Guide for aPLaNet mentees

Page 1 The project Web 2.0 European Resource Centre has been funded with support from the European Commission. This document reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Foreword
Why become an aPLaNet mentee?
Would you like to use more online tools for teaching? Are you unsure how to begin? Would you like to be connected to like-minded professionals based in other parts of the world? Are you the kind of person who prefers to have someone help you become familiar with technology rather than learn everything yourself? If so, then joining the aPLaNet mentoring programme can help you. Becoming an aPLaNet mentee can help you with your own professional development. Agreeing to be mentored means someone will help you use social networks and online tools for professional reasons, you will become more familiar with them and increase your expertise. You will meet lots of language teachers online and build your own personal learning network (PLN). Volunteering to be a mentee with aPLaNet means you will also form part of an important educational community of language teachers.

How to use this guide

Q: Would you like to know more about mentoring in general? Or about online mentoring? A: We recommend you read the manual from the beginning to learn more. We have provided an introduction to mentoring with background information for those aPLaNet mentees who are interested in knowing more about the process in general. Q: Are you familiar with mentoring? A: Then start at Part 4 Reading from this point will help you find out: how to get started as an aPLaNet mentor. what can be mentored within the project (social networks, online tools,etc.)

__________________________________________________________________________ Version 1.0, January 2012 This Guide for aPLaNet mentees is licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-Share Alike 2.0 License. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Page 2 Disclaimer: The aPLaNet project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This document reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Guide for aPLaNet Mentors

Contents
Part 1- Introduction to aPLaNet and this guide
1.1 About the aPLaNet project ................................................................................................. 4 1.2 About this guide ................................................................................................................. 4

Part 2 - Introduction to Mentoring

2.1 What is mentoring?............................................................................................................. 5 2.2 What do mentors do? ......................................................................................................... 5 2.3 How to be a good mentee................................................................................................... 5 2.4 The role of feedback........................................................................................................... 6

Part 3 - Online Mentoring

3.1 Meetings and other communication with the mentee ......................................................... 6 3.2 Netiquette ........................................................................................................................... 6

Part 4 - aPLaNet Mentoring Procedure

4.1 Volunteering ....................................................................................................................... 7 4.2 Beginning the mentoring process ....................................................................................... 8 4.3 Conducting the mentoring .................................................................................................. 8 4.4 Coming to the end .............................................................................................................. 8 4.5 What next?.......................................................................................................................... 8

Part 5 - Resources
5.1 aPLaNet resources............................................................................................................ 9 5.2 Further reading.................................................................................................................. 9

Page 3 Disclaimer: The aPLaNet project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This document reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Part 1 Introduction to aPLaNet and this guide

In this section, you will learn more about the aPLaNet project and what it hopes to achieve and a information about this guide and how to make use of it.

1.1 About the aPLaNet project

The aPLaNet project is a European Union funded project for language educators all over the Europe, especially those who are new or do not use Internet social networks (SN) but wish to learn more and build their own Personal Learning Network (PLN)1 for professional development purposes. There are seven project partners: ISTEK Schools in Turkey, the University of the West of Scotland in the UK, Sofia University in Bulgaria, British Council in Spain, EuroEd in Romania, CELT Athens in Greece, and Language School PELIKAN in the Czech Republic. The project has prepared clear guidelines that will help you understand the benefits of the world of SN for language educators, about PLNs and explain, with clear practical examples, how can these tools be used and the benefits educators will find. They will help raise their digital literacy and professional development. The project will show the uses and benefits for educators for their teaching practice, and how ICT resources can be integrated in to the teaching/learning experience.

1.2 About this guide

The aPLaNet Mentee Guide has been designed to help those who volunteer to be mentored become familiar with the process. If you have never been mentored before, then we recommend you read the whole guide before you start. If you are familiar with mentoring in education, but have never mentored online, then start at Part 3, and if you have experience mentoring online, then you can go straight to Part 4. While we hope this Mentee Guide will be useful to you and expect it will provide answers to most of your questions, there will inevitably be times when you need further advice or to support. This is why we recommend all aPLaNet mentees to keep an eye on the Mentee Support section of our community Ning site (http://aplanetproject.org/page/mentee-support) and to ask any questions in the Mentee Forum here: http://aplanet-project.org/forum/topics/help-for-mentees. This guide also works in conjunction with a number of other tools developed within aPLaNet , all of which you can download or find out more about here: http://aplanetproject.org/page/mentee-support. These include: aPLaNet Mentee Guide: explains the aPLaNet mentoring process from the point-ofview of the person being mentored. aPLaNet ICT questionnaire: to be filled in by all mentees before mentoring. It will help your mentor understand what your needs are and will also help aPLaNet improve our resources in the future. Teacher Diary: a template that can be used by mentees to reflect on the process. Workshops: a series of online and offline workshops will help mentors, mentees and other interested educators learn more about the mentoring process, building a PLN (Personal Learning Network) and how to use social networks for professional development.
1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Learning_Networks

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 Videos: short audio-visual guides to PLNs, social networks and a number of the ICT tools recommended by the project.

Part 2 Introduction to mentoring

Part 2 acts as a brief introduction to mentoring and is aimed at those mentees who are new to the concept and practice.

2.1 What is mentoring?

The word mentor is used to refer to a variety of learning relationships. It was originally a Greek word, originating from the name of a character in Homer's Odyssey who acts as a guide to Telemachus in his quest to find his father. A mentor, then is someone who builds a working relationship with mentees and uses knowledge, insights and experience to help them learn, grow and accomplish their goals.

2.2 What do mentors do?

The commonly accepted functions of the mentor in language education (Maldarez & Bodczky, 1999:4) include: being a model (demonstrate, inspire) acting as an acculturator (to help mentees get used to a particular professional culture) being a sponsor (to introduce mentees to the right people) offering support (to act as a sounding board) educating (to help mentees achieve professional learning objectives)

These are all relevant to the aPLaNet project.

2.3 How to be a good mentee

It is important to understand that there is a lot more involved in good mentoring than simply one more experienced person passing on knowledge and information to a less experienced person. Good mentoring: depends on a reciprocal learning relationship involves establishing rapport with your mentor is founded on mutually defined goals requires skill in noticing and interpreting teaching and learning opportunities encourages autonomous learning and self-evaluation is able to link theory and practice in personally significant ways.

Good mentoring usually starts with the mentor finding out more about the mentee's existing knowledge, experience and beliefs (Maldarez & Bodczky, 1999), and for this reason we ask all mentees to complete the ICT questionnaire before starting the mentoring process.

2.4 The role of feedback

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The role of feedback should be to support the mentee but also to challenge without being destructive. We expect the following two examples of types of feedback to be useful for the mentor: Critique. The mentor offers personal judgements and possible improvements through discussion with the mentee, and based on the mentor's observations. Reflective. The mentor's focus is on asking the mentee to reflect on what has taken place, eliciting reflection by the mentee on the events.

Feedback may well be written or oral, or a combination of the two. With both of these, wherever possible, it should accentuate the positives of the learning event.

Part 3 Online mentoring

This part of the guide is an introduction to online mentoring, and complements what has been written in Part 2 about mentoring in general.

3.1 Meetings and other communication with your mentor

Regular meetings between mentor and mentee are an important part of the process. Meeting online has its own challenges. Here are some recommendations taken from Clutterbuck (2010) : Online meetings with a mentor should be kept to a maximum time of 45 minutes. Try to keep the immediacy of the event and meet soon after a learning event has taken place. Make sure you both have the same understanding as to the purpose of the meeting. Is it clear what you both want to come out of the conversation? Your mentor will probably start by asking questions and encourage you to reflect on what has taken place so far. The mentor will give you advice only when you have worked things through as far as you can. The mentor will wait until it is clear what advice is relevant and needed. You should both take time towards the end of the meeting to review and re-assess what has been said.

3.2 Netiquette
Be sure that you are aware of the 'netiquette' that exists with the communication medium that you choose to use. Examples of this include: Not using capital letters (most people consider this to be similar to shouting) Use of emoticons (i.e. not overusing them) Be careful with the use of humor and sarcasm

More important will be the netiquette specific to the tools that are used during the process, especially those that have developed relating to specific social networks (culture of selfpromotion, when to thank someone, how frequently to post, questions of privacy, etc). Taking time to discuss this netiquette with your mentor may be a very good idea.

Page 6 Disclaimer: The aPLaNet project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This document reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Part 4 aPLaNet mentoring procedure

Part 4 is a guide to aPLaNet mentees and details the procedures that are to take place during the piloting.

4.1 Volunteering
When a member joins the aPLaNEt community, you are asked to specify whether you would be interested in becoming a mentee.

4.2 Beginning the mentoring process

There are several different ways that the mentoring can be initiated: Mentees can be contacted by mentors. A volunteer mentor browsing the list of members on the aPLaNet Ning spots a person who is looking for a mentor and contacts that individual, offering help. Mentors can be contacted by mentees. Mentees browsing the list of mentors may identify an available mentor and approach this person for help. Mentors and mentees can be introduced by an aPLaNet partner. One of the aPLaNet partners facilitates the meeting between mentor and mentee after identifying compatible interests.

Things to consider when choosing who to mentor include the following: Time considerations. Are you in the same time zone? Are the times when you are free to speak together compatible? Language considerations. Do you both have experience teaching the same language? Although not essential, if the mentor and mentee both teach the same language, then this can help. After a mentor and mentee partnership has been identified, the mentor should contact the mentee, sending a message on the Ning, and then arranging an initial meeting. Once you have found a mentor who has taken you on as a mentee, you should let us know by writing something on your profile on the Ning. This means you should not then be contacted by any other mentors.

4.3 Conducting the mentoring

a) Needs analysis. At the initial meeting, the mentor will try to identify the mentee's needs. To be able to do this, the mentor needs to first understand what the mentee's experience with ICT and social networks is, and what their teaching situation is. Filling in the aPLaNet ICT questionnaire will help this. The first stop for the mentor will be the mentee's aPLaNet Ning profile page. If you have completed this it will make the mentoring process easier. b) Setting objectives. The mentor and mentee can then set a number of objectives based on the mentee's needs and the first meeting. These should be recorded by both mentor and mentee (we recommend the mentor confirm the objectives by sending a message to the mentee after the initial meeting).

Page 7 Disclaimer: The aPLaNet project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This document reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

We also recommend that these objectives use SMART criteria. In other words, they should be: Specific what the mentor wants should be clearly expressed and unambiguous. Measurable how will you know when the goal has been obtained? Attainable the objective should be realistic. Relevant i.e pertaining to the mentee's teaching situation. Time-bound be sure to set a deadline. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria for more information.) Be wary of setting too many objectives. Three is a good number to begin with. Remember, you can always add to your goals later, once the initial objectives have been met. c) Regular contact. Agree between you when to meet again. The mentoring process will work best if you set a regular day/time to meet (we recommend once a week) and talk about progress.

4.4 Coming to the end

How do you know when to finish? Rather than let the mentoring process drag on and/or fizzle out, it is worthwhile for you both to consider when the mentoring job is nearly finished. Here are some guidelines to help you with coming to this decision. Mentees no longer require a mentor when they are able to demonstrate that they: are confident in their use of social networks to connect with other teachers, share resources and learn from them; have developed competence in using online tools for professional development; are able to use a variety of learning technologies to work collaboratively with other teachers to their own satisfaction; have knowledge of a range of approaches and strategies to follow when things don't turn out as they expected; know where to turn for extra help when they need it - i.e. they have built an effective personal learning network (PLN).

When you are finished, we would like you to complete a post-mentoring questionnaire, which you will find on the website and aPLaNet Ning. We will use the information and comments you provide here to improve the mentoring system and make changes to the other documents as necessary, in order to make things better for all of the mentors and mentees in the future.

4.5 What next?

If you enjoy the process and feel confident enough at the end of it, then why not become an aPLaNet mentor? All of the aPLaNet partners hope that you learn a lot during the aPLaNet mentoring and we look forward to meeting you online!

Page 8 Disclaimer: The aPLaNet project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This document reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Part 6 - Resources
The following resources are for educators who would like to know more about mentoring.

6.1 aPLaNet resources

The other aPLaNet resources are referenced on pages 4 of this guide.

6.2 Further reading

The following books and articles were consulted during the preparation of the aPLaNet mentoring guides and we recommend them to mentors that want to find out more about mentoring in general and mentoring online in particular Bierema, LL & Merriam SB (2002) E-mentoring: Using computer mediated communication to enhance the mentoring process. Innovative Higher Education 26(3) pp211-27 Boreen, J, MK Johnson, D Niday & J Potts (2009) Mentoring Beginning Teachers. New York: Stenhouse Clutterbuck, D & D Megginson (2005) Techniques for Coaching and Mentoring. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann Clutterbuck, D (2009) 'Evaluating Mentoring' Clutterbuck Associates available online:http://www.gptrainingconsultants.com/tools-and-resources Clutterbuck, D (2009) 'Code of Practice for the Mentoring Relationship' Clutterbuck Associates available online: http://www.gptrainingconsultants.com/tools-and-resources Clutterbuck, D (2009) 'Mentoring FAQs' Clutterbuck Associates available online: http://www.gptrainingconsultants.com/tools-and-resources Clutterbuck, D (2010) 'The Seven Layers of Mentoring' Clutterbuck Associates available online: http://www.gptrainingconsultants.com/tools-and-resources Clutterbuck, D (2010) 'How to be a great e-mentor or e-coach' Clutterbuck Associates available online: http://www.gptrainingconsultants.com/tools-and-resources Clutterbuck, D (2010) 'Creating a Coaching and Mentoring Culture' Clutterbuck Associates. Available online: http://www.gptrainingconsultants.com/tools-and-resources Clutterbuck, D and Hussain, Z (2009) Virtual Coach, Virtual mentor, Information Age Publishing. Ensher, EA & SE Murphy (2005) Power Mentoring. New York: Jossey-Bass Field, B & T (eds.) (1994) Teachers as Mentors: A Practical Guide. London: Falmer Press Gray, C (2001) Mentor development in the education of modern language teachers. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Harrington, A (1999) 'E-mentoring:The Advantages and Disadvantages of using email to support distant mentoring' Available online: www.coachingnetwork.org.uk/ResourceCentre/Articles Hicks, Glasgow, & McNary (2005). What successful mentors do. Research-based strategies for new teacher induction, training, & support. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press Jenkins, D 'Providing Feedback' in Gray, C (2001) Jonson, K. F. (2002). Being an effective mentor: How to help beginning teachers succeed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press Keegan, H & A Fox (eds) (2009) Mentoring for 21st Century Skills It's all about the learning. Vitae Project. Download from http://www.vitae-project.eu/ Malderez, A. (2009). Mentoring. In Richards & Burns (Eds.), Cambridge Guide to Second Language Teacher Education (pp. 259-268).
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 Malderez, A & M Wedell (2007) Teaching Teachers: Processes and Practices. London: Continuum Malderez, A & C Bodczky (199) Mentor courses: A resource book for trainer-teachers. Cambridge: CUP Megginson, D & D Clutterbuck (2009) Further Techniques for Coaching and Mentoring.Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann Pitton, D. E. (2006). Mentoring novice teachers. 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Portner H (2008) Mentoring New Teachers. London:Sage Rhodes, C, M Stokes & G Hampton (2004) A Practical guide to Mentoring, Coaching and Peer-Networking. London: Routledge-Falmer Richards & Farrell (2005). Professional development for language teachers: Strategies for teacher learning. Cambridge: CUP Slavit, D, TH Nelson & A Kennedy (eds.) (2009) Perspectives on Supported Collaborative Teacher Inquiry. New York: Routledge Stoddard, A (1953) The Heart of Mentoring: Ten Proven Principles. Colorado Springs:Navpress Taylor, M and J Stephenson (1996) 'What is mentoring?' In R. McBride (ed.) Teacher education policy. Some issues arising from research and practice (pp. 22-37). London: Falmer Press. Zachary, L (2009) The Mentee's Guide. New York: Jossey-Bass

Page 10 Disclaimer: The aPLaNet project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This document reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.