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Mentoring in the 21st Century!
WOW! What a great day filled with sharing and wonderful resources! We hope many of you have had a chance to look through your new Mentoring In The 21st Century resources! How will you use these resources help you become a better mentor?
19 comments:
Dear Betsy,
Wow! How did Kathi "read my mind"? I felt as though she was right where I am today. She did validate the fact that good things are going on in our classrooms. I was also reminded that just because I have taught for many years, I can still learn new things and that is exciting. I plan to share the mentoring notebook with my colleagues as we work through the challenges of teaching in the 21st century. What a fabulous resource. I too enjoyed the clock activity and can't wait to use it with my seventh graders. Sharing with others in the field is another true benefit of these mentoring classes for me. I too love the lunches with colleagues. While I have never been to an idea fair before, I am already anticipating what I will gain from both participating and observing.
I look forward to seeing you on the sixth.
Vicki Hamrick
Dear Betsy,
Kathi is a great speaker and a super person ! It is my humble opinion that a good mentor demostrates a variety of skills and knowledge that comes with experience.Nevertheless, the wealth of resources we learned on our last meeting was fantastic. I plan on sharing everything I am learning with our new teachers, seasoned teachers, administrators, etc. As a mentor , I will ask the right questions ,offer criticism and critiques in positive and productive ways.The new teachers under my wings will be able to observe my different teaching situations and settings.A lot of new teachers feel overwhelmed with too much information at once during their first year .We need to give beginning teachers only what they need at the time. The mentor notebook can take care of a lot of questions or concerns.
Dear Betsy,
You were right Kathi is a good speaker. She was honest, motivating, and spoke to us like we were her colleagues. I was really excited about going back to work the next day and sharing what I have learned. Kathi helped to validate what I was thinking. I like the idea of the post it quotation marks. I was sharing this idea in a vertical team meeting today with teachers who were struggling to teach quotation marks. I think what I like about these workshops are the wealth of resources in print and in person. I enjoy meeting others and hearing their ideas. The clock idea was a great way of meeting many different people and hearing what their concerns where. I love the mentoring notebook and see how it can be a valuable resource to my school. I had my mentee take the learning styles inventory and it was very interesting to see what are likes are differences were. Just knowing that shes more abstract than me will help me understand her lesson plans better and help me to think outside of the box. Teaching really is a team effort and I'm am pleased to be apart of this program.
Hi Betsy,
I really enjoyed our training the other day. Kathi was very easy to listen to and kept my ears open with her sense of humor. I truely learned many things that I can take with me as I mentor a new teacher in the future. After looking through the book, The 21st Century Mentors Hanbook, I plan on keeping it nearby for a resource as I mentor my collegues in my school building. When new teachers enter a classroom that is theirs for the first time, they can defenitely become overwhelmed. I really like the section in the book about challenges and concerns new teachers face. The books outlines suggestions that a mentor can give their new teacher during this their time of need. The suggestions are easy and realistic to follow. It is defenitely hard to identify what I would use in this book. There are SOOO many good resources and I will defenitely use this book to help answer questions or help guide me to become a great mentor.
Thank you!
Thanks to all of you for the wonderful, creative Idea Fair contributions! WOW! Thanks to you, we will have over 70 booths at the fair. We can't wait for this great event to take place!Please spread the word to all of your new teachers at your school. They won't want to miss this exciting day of fun and fellowship onFebruary 26th.Thanks also for all of the positive comments about Kathi Ruh's presentation. Betsy and I knew you would really enjoy hearing her! She is so knowledgeable and passionate about mentoring. If you have thoughts and ideas about how we can improve our own MCSD mentoring program, please share them with us! We are all learning and growing and we want to make our program shine this year!
Let me first start by saying that Kathi was a phenomenal speaker. I took away a wealth of knowledge in our session. I found many of the things she said interesting and true. The thing that stood out to me the most was when she talked about how we send messages to our students’ everyday. I never thought of it that way but it is true. We have to be careful what messages we are sending to our students whether they are verbal or nonverbal. I learned some great ideas that I can use in my classroom. I think that the clock buddies activity was great. I am a kindergarten teacher, and I know the importance of cooperative learning. Students need to talk to each other and express their ideas and share their viewpoints. I know that the book, 21st Century Mentor’s Handbook will be instrumental in helping my mentee. Some very good suggestions are made about how we can be good mentors to our mentee. It’s important that we take into consideration the generational differences when we are helping our mentee. This can help us understand him/her more clearly and give meaningful advice. I think the most important thing is that we make ourselves available and keep the lines of communication open. We need to show our mentee that we are there for him/her regardless of the situation. Constructive criticism should be given in a sensitive way. Observing each other is an excellent idea. This makes the school a community of learners and helps everyone involved. I have picked up many strategies from watching other teachers in action.
Dear Betsy,
Our day with Kathi Ruh was fun, informational, and very enlightening! My "Mentoring in the 21st Century" binder is full of post-it-notes, and bookmarks! I especially enjoyed the interactive activities. It's always good to be in communication with teachers from other schools, and grade levels. The "Processing Styles" survey that we completed with our
"clock buddy" taught me that I need to be more aware of how our new protege's prefer to learn and process information. I believe the activity helped us all think "outside-the-box", to become better communicators. I will begin using the Adult Learning Theory in mentoring new teachers. These great ideas are listed on pp. 4-5 of the 21st Century Participant's Manual. One of the many things I took from the workshop, was the awareness that as a "visual learner" I often take for granted that most people like to aquire information by looking at it. I will begin to ask the new teachers that are assigned to me, how they would like to stay in touch. I also will use the "Data Driven" approach when collaborating with them. After all, it's hard to argue with positive or negative factual information backed up with data. It was also very enlightening to hear Kathi speak of the generational differences in educators. I believe the more we understand each other, the easier it will be to find acceptance, and communicate more effectively. We all bring different experiences and talents "to the table". This only can make for a very rich working environment!
Dear Betsy,
What an inspirational day! I found myself repeating what Kathi was saying. I wish every teacher in Muscogee County could hear her speak. She combined humor and content matter to make her point. She has a wonderful perspective since she has worn all the hats in a school system. I shared with my intern and fellow teachers a few of the many things she discussed. Rose Johnson
I enjoyed listening to Kathi. I think the book certainly has some useful information. I was most interested by the pages about the different generations that we talked about. I have never looked in depth at the differences in the viewpoints of the generations. I know I struggle with trying to understand why the Millenials think the way they think sometimes.
Dear Betsy,
Kathi was a wonderful speaker because she was entertaining, thought provoking, and taught us skills that will be useful as future mentors. To say the least teachers can sometimes be a tough crowd. However, she did a great job at bringing us together to share ideas and to get to know each other better. Too often teachers are not given the opportunity to meet and discuss their profession with other teachers. I wish that we could do this more often. Similar to my colleagues, I am also reminded that every teacher can learn something new regardless of the amount of experience one has. For me, the resources and notebooks have proven to be tremendous learning tools and I plan to continue to use them in the future. I especially like the self-assessments and the worksheets provided in the texts. Very hands-on. Furthermore, the books are easy to read and the activities are realistic aids that can assist any teacher in any field. I am looking forward to the Idea Fair so that I can pick up more ideas that have proven to be useful from teachers who put them to the test every day.
Stephen Campbell
Today was a great day. Kathi Ruh gave me some ideas to use around my own classroom. I have a partner sheet that I use in my classroom, but next year I may use the "Clock Buddies" sheet that we used in the session. The 21st Century Mentor's Handbook is great. I especially like the Mentoring Calendar because it gives you ideass for different activities to assist your mentee. I also like the section called "What do you do when your new teacher. . .". It addresses some common problems. I face the problem of not teaching the same subject area with my mentees. I also have to find time to arrange meetings with them. The handbook is just a wonderful tool that I look forward to using. Also, it was motivating for me to see a veteran educator like Kathi Ruh still have so much energy and enthusiasm about education.
Dear Betsy,
I always judge a speaker in an old southern way by asking...Did you hear anything worth repeating??? What an enjoyable and educational speaker Kathi was...she made me think,laugh,question,reflect...
should I go on? Upon returning to school, I would not/could not quit sharing (repeating) my new ideas (for my own classroom) with my paraprofessional! I finally asked her if she thought I should be quiet! I was truly motivated to go back in my own room and shake things up.
So many ideas were worth repeating!! On the mentoring aspect, I truly took away useful information which will help me to relate with my "mentee". Topics such as: Generational differences, the mentoring calendar, the awesome array of new teachers, adult learning theories, and information processing styles really helped me to see my role in response to another adult.
I can honestly say I look forward to the 6th, wondering what good stuff I will learn and be able to take back and REPEAT!!!
Kim Schorr
Hi Betsy: the class was the most amazing class that I have attended since becoming a teacher. kathi was so amazing. the class opened my eyes to handle things that you see but don't quite know how to deal with at times. since the class I have used several of the methods outlined in her message. the book is going to be very helpful in dealing with my mentees. the classroom managment seems to be the biggest issue and the book will definately help in this area.
I really enjoyed our last meeting! I thought the speaker and her materials were right on topic. The thing I like most about the book is that it is so usable. The fact that many things are in a checklist list make finding the usable material so easy. THANKS!
Mark Montgomery
Dear Betsy,
Thank you so much! I appreciate you and Kim for planning such interesting seminars for us. If I am going to be out of my classroom, I want it to be productive. Thanks for understanding.
I like the way both of our new books are set up. You can go in search of help on a specific problem and find good resources quickly. I especially like the Active Learning Strategies in the Why Didn't I Learn This in College? that are also referenced in The 21st Century. They provide some simple, quick suggestions.
After our last seminar, I went back to school and created a "Colonial Buddies" sheet. My students have used it to find a buddy for each of the original thirteen colonies. The colonies are unnamed on the map/buddy sheet. It's working great!
I think I will use both books in my own classroom and with my mentee.
Thanks!
Diane Tucker
I feel very fortunate to have been selected as a TSS candidate. After18 years of teaching I was at a point where I needed a change. I had no intentions of leaving the teaching field but, I was looking for something different. Not really sure what path I want to take. Kathi Ruh and Marcia Tate have truly inspired and motivated me. After I left the workshop with Marcia I felt like I could teach any subject at any grade level with the strategies she presented and modeled. I am a teacher of prechoolers with special needs and I already use a variety of those strategies in my classroom. I can see how the music, movement, storytelling, visuals, games and so on would benefit students at all levels to increase test scores and decrease behavior problems in the classroom. The information, strategies and techniques by both Kathi and Marcia and the models by which they presented and taught will benefit me as a teacher but also as I work with mentee teachers. Kathi's practical knowledge and experiences where not only entertaining but also focuses on present day methods and the fact that education and teaching have changed drastically. The 21st Century Mentor's Handbook is a wonderful reference. I am excited to share all that I have learned with others because I feel it is on the mark and it will be very helpful. Thank you PEACHES for having a vision for what TSS candidates need and for the program.
Lou Ellen Lopez
Dear Betsy,
Sorry for the delay in response but would like to thank the staff for bringing Kathi to our latest meeting. She was right on target with alot of her activities and ideas that she shared with us. I really believe that the book "Mentoring in the 21st Century" will be very useful for myself as well as an mentees that I may have in the future. I do like the fact that there are checklist in it that you can use but I feel that it is more of a guide that I can use to help out a struggling teacher on different topics. This will be one of those books that will be well used by myself and will probably have a lot of dog-earred pages in years to come. I also liked the activity that helped us identify our own learning style. Knowing that people learn differently is one thing but this showed me that we do fall into the trap of teaching the way that we learn. Since I do teach kindergarten I am in a position that fits my learning style of hands-on and some visual. It was intersting to see exactly how other learners may process and will help me in developing different teaching methods to reach those students more readily. Lastly, I liked the fact that the book breaks down the year for the mentor and helps them plan more effectively with the mentee on areas that they need to possibly focus on in the future.
David kirkland
I was so excited to become a mentor to reach out and help the new teachers in our profession, but I was nervous at the same time. After reading the 21st Century Mentor's Handbook, I felt so much better! This is a wonderful tool for any mentor, or even administrator. It touches on issues that we may have forgotten or overlooked with a little experience. I really liked the section on responses to potential new teachers, sometimes we need a little encouragement or variety of ideas too!
I truly enjoyed the session with Kathi. I learned new strategies that I can pass on to my mentee. It is easy to forget strategies that you have learned previously, and I was reminded of activities I haven't done for a while. I am going to share many ideas in the mentoring handbook not only with the new teachers, but with the more experienced teacher. I liked the clock activity and how we were reminded of the need to meet students' learning styles.
I like that this book is laid out in a friendly usable format. Too often, teacher books are written in long, complicated language in which it is hard to find and quickly access the material.
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