“To whom much is given, much is required” is a quote that has resonated within me since the eighth grade.  My World History teacher shared this quote during one of her motivational, semi-disciplinary speeches as a result of the behavior of students that were considered “excel” students at my middle school.  At the time, I felt like she was just being tough on us, not realizing that she had a dual purpose of teaching and mentoring to prepare us for the real world.  Little does she know, that one statement has influenced many of the decisions that I have or have not made and provided the foundation for how I view mentoring outside of the familial setting.  Similar to that brief reflection is the impression that I dream to have in an individual’s life because I believe that we need mentoring relationships to foster growth, learning, and networking.

 

My mentoring philosophy is guided by Zachary’s concept of learner-centered mentoring which is paying attention to the mentee’s style of learning and taking the approach that best fits how that person learns.  I conceptualize this as meeting people where they are.  Learner-centered mentoring consists of reciprocity, learning, relationship, partnership, collaboration, mutually defined goals, and development. Reciprocity and learning refers to the roles and responsibilities of the mentor and mentee in the transfer of information from one to the other, not just from the mentor to the mentee, thereby facilitating a learning atmosphere.  In order for learning to ensue, a relationship which provides a sense of support and accountability of each person enables trust and growth during mentoring time.  A mentoring relationship involves two people that share similar goals and interests that work together to make them come into fruition.  Each of the concepts of the learner-centered mentoring are intertwined and seemingly dependent on each other.  My ideal mentoring approach would consists of open and honest communication where the mentee and I could be creative separately and collectively and share our ideas without fear of rejection or the existence of a superiority complex.  I believe that the ultimate goal of a mentoring relationship is the gradual transfer of knowledge and responsibility from the mentor to the mentee as the mentee becomes more competent, confident, and interested in disseminating information based on their experiences and what they have learned.

 

I would strive to promote a growth mindset environment as outlined in the book, “Mindset” by Dweck which encourages positive attitudes and thinking even in not so ideal situations.  My belief is that a growth mindset environment is critical for one to successfully learn and grow in their respective disciplines.  It permits room for failures and opportunities to try again.  Based on Dweck’s work, evidence shows that someone with a fixed mindset is afraid of failure and does not view it as motivation, but more so as a complete representation of “who they are” or “who they are becoming”.  Similar to Dweck, research is being conducted to study mentor’s perception and mentoring approaches.  Lakind et al. published a study that was conducted with a group of professional mentors and elementary to adolescent aged youth that were reared in not so ideal environments to see how the mentors’ perception of the youth informed their mentoring approach.  I found this study to go hand in hand with some of the principals and scenarios outlined in Dweck’s book because every individual comes with a set a problems; however, it depends on which problem set an individual chooses to endure.  Having read Dweck’s book and the article, I became more knowledgeable of what true mentoring should be and contrary to what some may think, it is really no different than other relationships, i.e. parenting, coaching, dating, friendship.  All relationships require open and honest communication and should foster development and growth in certain aspects.

 

Over the course of my educational career, from a kindergarten diploma to Ph.D., I have had outstanding mentors that were positive, engaging, and encouraging.  These relationships allowed growth and learning to be shared amongst us.  They were give and take and we could be open and honest about our goals, desires, strengths, and weaknesses.  I have also had several mentoring opportunities that have allowed me to share information with others in ways similar to what had been shared with me by my mentors.  These experiences taught me to be transparent because we all face similar highs and lows and no two individuals process them the same.  Mentoring and being a mentee have helped shape my overall mentoring philosophy today by allowing me to reflect on the privileges and opportunities that I have been afforded and to want more for those that will come into contact with me.  I desire nothing more than to be everything that people have been to me in order to help the next person achieve their goals.