Mentoring is about “guiding” rather than “instructing.” It is about doing the task together; guiding and assisting each other through the challenge. Mentoring is about knowing and understanding your student, then framing the assistance so the child “feels” just the right challenge; just enough “newness” to feel the challenge, but not so much to overwhelm. Mentoring is about ongoing reading the child and appraising the amount of guidance needed to maximize the child “feeling” himself master the challenge. Mentoring is as much about relating, connecting, and celebrating “companionship”. as it is about teaching. It is through this “working partnership” that the child feels competent through “doing with”, alongside the coach. It is not about prompting, instructing, directing, but about “doing it together”, and gradually developing competency through sharing the experience.
With guided participation, both partners are actively participating, doing it together, with the mentor framing the activity for success, showing by doing! At any given time, the mentor has to continually adjust his guidance to match the competence of the child. It is about staying in sync with the child, continually appraising and adjusting his guidance to match the performance of the child. At first the child may only be able to do 20% of the performance, with the mentor matching the other 80%. As the child develops greater competence, the mentor gradually reduces the guidance; providing “just enough” challenge for the child to “feel” himself tackling it. With effective mentoring, this delicate balance between “what the child can do”, and “what the mentor provides” is continually adjusted based on what the child is displaying at any given time. The child may be at 50% on one day and time, but due to sensory issues, cognitive drain, and accumulated stress, may fall to 35% on another. Mentoring is about finding the “just right” challenge, at that given period of time, and matching the amount of guidance to scaffold the “just right” challenge. It is not about demanding a certain level of performance, and withholding reinforcement if the child doesn’t perform to expectation. It is about “matching” the guidance to the competency at the moment. It is about becoming a “working partner” with the child, to become a “trust guide” for the child. So next time you want to teach, “mentor” instead of “instruct.”
With guided participation, both partners are actively participating, doing it together, with the mentor framing the activity for success, showing by doing! At any given time, the mentor has to continually adjust his guidance to match the competence of the child. It is about staying in sync with the child, continually appraising and adjusting his guidance to match the performance of the child. At first the child may only be able to do 20% of the performance, with the mentor matching the other 80%. As the child develops greater competence, the mentor gradually reduces the guidance; providing “just enough” challenge for the child to “feel” himself tackling it. With effective mentoring, this delicate balance between “what the child can do”, and “what the mentor provides” is continually adjusted based on what the child is displaying at any given time. The child may be at 50% on one day and time, but due to sensory issues, cognitive drain, and accumulated stress, may fall to 35% on another. Mentoring is about finding the “just right” challenge, at that given period of time, and matching the amount of guidance to scaffold the “just right” challenge. It is not about demanding a certain level of performance, and withholding reinforcement if the child doesn’t perform to expectation. It is about “matching” the guidance to the competency at the moment. It is about becoming a “working partner” with the child, to become a “trust guide” for the child. So next time you want to teach, “mentor” instead of “instruct.”
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