Example of faculty as mentors
how are faculty “MENTORS”?
Key criteria:
|relationship focused| coach| leader| knowledge sharer|
As mentors, we recognize the importance of supporting our peers and the teaching and learning ecosystem at Georgian. We recognize that we are better faculty ourselves when we prioritize growth of all faculty at the college. We naturally share our expertise and experiences and prioritize the mentoring relationship in our coaching and leading activities at our institution.
Check out these examples from Georgian peers demonstrating how they are emerging, performing and transforming mentors in their work.
PS. Thanks for sharing your awesome work with us!
Faculty as emerging mentors
Emerging faculty are thinking about their role as mentors.
Sara’s emergence into mentoring
I really hadn’t considered myself a mentor at the college. I’m a relatively new faculty and I teach my students, not really mentor them. But I attended a really neat professional learning session through BC Campus and one of the presenters was talking about mentorship and sharing the importance of the role in a faculty’s day-to-day job. It got me thinking about how the parts of mentorship, like modelling, are actually part of my classroom and part of my being part of a faculty group at the college.
faculty as performing mentors
Performing faculty are mentoring students and practicing mentorship in their work.
Jarrod’s thoughts on mentorship
The challenge: To remain current and relevant in one’s area of expertise seems to be a logical component of a faculty member’s responsibility. However, I would argue that some faculty become stagnant in their teaching practice without realizing it.
The fix: Mentorship, whether formal or informal, is a critical component of professional development to maintain currency and to bring the best experiences to our students. The circular nature of mentor– mentee relationships is a catalyst for personal and intellectual renewal, for the benefit of the entire ecosystem.
The win: Mentorship allows me to be the best version of myself, continuously updated and constantly curious. By modeling this behaviour for my students, they become part of the circular, or reciprocal nature of mentorship, as we all learn from each other.
Samantha’s unexpected role reversal
The challenge: Although not a challenge, it can be surprising when mentorship comes from an unexpected source. Throughout my time at Georgian, I’ve been mentored by many great individuals and have mentored many great individuals. Often these relationships, though mutually beneficial, are fairly one directional or mentor to mentee.
The fix: Embarking on another formal mentor-mentee relationship, I assumed a similar pattern would emerge with this new individual. And initially, it did, but as we continued to meet and discuss faculty life, our interactions morphed and, today, I think I learn as much or more from this individual than they do from me. Our mentor-mentee relationship turns on its head regularly so that we both take stake in each role.
The win: Learning and growing from each other is the best win of all. We challenge each other to try new techniques or reach outside of our comfort zone. We support each other through the highs and lows of being faculty.
To hear more about mentorship as a faculty, I highly recommend listening to Three Strong Cups podcast, episode 12 Coaching and Mentoring, featuring faculty from Georgian. Read more about the podcast and find links to listen at CTL’s Media Hub – Georgian College.
faculty as transforming mentors
Transforming faculty are impacting the teaching and learning ecosystem at Georgian through mentoring of peers.
Tracy’s journey into transformative mentoring
It is so hard to talk about being “transformative” anything! But here goes.
In my classes, I have a Community Service Learning assignment where students can “do” something about a social or environmental need they have researched as part of the course requirements. Many semesters one or two groups of students took me up on the offer and added a CSL component to their classwork. This involved volunteering to “do” the thing while practicing course skills (communications skill in my case). A few years ago, I had the opportunity to share back to the Georgian community and mentor faculty peers in a professional learning initiative called the Changemaking through Community Service Learning Symposium where faculty were able to first, explore CSL as a teaching and learning strategy and then, meet with community partners I invited to consider CSL activities for their courses. I shared my resources and my own assignment model and invited other faculty who were using CSL to share their stories as panelists.
While it does feel weird to consider myself transforming, (insert imposter syndrome here!), by virtue of the Competency Framework, I am impacting the teaching and learning ecosystem of the college (and of our communities).
Do you have an example of how you are a mentor in your faculty role you’d be willing to share? If so, first, thank you so much for acting as a MENTOR for your peers.
Reach out to Faculty Development to share your mentoring competence with teaching peers.
