Power Mentoring w/Jen Part 3

The recent mentor meeting I had with Jen went well. We brought out another concern she was having that was making her anxious about her upcoming switch to the new high school.

I was sort of surprised by her concern this time, but understand how she might be feeling in this regard. Jen has worked in this lower-income area for 6 years now, the duration of her teaching career. In this time, she has built a great deal of relationships and fears that leaving with make her feel the "baggage" as she referred to it, of betrayal. She will feel guilty, essentially, for leaving behind what needs more attention and care for something that may come easier to her.

While she is not leaving to get away from the kids she works with, the administration is trying on her. She has gone through multiple administrators and superintendants that most teachers in their 6th year should and do not have to endure. The district is disorganized and seems to be fraying at the seams.

We discussed how she can still involve herself in collaboration with other teachers from the school and possibly still have a foot in the door for assistance, or relationships with students who really value her as a mentor. A bit of "pay it forward" mentoring, if you will.

I brought some thoughts to her about my insecurities with my job future. We talked about ways to market myself and how I may best show my assets to other districts if they time arises where this may occur. She is really supportive and gave me great interview tips that she's used in the past too.

Power Mentoring w/Jen Part Deux (really 3... but can't remember the 1st title)

Jen and I have been really busy and she's been out of town (oh life!) but she shot me an email and we've conversed about a few things going down in our lives. Here's the summary:

Another concern on the horizon is learning how to deal with a new kind of student. Many non-educators probably haven't experienced this dynamic... but when the demographics, area, languages change, so do the students. The needs and difficulties of students in the projects are far different than the tragedies seen in Beverly Hills. Jen is going from an urban school to a school with a mixture of both urban kids and yuppies. It's not to the extreme, but it's certainly a change. Now, parents will speak English (no parents did previously) and are involved. It may also be difficult for Jen to see how to meet these needs because they are so diverse.

I feel a connection to this because I have experienced working/volunteering at a variety of schools recently and seeing the dynamic change. The major connection I bring to the table when lending a helping hand and mentoring in this situation is knowing HOW to deal with the "other" demographic that Jen is not as familiar with. I understand much of what parents are looking for and I have coping strategies for parents who are ultra-needy. She may even run into parents who are doing the homework for the students and then in class the child is failing... it definitely happens.

The great news is that I will be moving in July directly across the street from the high school she is going to be teaching at. I can maintain our mentoring relationship until the framework has been set.

Other than that, she has been incredibly busy as have I. All is well!

EDC 665 - Week 9 Blog

From your experience in OMET thus far, what design practice has resonated with you the most? Why?

The design practice that has resonated with me the most through OMET is creating learning experiences (or "adventures") that really make an impact on your learning. That sounded vague... but my explanation is here:

I believe that creating learning experiences for anyone that allows them to be active in their learning is key. Regardless of how the plan is set up, the curriculum should be taught with activity involved. For example, I was teaching about the gold rush yesterday and we were discussing how strenuous working as a gold miner must have been. We all got out of our chairs, and tried to pan for gold as long as we could before our legs and backs started to ache. While it was a silly simulation, my students really won't forget the laborious work the 49'ers went through.

Group projects are also fantastic for students to be engaged in. Students teach each other an incredible amount. My favorite example of this is teaching math. I teach an advanced group of students and I love hearing them talk about math with one another. One student asks how their partner got the answer they did and the learning begins. "I changed the 6(6) to 6x because I was trying to show that it will cost 6 dollars for any amount of weeks, and x can stand for the number of weeks..." etc. Especially in math I value learning experiences that are rich in explanation such as these.

Power Mentoring w/Jen

Jen and I have been in contact through emails and phone recently about some of the apprehensions she is having. We are planning to set up another lunch/dinner date soon to discuss some options and coping strategies to the following voiced concerns:

• Making new friends at a new high school -- being in a new environment is not always the same. Especially in a new school, dynamics can be incredibly different from school to school.

I am feeling this same thing right now at my current school. Having recently changed grade levels, my team is different than last year. In addition, it appears that the school I teach at is going to through one of those changing transitions where people are stuck in a rut, negative, over-worked, busy with young families and the unity that used to exist is void.

Another thing Jen mentioned that she is nervous about with the new transition is:

• Not beginning Young Life ministry right away. Young Life is a Christian-based organization that Jen has been a leader through (it's done through high school kids with teachers who act as leaders one night a week for "club") her entire teaching career thus far.

My fiance and Jen were both Young Life leaders for a couple years together and with this new school change, Jen will be ending her current school's YL leadership (and kids/fellow leaders/friends/support group) position. She likely hopes to be involved in YL in the future at her new school but must first get started, create connections with kids (that's how success in YL can exist) and find out how to start up club with the new kid base. Leaving behind a beginning is always difficult. In addition, myself and my fiance are fans of YL and how they work to bring kids to experience a faith. We will be looking into working as leaders as well with Jen when she is more established at her new school scene. We are hoping to live close to the high school which would make developing relationships with high school kids easy. :)

These are two main concerns Jen is facing right now and I obviously hold a bond with these two concerns. These are not the only two concerns, but we are taking the concerns in chunks as to work through them without a sense of overwhelmingness.

Dinner/lunch soon as our power mentoring relationship continues!