Friday, January 24, 2014

How I became a mentor.


At beginning of my career as a teacher I  worked at a  respectful language institute for almost 18 years  .  I will never forget   how I was anxious , a bit lost and scared:  new challenges and audience  I was a about to face,  rich students , demanding parents and a lot of competition at the workplace.

I remember the feeling I had when I entered the teacher's room: So much books, flashcards , materials, games, a single electric typewriter , a copy machine and no one to tell me what to do with all of those wonderful things !

                                                photo by Jeffrey Doonan  taken form ELT pics

Well, it happened about 27 years ago and I had the sensation as if I  was a little child looking  bottom up at at high magical book case , full of books in a time when I was not tall enough to pick one of them or wise enough to understand what was written.

photo by Vicky Loras from ELT pics 


Yes, there was no technology, I was 23,   I had  my  1st graduation ,  I was doing another graduation at the university  and having a lot of Cambridge training to become a better teacher. Still, I missed someone. I missed a mentor. I needed one!


Photo taken from http://goo.gl/QgKkEX

As Emily Dickinson says : "Hope is a bird that perches in the soul, sings melodies with no words and never stops though".  Out of the blue she was there: That tall , beautiful and talkative and very experienced woman ,  a teacher doing her Ph.D and  about to become a professor at the university.   When she saw me looking for things and very uncomfortable to ask any questions, she simply said: "Hey, do you have time? I'll be here at lunch time, we have this big break and then I can show everything and how to request , do, ask, use, school policy regarding report cards and such and such. OMG! I felt so blessed! It was a wonderful day. And from that day on I promised I'd do it with any novice or new teacher who started at that school. And it worked  so well! I have loads of stories I could share later , but not now. 

What about you? Do you have any stories you've experienced as a mentor or mentee? Would you like to share your experiences with us?  

Please , leave your comments and feel free to write a blog post.  Remember mentoring has all to do with caring and sharing. 

Let's  share?  I'd love to know about you and learn from you!  

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Happy Mentoring! 




1 comment:

  1. Roseli,
    This is such a nice anecdote which defines you as a person.

    ReplyDelete