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June 1, 2003
Starting a Successful Mentor Program
By Suzanne Buza-Snead and Scott Walker
Mentoring dates back to the time of Odysseus, who asked a trusted friend named Mentor to be his son's teacher. That was over 2700 years ago. Since then, corporations and schools around the nation have enlisted mentors to enable employees to become more successful. Recently, K-12 library service departments have joined the mentoring ranks.
Although the educational relationship between Odysseus' son and his Mentor is nearly impossible to duplicate in the school library, it is worth pursuing as one of many professional development options in schools, especially when it comes to technology issues. This article outlines reasons for school library mentor programs and how you can participate within your own library, with special attention paid to mentoring from the point of view of the protégé.
The Purpose of Mentoring Programs
Librarian mentoring programs aim to support professional development in media technology, to assist new librarians in becoming familiar with and involved in the library system, and to open the channels of communication between librarians at different levels.
A mentor can serve as professional advisor who has time-tested advice on issues and concerns related to library services. This person can assist library staff in becoming actively involved in library organizations at local, state, and national levels. Most importantly, the mentor can offer his/her own perspective from his/her own experiences working in the library system and help staff reach their own professional goals. According to the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) those involved in a mentoring program: (1) see an expansion of their knowledge of leadership and management skills; (2) gain administrative perspective; (3) receive honest and constructive feedback; and (4) experience an increase in self-confidence.
Mentoring relationships are reciprocal in that both the protégé and the mentor reap benefits. Mentors are perceived by others as successful administrators; they feel satisfied that they have made a difference in the library; and they may experience increased self-worth from their contributions to education. Mentors also possess a certain satisfaction in seeing others accomplish their goals.
School districts also benefit from mentoring programs. All too often, districts experience high turnover rates in libraries and many of them may not have mentoring programs in place to support incoming staff. Mentoring programs help reduce turnover rates and build morale of new and experienced staff alike.
Becoming a Protégé: Laying the Groundwork
Before the protégé in a mentoring relationship can become a contributing part of the program, he or she must first decide what it is that they would like to accomplish by being mentored. Set both personal and professional goals for yourself, and then ask the question, "Will I need this person to help me reach my personal or professional goals?" Consider your expectations for your mentor. What characteristics should s/he possess? A mentor should be skilled in his/her profession, knowledgeable and dynamic, possess active listening skills, be committed to improving an individual's skills, be capable of solving complex problems, and most importantly, should be a visionary. If your mentor cannot see the possibilities that lay ahead, it will be virtually impossible for him or her to help you reach your goals.
Finally, since mentoring is a two-way street, consider the qualities you possess and the characteristics you can bring to the relationship. You must trust and respect your mentor and understand that this relationship is mutual. A mentoring relationship should always be an active one; therefore, learning to take the initiative and being resourceful are important characteristics that you should possess (Young & Wright, 2001).
Establishing a Relationship as a Protégé
Once you have laid your own groundwork, seek the assistance of an administrator in your school district's library program. This person should help you locate possible mentors. Library administrators consider factors such as proximity, experience, schedules, and varying viewpoints. The next step is to solicit a mentor from the selections recommended by the administrator, keeping in mind the characteristics you considered in your initial groundwork phase. Young & Wright suggest you make your final selection and arrange a face-to-face meeting with that individual in order to ask if s/he is willing to serve as your mentor.
After you have initiated the mentorship relationship, you need to set some ground rules in order to establish a good working relationship. Young & Wright suggest three simple rules to abide by: (1) assess, (2) identify, and (3) discuss. Once you have assessed your need for a mentor, a mutual interest and the type of relationship must be identified. The most important point to remember is that the intention of the relationship is not to be a friendship; rather it should be a professional encounter, and this person should not be a counselor or advisor beyond professional issues. You and your mentor should create a Professional Development Plan (PDP), identify your strengths and areas of need, and discuss potential professional opportunities. The PDP is a goal chart with both short and long range goals for professional growth.
Moving the Relationship Ahead
The NASSP suggests that as soon as you begin moving forward with your PDP, your mentor should participate in certain activities such as observing you in action and giving you feedback and helping you explore strategies that allow you to build on your strengths and refine the your areas of greatest weakness.
Regularly scheduled feedback sessions are important in the professional growth process. These sessions are times for sharing personal observations and ideas, working on new strategies, and reflecting upon your learning. Feedback sessions should be designed to help you plan the next steps in your PDP.
Sweeney (1990) recommends the mentor and protégé hold regular meetings for the first two years. He suggests the following schedule: daily meetings the week just before and the week that school begins, 3-4 weekly meetings through September, 1-2 weekly meetings for the duration of the first year and 4-6 monthly meetings throughout the second year. Although mentorship programs can have varied scheduled meeting arrangements, some mutually agreeable meeting schedule should be established at the onset of the relationship.
Assessing the Mentorship
In order for a mentoring program to be successful, formative assessment must occur on a regular basis. After each meeting, both the mentor and protégé should evaluate the session using a rating scale for each of the essential issues addressed. At the end of the mentorship, administrators can interview the protégés to determine the relevance of the relationship and related activities with the mentor. These summative assessments give the administrator and mentor insight about the needs, concerns, and successes of the protégés (Blair-Larsen, 1998).
What Activities Should You Expect to Participate in With Your Mentor?
Linda Kahn (1998), in "Is It Mentoring, or Is It Magic" discusses several activities mentors should participate in with their protégés in order to achieve certain objectives. If the mentor's objective is to broaden the knowledge of the protégé's environment, they should attend a management meeting or listen to a professional speaker together. When attempting to orient the protégé to his/her environment, the mentor should give a tour of the facility, introduce the protégé to other staff members, or have lunch in the cafeteria together.
Sharpening specific skills is another objective that mentors try to accomplish with their protégés. To help in meeting these objectives, the mentor can arrange a coaching or job-shadowing session for the protégé. Another technique is for both the mentor and protégé to sit on a particular task force together. If the goal is career enhancement, holding mock interviews and helping the protégé to build networks would be beneficial activities.
Connecting Mentorship to Technology and Learning
Today's school librarian plays a role of leader in information science and technology. In my experience as a first year librarian and being involved in a successful mentoring program, I have learned to ask questions, be observant and share ideas with other librarians in order to accomplish the professional goals I have set for myself. One of those goals deals with expanding my students' knowledge base in technology. When the students come to the library to do research, get organized for projects and reports, or just to search for new information, they often lack the knowledge they need to meet the requirements for those projects. This lack presents a dilemma. "How can I help them use our available technology resources to achieve their goals without actually doing their research for them, especially with our limited number of computer workstations?" This could be an opportune time to turn to my mentor. I did and the response was surprising, she suggested that I teach a few and let them peer coach each other. What a simple concept!
Over the past few weeks, I have been working with various students (who in turn peer coach their classmates) teaching them to perform simple Internet searches and use graphic organizers to arrange their information into drafts for their final reports. I saw astounding successes. Students who could not find the web address box on their screen were performing advanced searches on their own. It still took them awhile to locate the information they sought, but progress comes in small steps. Without library mentor advice, these students may not have progressed as much as they did.
The concept of mentoring transcends the induction of new teachers into the classrooms or new executives into corporations. Evidence of its relevance and importance has been noted, discussed, and emphasized throughout the spectrum of education and continues to play an essential role in today's school systems, especially as an alternative to "one shot training" professional development. This is especially true in our media centers where technology is becoming an increasing part of the school environment and both students and librarians often need a little ongoing help based on the experience and knowledge of others.
Email: Scott Walker
Suzanne Buza-Snead
References
Blair-Larsen, S. (1998). Designing a mentoring program. Education, 118(4), 602.
Kahn, L. (1998). Is it mentoring, or is it magic?
Retrieved December 3, 2002
National Association of Secondary School Principals. (n.d.).
Mentoring and coaching. Retrieved
December 3, 2002
Sweeney, B. (1990).
The new teacher mentoring process: a working model. Retrieved December 3, 2002
Young, C. Y. & Wright, J. V. (2001). Mentoring: The components of success. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 28(3), 202-206.
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