We are super excited to share more about our Private Mentoring packages by featuring one of our amazing clients, Debra Hernanz.
Debra is currently a Technology Teacher and Coach at Oregon Episcopal School in Portland, OR. Previously, she was a Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA) in Evergreen Public School District in Vancouver, WA. In addition to her work in public and private schools in the US, Debra has also worked at several international schools in Vietnam – and she’s a COETAIL graduate! Although Debra has been an educator since 2009, she also has extensive experience working in the private sector before transitioning to teaching. Find out more about Debra’s current work on her website here: https://debrahernanz.wordpress.com/
Debra is currently working with Kim Cofino as her Private Mentor. She started with a 3-month mentoring package in the Spring of 2019 and has continued on with a full academic year of mentorship for the 2019 – 2020 school year.
Debra chose the Private Mentoring package with Kim because she had a special project she needed to complete. She wanted confidential support and a collaborative process to help her stay focused while meeting a deadline. The great thing about Private Mentoring with the Eduro team is that you can start your package for any reason, and it can be adjusted to meet your needs at any time. We can even start and pause the package as needed if you achieve your goals early, or if you run into any extra demands on your time.
To meet your needs, we keep the mentoring process very simple and flexible. For example, Kim and Debra met once a week via Google Hangouts.
To keep track of their conversations, Debra maintained a Google doc with two columns: a mentee and a mentor column. Debra set the agenda, reflected on each conversation, and completed follow up tasks that were discussed during the meeting. Kim wrote notes, observations and gave suggestions on resources, tasks and/or activities for Debra in response to their video conversations.
Debra shares:
For me, it was a very productive experience. Our conversations were so productive that I was able to extend the project branching out to include an additional separate project which enhanced my job performance, and even helped me advance my career.
As you can see, the basis of the mentoring process is setting your own goal. Your mentor will then work with you to help you achieve that goal. Each mentoring relationship is private and personalized to your needs. As you work with your mentor, you will get to know each other and build a relationship of trust. Sometimes those conversations can lead even farther than you may have first anticipated, which is exactly what happened with Debra:
What started as a short term project ended up having positive long term effects. I was able to advance my career and believe the mentorship was a large part of this. This was not why I started the mentorship nor was it the outcome I expected. At the end of the day, my Mentorship is about relationships. It’s been a model for me on how to conduct a professional friendship. I believe it’s been rewarding for both of us. It’s a good feeling to achieve goals have success and celebrating that with the person is nice too. So looking for a celebration even if it’s tiny is something I am definitely more aware of.
One of the key elements of the mentorship program is that it’s a collaborative relationship. Although your mentor may have more experience in a specific field, the goal is to support and develop your own thinking. Each mentorship experience is self-directed by YOU, supported by your mentor. As Debra explains:
My mentor supported my efforts while at the same time gave me constructive feedback on the work at hand. My mentor talked with me not to me (something that is easy to do especially when one has more experience) about what I was doing and where I wanted things to go. Also honoring the schedule. We both worked to meet weekly or follow up this created a habit and momentum to get things done. Meeting consistently over time helped build a shared understanding of what I needed for my personal growth and development over time. Even when there wasn’t a specific issue or topic to discuss, our weekly meetings helped build that cumulative understanding of my environment and my needs.
One of the great things about the mentoring process is that it can help you become more self-reflective about not only your professional work but also how you manage tasks outside of your professional environment (if that’s helpful for you). As Debra reflects:
I’m more self-aware about my role as a teacher and a coach. There are many facets to Edtech from logistics to communication. I’m learning about balance and chunking down tasks to create success.
We believe everyone can benefit from having a mentor. Who doesn’t want someone in their corner, totally focused on supporting YOU and making your goals become a reality? Whatever your goals are, we can support you through the process of making them happen! In particular, Debra advises that our mentorship packages are best for:
Someone who is looking for a change in how to approach and accomplish things in their job or career. If you feel you want to define or redefine your focus at work a mentor will help you with this with feedback and giving you tasks to help explore ideas. Someone who wants a confidant outside of the workplace for professional guidance.
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