses. I love what I do, and I truly appreciate the opportunity to sharpen my skills.

Dear e-mates and tutors:
As you know I've entered this group a bit late so I don't know what "the final product" is about. Am I supposed to produce something? Sorry to ask instead of looking for it (you might have answered this question before), but I'm terribly busy and can't find the time to search.
Thanks!
Veronica.