Mentors and impressions

Mentors.... 

As a student teacher, I had a day that I felt like was just falling apart, and I talked to my sponsoring teacher. She asked me, "have you 'caught' them doing what you want?" And so I just started pouring out the sweetness and praise, and the day turned around instantly. She was a great mentor. I became a teacher in my 40's. So not starting too young for sure. But that line, that snippet of advice, stuck with me. And until I taught 5th grade that one year, it saved me many a time. Kinders and Firsties, I know how to catch them being on-task, and they are eager to be called out in front of their friends for doing the right thing. I mean, in some ways, it works until eternity. Like if I attend a conference or a workshop and someone is commended for their kindness or commitment, I still kind of want those things more. I have never seen a teacher like my mentoring teacher for student teaching. She was and still is, amazing. 

I had this one internship where I was immersed in a 6th grade classroom for both science and math. The teacher was enthusiastic and caring and she radiated positivity. But what I took away from her was this.... she never answered a question. I had been in her classroom for weeks before I heard her directly answer a question with a statement. Every other time it was with a question. "Does this look like....?" "Do you know if there is a resource in the classroom you could use?" "Have you tried....?" This was one of those things I wanted. She was never rude, and students didn't walk away feeling like they should have just stayed at their desk, they felt empowered, they still felt heard, and they had options. I carry pieces of her teaching in my heart.

I was blessed to have fantastic mentors all through my education. Because I am one who mimics and copies and receives other people's actions and works as imprints on my mind. I am grateful that I could absorb pieces of great mentors. I have more stories. Maybe one day I'll tell them. The moral for me is that "The Little Engine That Could" is a real thing and I will do whatever it is that you tell me I can do. I absorb your feedback like a sponge absorbs water.