Teachers as Mentors

In a traditional academic system of education, teachers teach knowledge rather than guide skill development as the primary focus of their curriculum. In this system, mentorship is not embedded into the culture or curriculum. Teachers are subject experts who are obliged to ensure as much content is comprehended and memorized as possible by their students to achieve on standardized tests. Mentorship does not exist in a classroom where the teacher has all the right answers and students are meant to reflect them. 

Teachers are no longer necessary as solely content experts. But, this does not need to be a scary truth or transition. Teachers’ most valuable expertise is in student formative development. Their ability to guide students to build their identities, develop their skills, and align themselves to industries that suit their passions and interests. Ultimately this means teachers must become the daily mentors in their classrooms. 

Mentorship is key to the formative development of our students. They need people in their lives to offer guidance, feedback, and support. A mentor is someone who offers guidance but they don’t dictate actions. A mentor offers lessons and advice based on their own experiences, as well as feedback based on their expertise but they leave the decision-making up to the mentee. Mentors can be in our lives for a short period of time or for the rest of our lives. We can have many mentors for different stages of our lives. 

In the Learn to Start Program, teachers are trained to become the daily mentors for their students. They identify the individual interests, skills, and alignment of their students and offer differentiated guidance. They offer daily feedback and create a culture of feedback amongst peers. They invite industry experts to offer specific forms of feedback and mentorship. They teach students how to find mentors and how to determine relevant mentor relationships and feedback. 

How many students do you know who have a mentor? If the answer is not every student, aren’t we doing something wrong inside of our classrooms?