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The concept of mentoring comes from Greek mythology. The original "Mentor" is a character in Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey.
When Odysseus, King of Ithaca went to fight in the Trojan War, he entrusted the care of his kingdom to Mentor. Mentor, a wise
and learned man, served as the teacher and overseer of Odysseuss' son, Telemachus. Mentor was more than a teacher. He was
half-man and half-god, the union of both goal and path - wisdom personified (Peterson, 1989).
Today, a mentor is simply someone with experience who gives advice and shares their experiences with others (Wighton, 1993).
In the education field Heller and Sindelar (1991) describe a mentor as an experienced teacher who acts as a guide, role model,
counselor, and friend to beginning teachers. Increasingly teachers in mid-career are seeking mentors when they wish to improve
their levels of expertise and when they desire to develop new skills.
Definitions
Dictionary.com (various)
Thesaurus.com
The Columbia Encyclopedia
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language
Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia
InDictionary.com (various)
Merriam Webster's Dictionary
From Italy - European Network of Community Psychologists
The Coaching and Mentoring Network
From: Arizona Army Natonal Guard Mentoring Handbook
"What Is Mentoring? 'Mentoring is an open vista of new experiences and possibilities.'
One usually charts unfamiliar territory when attempting to define 'mentoring.' Mentoring is not a term that
is easy to define because it is an ever-changing process. The mentoring process links an experienced person (mentor) with
a less experienced person (mentee) to help foster the career development and professional growth of the mentee.
The mentoring process requires that the mentor and mentee work together to reach specific goals and to provide
each other with sufficient feedback to ensure that the goals are reached. One mentor describes mentoring as 'a process by
which you open a passageway to knowledge by sharing ideas and information.'
Many define a mentor as a teacher who assigns tasks and reviews performance, but a mentor is more than a
teacher. A mentor facilitates personal and professional growth in an individual by sharing the knowledge and insights that
have been learned through the years. The desire to want to share these 'life experiences' is characteristic of a successful
mentor."
From "Principal Mentoring" Clearinghouse on Educational Policy and Mangement College
of Education
"What Is Mentoring?
Mentoring takes its name from Homer’s Odyssey. Ulysseus, before departing for Troy, entrusts his son to a
wise friend, Mentor. Mentor serves not only as a counselor to the prince during Ulysseus’ twenty-year absence, but also
as guardian and guide. Most important, Mentor does not replace Ulysseus in the parental role; rather, Mentor, with the help
of the goddess Athena, helps the young prince to understand and embrace the difficulties that await him.
The task of the mentor, then, is to define a unique relationship with his or her protégé and fulfill a need unmet by any
other relationship (Samier 2000). The best mentors are teachers/sages who act to the best of their ability within plain sight
of the protégé and who engage in a compassionate and mutual search for wisdom (Bell 1996).
Although mentoring has existed for thousands of years, it is only in the last thirty years that mentor-protégé relationships
have received increasing academic and professional interest. Much of this research initially focused on "classical mentoring,"
in which a protégé, more by chance than by merit, found a mentor willing to serve as guide and counselor. Although valuable
in the relationships that it fostered and the leaders that it produced, such mentoring tended toward "like producing like,"
which meant that women and minorities frequently fell to the wayside. Formalized mentoring programs helped correct these inequities,
but these artificial unions usually lacked organizational support and even engendered resentment among mentors who had little
or no say in choosing their protégés (Samier 2000).
Increasing evidence suggests that matching an intern to the appropriate school and to the right mentor are critical components
of the intern’s education. Districts must therefore be ready to work closely with these programs to ensure that their
schools benefit from an appropriate match (Cordeiro and Smith-Sloan 1995).
Although advanced university education will continue to dominate preparatory requirements, such training must be combined
with in situ practice—of the right length, at the right place, with the right mentor—to help new principals
acquire the practical knowledge and characteristic behaviors that typify successful principals."
"Mentorship With A Civic Twist!" © 2005, 2009
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