Mentoring in the New Millennium. A Learning Guide for Teacher Mentors. Teacher Mentoring as Professional Development. A Match Made in Cyberspace: The Next Generation of Teachers Will Seek Virtual Support. Online mentoring supports new teachers and rejuvenates veterans. See our tips on building trust online below.
Credit: Wesley Bedrosian The newest generations of teachers, like their students, have always connected digitally. As tech-savvy learners and communicators, they look online for inspiration and support. In the not-so-distant future, educators will seek and find personal and professional support through online portals where mentors will offer time, energy, and advice to their less seasoned colleagues. These online mentors, functioning as colleagues and friends, will help weave another web of relationships to keep new teachers in the profession.
At the already established eMentoring for Student Success (eMSS) program, sponsored by the University of California at Santa Cruz's New Teacher Center and its partners, new science and math teachers connect regularly with experienced teachers in their subject area. Malaika Costello-Dougherty is senior editor for Edutopia. How I find and learn from mentors » sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Would you be willing to describe in more detail how those relationships came to be, and how you’ve gone about fostering them? Do you have any advice for someone looking for a mentor? Duncan Mortimer I don’t ask people, “Will you be my mentor?” People come forward when the time is right. How did I find my mentors? All my other mentoring relationships grew out of similar self-selected connections. What sparks that initial connection? How do these mentoring relationships work?
Many of my friendships are like that. I seek out my mentors when I come across specific ideas I know they’ll want to explore too, or when the topic requires specific contextual knowledge not appropriate for the blog. I also have regular chats set up with some of my mentors. Now my mentors introduce me to other people who are learning what I’m learning or who are interested in my passions, which makes the conversation even richer! How I find and learn from mentors » sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek.