The importance of mentorship
Last week I talked about the importance of finding your teaching buddies, your ride or die buddies, the ones who help get you through the ups and downs of teaching. If you missed it, here's a link for you. This week I want to talk about another vital part of your teaching circle: mentors.
Mentors can come into your life in many ways. For some, your school might actually assign you a mentor. For others, maybe someone steps up to help you out, you have a professor from your college days you've built a good relationship with, or it could even be a teacher you had in grade school that you go to for advice.
No matter the circumstance, mentorship is so important to a successful teaching career. You should not only have a mentor, but you should be a mentor, too!
And everyone's mentoring relationship looks different. Some people prefer to be more formal and have meetings at specific, repeated times where they discuss specific topics. Others may be quite informal, being friends as well as mentors. I tend towards the latter option, but you need to find what works for you. If you're new to having a mentor, it's easier to start with the more scheduled idea of a mentor and you can work your way to a more informal setting if that's what you want.
Not sure where to find a mentor? Here are some starting places:
Colleague you respect who has been with your district for at least a few years
Professor you had who challenged you to be your best at every opportunity
Former grade school teacher whose teaching style you respect (perhaps this is the person who inspired you to teach in the first place!)
Someone you know who teaches the same subject or grade level as you
Teacher you did your student teaching with
A teacher you met at a conference whose ideas got you excited and re-energized
The big takeaway here is to keep trying until you find someone who challenges you, excites you about teaching, and can call you out when needed in a respectful manner. This should be someone you feel comfortable talking about tough topics with, disagreeing with respectfully, and who wants to help you be the best teacher you can be.
I'm lucky to have several mentors in my life. These people are always happy to help me figure out a lesson plan, give me perspective on tough topics, help me brainstorm lessons, and give me pointers and tips about just about anything related to teaching. Some I just text or email occasionally, others I talk with over the phone or meet up with as frequently as we can make it work. Teachers are busy people, so finding time can be difficult. But having a mentor should help re-energize both of you when you meet and allow you to have a renewed sense of excitement about what you do in your classroom.
Like I mentioned earlier, it's not only important to find someone who can mentor you, but it's equally as important to mentor other people! You can mentor new teachers in the profession, a new colleague in your building, someone you've worked with for a long time, or even teacher candidates. Reach out!
I've mentored teacher candidates, helped new people in the building get their feet under them, and I've had a specific mentorship assigned to me by my school district. That mentoring relationship has turned more into both of us mentoring each other, and we are wonderful friends! Mentorship often leads to friendship, but friendship oftentimes has elements of mentorship in it, too.
Make sure you find yourself a mentor and go be a mentor! Even first year teachers have valuable insights as a mentor. Years of experience has little to do with effective mentorship. You may not find a mentor or mentee you click with the first few times you try. That's okay! You're not friends with everyone you meet, so don't feel discouraged if you can't find someone you click with. Keep looking. Just like how you've found great friends now, you'll find great mentors, too!
And don't let distance intimidate you. I'm separated by states and even countries from my mentors! We live in a glorious age of social media, emailing, texting, calling, video chatting, etc. Take advantage of it! It's never been easier to stay in touch with people, and don't settle for just liking some photos on Facebook as 'staying in touch.' Mentorship is so much deeper than that, and it's a vital relationship to your success as a teacher.
Send each other articles you want to talk about, tag them in ideas you see you think they would be interested in, give them reading materials they would enjoy, and meet up whenever you can!
Who are your mentors and mentees? Share this post with them or tag them to give them a shoutout! Plus, blogs make great talking points for mentoring ;)
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