Relationships are complex, messy and need continued care
The following "case stories" are intended as provocations for mentors to share practical ideas for supporting colleagues (and each other).
Everything is Fine
A new colleague started working at your school three months ago. Initially things seemed to be going well and your daily conversations were filled with laughter and enthusiasm.
Over the last month there has been a noticeable change and your colleague seems increasingly tense. Interactions with you have become less frequent and more stilted. When you ask how things are going the response you receive is “everything is fine.”
As a mentor committed to the well-being and growth of your colleagues and students, what ideas and next steps might you consider?
Ideas from (and for) Mentors
- Differentiation - just like with students, it's important to consider different approaches for different people
- Trust - the level of trust you have (or haven't) built would influence your approach
- 3rd Point - using yourself as an example "sometimes when people ask me how things are I say fine even if it's not always the case"
Receiving Feedback
You are hosting a teacher-candidate in your classroom and while there are many positive aspects to your working relationship you are becoming increasingly concerned about their professionalism.
Specifically, the teacher-candidate often arrives late for school and usually leaves as soon as the day ends. When you spoke to the teacher-candidate about the importance of arriving prior to the students, they committed to ensuring they would do so, yet the same pattern has continued.
As a mentor committed to the well-being and growth of your colleagues and students, what ideas and next steps might you consider?
Ideas from (and for) Mentors
- Honest and open approach - acknowledging your continued concern
- Place students at the centre - supporting students is the foundational piece of your collaboration
- Ask the question - "how can I help?"
- Revisit Goal Setting conversation - may help recalibrate, provide opportunity to share hopes, wishes and dreams, and potentially surface underlying issues that may be impacting the teacher-candidate that you may not be aware of
Working with Reluctant Colleagues
Your school board is implementing a new diagnostic reading assessment and intervention program for primary students. As an instructional leader for literacy you are responsible for supporting several schools. In one school, a few of the teachers have told you they have their own well-established assessment practices and while they appreciate your offer of support, they don’t require any assistance.
As a mentor committed to the well-being and growth of your colleagues and students, what ideas and next steps might you consider?
Ideas from (and for) Mentors
- Reciprocal Learning - ask the teachers to share more about their program for your learning and seek common elements and/or gaps that my be addressed
- Collaboration - co-plan and co-teach and/or look for opportunities to engage in classroom observation and debriefing to see the newly mandated approach to diagnostic assessment in action in another classroom
- Resistance - consider how substance, process and readiness may be factors in the response you are receiving
- Complex Conversations - multiple conversations with a "how can I support you" approach especially if implementation is a "thou shalt"
Barrier of Time
You are mentoring a colleague at a different school and have been struggling to meet regularly. Both of you are extremely busy with multiple professional and personal commitments. Two months have passed since the last time you have had a meaningful conversation.
As a mentor committed to the well-being and growth of your colleagues and students, what ideas and next steps might you consider?
Ideas from (and for) Mentors
- Planning regular meetings - coordinating your calendars and using existing structures (e.g., lunch after an area principals meeting)
- Mitigating the Challenge of Time - view a variety of practical ideas
- Multiple Models of Mentoring - recognizing the importance of both formal and informal approaches to mentoring and that the relationship is needs-based and fluid
- Mentoring Web - knowing that you are a part of the person's web of support (not the whole web)
- Mentoring as Learning - one of the most powerful outcomes of mentorship is it serves as a means for job embedded deprivatization of practice and fosters reflection, learning and growth of mentors themselves
Closing Thoughts
Structure vs Relationships
Often when we adapt or adopt an initiative or program, we try to replicate a structure without attending fully to the complexities of relationships which enable the structure to actually be effective. Thinking about our approach to mentorship illuminates this distinction:
- Do you have a mentor? (structure – a one to one match)
- Are you being mentored? (relationships – a mentoring web of multiple mentors existing within an environment of relational trust)