Three Things You Don't Tell Your Mentee?

Answer 1

Individuals who are in leadership roles should not play the role of a mother or father figure. Instead, their job is to mentor individuals to become better at their positions and serve as a resource. There are three things individuals should not tell their mentor. They are the following:

1. History of Campus Politics: Individuals’ mentee will find out sooner than one think about who can be trusted and learn all the campus political connections. It is very important to keep one’s opinion or viewpoint neutral so that he or she can help the mentee with trying to become a better teacher.
2. How to Choose Friends at Work: It is so easy to get attached to your mentee and desire to select friends at the campus for him or her. As a mentor, it is one’s responsibility to keep it professional and leave the social learning to one’s mentee. This will only be a skill that the mentee that can and it is very important for him or her to get to know each person on the campus. In education, it is suppose to be a collective effort to educate our future.
3. Too Much Personal Information: It may be tempting to share one’s personal life with his or her mentee, but do not disclose all the details. However, it is very important to relate to one’s mentee. For example, if the mentee has a family to care for after leaving work, then this is the perfect opportunity to share how one managed to balance work and life and still remained an effective classroom teacher.

Another personal experience that is worthy is to share strategies on how to schedule doctor’s appointments and prepare lesson plans for emergencies. At some point in one’s teaching career, there will be times in which he or she will need to leave work to attend to personal affairs and it is very important to share strategies to help him or her cope with leaving the classroom suddenly without worrying the students or classroom.

The bottom line is that mentors should serve as a merchant of hope in the teaching industry and provide resources to help individuals becoming better teachers to impact our future and make a difference in one’s life.