MelodiousGirl

[Mentoring Skill]

Listening Actively

Listening actively is the most basic skill you will use throughout your relationship.

Active listening not only establishes rapport but creates a positive, accepting environment that permits open communication.

By listening actively, you will ascertain your protégé’s interests and needs. Examples include the following:

• Show interest in what he or she is saying, and reflect back important aspects of what he or she has said to show that you’ve understood;

• Use body language (such as making eye contact) that shows you are paying attention to what he or she is saying; and

• If you are talking to him or her by phone, reduce background noise and limit interruptions. Your protégé will feel that he or she has your undivided attention.

• Reserve discussing your own experiences or giving advice until after your protégé has had a chance to thoroughly explain his or her issue, question, or concern.

[Stages of Mentoring]
As a mentor, you should be aware of the stages of mentoring:

1. Lay the foundation
- In this first phase, the foundation is established. As the two partners get to know each other, boundaries are set as to what each expects of the connection. As they begin to know more about each other and become comfortable, trust is established. They reach a point where they can discuss things openly and honestly.

2. Clarify where they’re going
- In this phase, the mentor helps the mentee look at realistic possibilities and options. Together they develop a plan to help the mentee reach his or her goals and aspirations. The mentor’s roles in this phase are primarily as coach, motivator, and teacher. He or she devotes more time to this phase than any other, focusing on providing detailed information on many workplace issues and procedures and sharing the benefits and insights of his or her experiences. It helps to give examples of good and bad experiences, share what did and did not work along the career path, and suggest pitfalls to avoid. During this time, the mentor gives a lot of praise and builds the mentee’s self confidence.

3. Help the mentee grow.
- In this stage, the mentor serves most as a counselor, guide, and door-opener. The mentor persuades the mentee to find answers on their own. The mentor also prods the mentee to take risks, try new strategies, ask questions, and make discoveries.

[How to be an Effective Mentor]
A mentor should take pride in their organization, relish new challenges, and understand and support the mission, vision, and values of the organization.
A mentor should be:
• Supportive
• Patient
• Respected
• People-oriented
• A Good Motivator
• Respectful of Others
• An Effective Teacher
• Self-confident

- Provide a personal touch
- Be open and approachable. Demonstrate caring, even when students need to discuss nonacademic issues.
- Do not assume that all students experience the challenges of school in the same way; help them find creative solutions to their challenges or problems.

- Treat students with respect.
Minimize interruptions and distractions during video sessions with students. Be aware of body language that students may interpret as inattention.
- Remember previous conversations with students (perhaps keep notes on all your discussions and review them prior to meetings with your protégé).
- Tell students what you learn from them, to help them see themselves as potential colleagues.
- Acknowledge their prior skills and personal experiences.

-Look out for students' interests
-Convey through a variety of means that you want students to succeed.
-Create opportunities for students to demonstrate their competencies by encouraging them to present at classes.
-Be an advocate for students.

-Provide encouragement
-Encourage students to come forward with their ideas at all stages of development.
-Motivate students to try new techniques and expand their skills.
-Remind students that mistakes lead to better learning.
-Share less-than-successful professional experiences and the lessons you learned from them.
-Know that many students experience anxiety, and help them understand that even seasoned adults experience this kind of anxiety.
-Teach students how to break down potentially overwhelming projects into smaller, more manageable tasks.

-Provide constructive and supportive feedback
-Provide students with frank, helpful, and timely feedback on their work.
-Temper criticism with praise when it is deserved, and hold students to high standards to help them improve.
-Do not assume that students who falls behind in work lack of commitment. Instead try to assess, with the student, what is going on and offer ways to help.

- Engage students in ongoing conversations
- Invite students to talk often, and welcome them to discussions. Ask them how they are doing with coursework or projects.
- Reach out to those who seem remote and be sensitive to whether remoteness is a cultural way of showing respect or due to social isolation.
- Engage students in informal and rich discussions without judgement.

You’ll be re-energised personally!

Get around someone enthusiastic, and you naturally become more enthusiastic yourself. Some activities sap our energy while others spark it. Being a mentor is like carrying a book of matches with you. If you want to re-energise yourself to your own possibilities, be a mentor.

Proteges get the value of mentors' expertise, knowledge, and experience. They get a chance to advance more rapidly and create greater success than they would have been able to without mentors' insight and advice.

Think of mentoring as the consistent and developmental evolution of wisdom, academic knowledge, assistance, support, empathy, and respect to teenagers through, and often beyond, the weekly video sessions.

In other words, mentoring is a constellation of activities — educational and interpersonal— that constitutes more than advising students on how to learn English, study better, as critical as that is.