Page 98 - International Journal of Process Educaiton (Special Issue)

Mentoring in Student Curricula the difference a mentor can make, think through how to
work with a mentor, and then identify a mentor to begin
While the vast majority of mentoring resources are written working with. This learning experience offers the readings,
for and offered to faculty, the student resource, Learning challenges, and tools shown in Table 1.
to Learn: Becoming a Self-Grower (Apple, Morgan, &
Hintze, 2013), contains an exercise entitled, “Choosing Because of the centrality of mentoring to the process of
and Using Mentors Effectively.” This is because lack of growth, both the Mentoring Agreement and Mentoring
mentoring is a major risk factor for academic success. As Planning worksheet (see Figure 3) are required parts of
Horton (2015) explains, the Self-Growth paper that students are required to write at
the end of the course. These worksheets are also available
Mentoring is critical for at-risk students, in the Student Success Toolbox (Pacific Crest, 2011).
particularly those who (a) come from low income
families, (b) are first-generation college students, Looking Forward
(c) are members of minority groups, particularly
Latinos and African-Americans, and (d) are The relationship of measurement to the mentoring process,
confronted with life circumstances that create especially the use of holistic and analytical rubrics to
barriers to their success. McGlynn researched help the mentee self-measure, self-analyze, and then self-
the lives of children who had multiple barriers to mentor, is an area of current research where we believe
overcome in order to achieve success. She found practice can be improved significantly as performance
that children who were “resilient” (having beaten measures are developed, both in quantity and quality.
all the odds against them) had people in their lives Another area for future focus is the role that professional
that took them under their wings and nurtured development can play in helping those educators who have
them. some experience as mentors, but who have not yet evolved
the skills necessary to mentor effectively.
Choosing and Using Mentors Effectively is an attempt
to address this risk factor by helping students appreciate

Figure 3 Mentoring Agreement and Mentoring Planning (Available in Learning to Learn: Becoming a Self-Grower and
the Student Success Toolbox).

96 International Journal of Process Education (February 2016, Volume 8 Issue 1)