Day Six: Tribute to a Mentor

I skipped yesterday and thought I could make it up today, but since it involves posting a photo of my classroom, it will have to wait for another time. No guilt here. Thanks to a dear friend, I'm working on banishing "should."

Day Six: What does a good mentor do?

My mentor taught me to have high expectations for student even when their home lives suck, that it was okay (and often better) to use blunt directives than weak requests (when dealing with middle school students), that leaving a pile of work to go have a drink with colleagues is worth it, and that laughter--every day--is an imperative part of this work.

My mentor was a science teacher, a veteran of twenty or so years who was not only raising her two children, but also a few extras that moved in sometimes. She taught me what I needed to know about managing a classroom, interacting positively with parents while standing my ground, maintaining a professional learning life, and being respected as a hard-working and serious leader among colleagues.

I don't know that she was trying to teach me these things. I learned these things by watching her in her daily teaching life.

These are the things she did:

1. Took the time every single today to let me process and find the good (most days--except for those really crazy ones when there is none to be found). I have no idea how many extra hours she must have had to work that year because I was taking up so much of her time. I was twenty-three, still in my self-centered bubble, and it probably never occurred to me that she might not want to chat about our days because she had other things to do.

2. Treated me like a full-blown colleague. I had to be making dumb mistakes right and left, but she sought my input and never made me feel like a first-year teacher. This helped me have the confidence to feel like I was actually doing the job I was supposed to do.

3. Listened to what I needed. She did not try to offer advice without understanding what it was I was asking for. So often it was just humor.

4. Gave it to me straight. In my status as an eternal optimist, I needed the curtain to be pulled back a few times about what was going on with the big picture in our district. She told me what I needed to know. If I was struggling through something and spinning because I couldn't see that something I was doing was the problem, she would bring it to my attention. Kindly but frankly.

I'm not sure if all new teachers need what I did, but as I process my experience, I'll bet that these four pillars are pretty important. Nancy Johnson was not my district-assigned mentor; she was the mentor that happened to be right across the hall when I needed one to be there. And I am forever grateful for the impact that she had and continues to have on my teaching.