1. After reading about the five types of mentors, I feel like I mostly identify with the learning coach. However, I believe that having certain characteristics from each mentor type will make us the most well-rounded mentors, but we all know that no one is perfect and we will have strengths and weakness in one area or another. I consider myself a learning coach because I am a strong believer in giving people the tools to reach their goals (whatever that may be) but not necessary do it for them. Some students may just need a little push or reinsurance that they are doing the right thing. I believe that constructive criticism will help build a relationship between mentee and mentor, as well as, give the student confidence that they might not have had before. I will strive to give my students real life skills and strategies to succeed in the future and appropriate advice for whatever situation they are in.
2. I believe my biggest risk would be getting too involved in a student's life. I will obviously care about my students a lot but I know getting too emotionally or mentally involved will not be good for me. I also have a tendency to get frustrated with people if they don't think or feel the same way I do. For example, one of my students might struggle in a class and want to drop out. Another one of my students could believe that they are right in arguments that they get in with their roommates because they have different opinions. I have a very optimistic way of thinking and it might be challenging for me to not get frustrated at my students for not "seeing the light at the end of the tunnel" or seeing the bigger picture in situations.
3. I believe that passion, diversity, and professionalism are the most important values in a peer mentor relationship. I also believe that all of these values reflect off of each other and can be used together to build the best relationship possible. First, I believe that passion is the most important. For one, if I don't absolutely love or care about my job, it's going to be hard to do it. Also, if my students see how much effort I put into my job and our relationship, they might also do the same. I believe that having knowledge in diversity will also help build a peer mentor relationship. It is important to understand where people come from, their religious and cultural believes, and their personalities. Acknowledging that everyone is unique in their own little ways will be beneficial in multiple aspects of the relationship. Lastly, it will be important for me to be professional. I will care about my mentee's like they are my own close friends, but I have to remember that being a mentor is my job and I have to uphold the guidelines that the SSS program has put into place for us.
Jocelyn, I really like your way of thinking and how you stated you would definitely help your mentees but not do something for them. That is very important because you want to guide your mentee. I think we all have had the same risk but whether it be you telling yourself you are investing to much emotional time on your mentee or your coworkers or supervisor, you will get it. Sometimes it very obvious when you are, the best suggestion I can give you is listen to your inner self (corny I know) but you will know when your doing too much or as I would like to say "On Team Too Much". As for getting frustrated with people who do not think or feel as you do, that is understandable you may come across mentees that have different approaches to things, I believe the best you can do is provide suggestions but also ask them how and/or why their approach works for them and if there could be other approaches that could be used. I think passion, diversity, and professionalism are important as well and it sounds like you have a good handle on your views of them.
ReplyDeleteI love that you said we should all have traits from each mentoring type in order to become well-rounded mentors. I also think it's important to continue to work towards becoming the best mentor you can be and part of doing that is focusing on aspects of leadership that we have yet to practice or don't practice often.
ReplyDeleteI can also relate with your frustrations because I'm a very opinionated person and as a woman I naturally always feel that I am right (lol). This being said I agree with Bre that we will probably have students with different methods for tackling problems they are facing and from our perspectives we might feel that there is a better, alternative method. However, it is important to be a support system rather than a parental figure when dealing with students that are choosing to be in the program.
Lastly, your comment on diversity is absolutely true and I also think being more knowledgeable about other cultures can prove to be handy when dealing with a culturally diverse students that may not feel comfortable in this new place he/she has never experienced.
I agree with you, Savannah. When writing my blog, I was so focused on answering everything fully that I did not stop to think about development in those areas. On one hand, I think it is important to thrive as who we already are, but on the other, there is always room for growth. I think each student needs a different type of leader and by growing, we can morph into what type each individual needs.
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