At the risk of revealing my age category, I'll admit to having many mentors in my personal and professional lives. Along with parents, siblings, educators, bosses, peers, etc..I have always defined mentors as those you learn positive life lessons from and who you seek to model your life after. My most infuential mentors have been those I've been in close contact with for a period of time. However, when I think of the positive messages and modelling from many people encountered throughout my life, I tend to define anyone that passed on a positive lesson or represented themselves in a way I sought to emulate as a mentor.
mentors are a great tool to use to learn and get a better insight into what your trying to acheive
Thank you, Pierre.
What are some of the specific things your mentors did for you that you are intentionally doing for your students?
Mentors are frequently inspiring and influencing positively people. They coach them to grow and to become better persons. That transformation can be applied in all aspects of life. Knowledge, Work ethics and professionalism are for me what I give credit to my mentors the most. Without their encouragements and fostering I would have not necessary nurture the same passion for the industry.
Yes. As Dean of Students I position myself as a mentor by starting out during orientation telling my story and that my journey was no different than their journey. I am here to help them be successful in their program of study and that by educating themselves they are gaining knowledge and with that knowledge they are empowering themselves and once they have that knowledge no one can take it from them. Education is liberating. I push them and support them and sometimes I am hard on them but I know what it takes to be successful in today's society and most of my students are still first generation high school graduates yet alone post secondary education graduates. So they are ground breaking for their families. Education is contagious and I want them to pass it forward to their children.
I saw a posting on Facebook this morning from one of my past student graduates and her quote was about Education and Knowledge and Empowerment. It made me smile because that means she was listening and there is one more person in this world that I've been able to reach.
A pretty good way to start your week don't you think!
Lynette,
You are indeed fortunate to have had two such mentors when you were a student. Are there specific things you do now to position yourself as a potential mentor for your students?
One of my mentors that has truly impacted my life is a dear and special friend, Sally. I was a non-traditional post-secondary student and did not start this journey until I was 47 years old. Sally helped me to stay focused when subjects became difficult, encouraged me to remain strong when I struggled with other areas in my personal life so they did not interfere with my academic life, and she taught me that the best way to give back is to pay it forward.
Another of my mentors was actually one of my professors. Sara was very instrumental in helping me see the hidden talents I had and the potential abilities of being a post-secondary instructor. Very close to the end of my undergraduate classes, Sara announced that she would be retiring at the end of the term and encouraged me to apply for her position. She felt that I was the right person to hand over the torch per say and the passion I had for education would be passed along to future students.
Both of these individuals stuck by my side through grad school and have been extremely instrumental in helping me pave the way to my career as a post-secondary educator.
Thanks, Richard.
My father is my most influential mentor I have had. He taught me some of these same things.
My father taught me, from little on up, and to this day, that one cannot know what another is going through, as it is impossible to be in another's shoes. He also taught me that a student who tries and fails is a bigger and better person than one who never tries at all. Success therefore means entirely different things based on the desire of the individual.
Thanks for sharing this, Timothy. I always name my dad when asked about my mentors becasue he modeled hard work, putting others first and never settling for good enough when it comes to important things.
What are some of the specific things that your mentors did that made an impact on your life?
Sounds like we could use someone like your sister in our lives! It helps to try and see things from the perspective of others when trying to move them forward.
Professionally I've been fortunate to work with many strong, smart and successful women who have been role models to me without ever knowing it. One of my old bosses I particularly respected because she was so brave. She would never take the response "that's how we do it here" as good enough and she never backed down if she knew something was wrong. She was a medical genetecist and researcher who was very intelligent but would would do silly things to let us mortals know we were valued; like bring us all toe rings from Hawaii.
That helped me as an educator because even though I hated doing rewrite after rewrite and making endless edits to work I'd done, she taught me how much more valuable accomplishments are if you work hard for them.
I had two mentors, both named Brian, my Dad and the owner of the first shop I worked at. They bothed instilled in me the same lessons, to do everything to the best of your ability and not to worry if you make a mistake as long as you learn from it and don't make the same mistake again. Those are both values I try to pass on to the students in my class.
I have had several mentors in my life and career, my father and my previous boss. Both were positive minded people who perpetuated the belief that we learn from our mistakes so as not to repeat them but more importantly use our successes to move forward.
My mentors have always encouraged me to keep going, learn as much as I can, and definitely continue to strive to improve my skills.
Thank you, Craig.
What did he teach you that you now use to "present yourself" to your students in the way you want them to see you?
I have had mentors. My greatest mentor was a master mechanic in my shop, during trade school. He once told me " the road ahead is not straight, and there are many obsticles the trick is to stay on the part regardless". I have always remember this to plunger ahead.
I have had several mentors in my life from my dad, to coaches and instructors when i was in school. they all have made a very large impact on my life. it impacts me most of all now that i am an instructor.I am glad i had these people in my life to mold me into the person i am today and can only hope that at least some of my students feel the same way about me.
It's usually very easy--just sit and listen to them--they will open up if you give them the time and place to do so. Maintain an open-door policy.
I remember Mr. Cowley was my teacher for my basic electricity class in mid 1970's.He came in class and instead of starting to teach, as all the other teachers were doing , he started talking to each one of the students one by one as to where they are coming from, their backgrounds and what they wanted to do for their future careers. He advised us on the opertunities in each of the different fields the students talked about and what best path to take to get there. He talked about the future of electricity and electronics which was very interesting in the early days of transistors and instilled in us the need for professionalism in anything we attempted and in any daily contact we might have with any person we might come across.Then when he started teaching he encourged us at every step of the way especially the the students who were finding it challenging.He got the students working together strong groups with weak groups. He was a great inspiration and I try to model him till today.
