Growing as a Mentor

Throughout this training I have learned that being a mentor means to be there to support fellow teachers. Sometimes teachers simply need a listening ear, but other times they need someone to be honest with them and help guide them through the year. My experience was with a student teacher and with a teacher coming to the school with twenty-five years of experience. I found that it was easier to mentor to beginning teacher than the experienced teacher at first. As I learned more about what being a mentor really entails, I was able to take what I learned and apply it with the experienced teacher. I tried all of the strategies we discussed in class, but I did not have as much of an impact on this teacher as I did the student teacher. What I am taking with me is that there are no failures as a mentor-the only failure is in not trying.