What is a mentor?
A mentor is one who, along with parents, consistently provides school aged children with support, counsel, friendship, reinforcement and constructive example. The mentoring relationship can be characterized by its ongoing nature, the opportunity for interaction between the mentors and mentees and the mentor’s volunteer commitment. The older, wiser, more experienced individual is called a “mentor”. The younger individual is called a “mentee”.
A mentor is a self-identified staff or faculty member at your school-site who will be responsible for signing off on TEAMS documentation, forms, timesheets, etc. Although we do not establish the mentor/mentee relationship, we do advise Fellows to choose a teacher or administrator who you interact with on a regular basis and one who you feel comfortable evaluating you as an educator, as well as someone who will be able to verify the hours you submit.
Mentoring has been around for thousands of years. Socrates was Plato’s mentor. If you study great individuals throughout history you’ll discover they, at one time, served as an apprentice. This apprenticeship usually lasted for years during which time they served as assistants to a master. These masters had them sweep floors, run errands, and do the “dirty work.” In exchange, the masters would eventually share their secrets, their sources, and their contacts. In the process the dedicated apprentice learned to think like they thought, do what they did, and get the same masterful results. In 1500 BC the King of Ithica, Odysseus, needed someone to look after his son, Telemachus, while he was fighting the Trojan War. He entrusted an old friend to take care of the boy and to impart his wisdom, values, and learnings. This wise and trusted counselor was named Mentor.
A technology mentor… • may be a full- or part-time teacher. • creates projects to use with students, model, and demonstrate to colleagues. • may receive release time or stipends to develop a model project and prepare materials. • may receive a stipend for advanced workshops. • attends conferences and brings back information to share with colleagues. • assists trainer during workshops. • provides support for colleagues during the school day. • answers questions and helps teachers develop technology projects. Scenario Why be a Grade-Level or Subject Area Mentors Ideas for Reimbursement Scenario Alex is a technology mentor teacher. He has been teaching for many years and has recently started using technology in his classroom. He has some good ideas on how to use the technology but he is not an expert on how to use all the technology tools to enhance the curriculum for his students. Alex is eager and motivated to learn how to use technology in his classroom. He has been selected as a gra
A mentor is a caring adult friend who devotes time to a young person. Mentors can fill any number of different roles. Yet all mentors have one thing in common: they care about helping young people achieve their potential and discover their strengths. Mentors understand they are not meant to replace the role of a parent, guardian or teacher. A mentor is not a disciplinarian or decision maker for a child. Instead, a mentor echoes the positive values and cultural heritage parents and guardians are teaching. A mentor is part of a team of caring adults. A mentor’s main purpose is to help a young person define and achieve their own goals. And those goals will vary, depending on the young person’s age. Most youth mentoring involves young people 10 to 18 years of age. Since the expectations of each child will vary, it is the mentor’s job to encourage the development of a flexible relationship that responds to the mentor’s skills and interests and the young person’s needs. By sharing fun activi
