Dear Dianne, (Dear All),
I agree with you but to be open to different models of mentoring and coaching it can be useful (depending on your preferred learning style) to explore 'established' models first before developing your own from synthesising aspects of what is known and from there moving to what is not yet known. If you think about David Kolbs' elegant learning model and Gardner's Frames of Mind you can see that we approach learning in different ways.
Now for some people it seems 'the only way to learn' is to be open minded from the outset
- good but that should not be taken to be everyone's preferred way of engaging in learning. One of the aspects of studying educational psychology towards writing my thesis in 2003 was a growing understanding of my multiplicity as a learner - I explore given models first then assimilate and reflect and then and only then I engage in creating "new" knowledge. Others start from creating knowledge and then see how it aligns with pre-existing models.
If we return for a moment to Tadashi's questions for this e-seminar we see that there is ample opportunity for everyone to participate in exploring both mentoring and coaching, howsoever they wish/ as their learning styles enable them. Do you see that opportunity?
having read Tadashi's handouts, how do you perceive mentoring and coaching assisting teachers' ongoing professional development around & within the practice of kounai-ken?
Very much looking forward to hearing from you - I always value your replies as you know!
Sarah
PS Time for settling down to sleep here so apologies, Dianne, if it takes us a while to reply
Sarah Fletcher
Consultant Research Mentor
http://www.TeacherResearch.net
Convenor for BERA Mentoring and Coaching SIG
Details at http://www.bera.ac.uk
--- On Tue, 6/9/09, Dianne Allen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Dianne Allen <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: How mentoring and coaching might improve teachers' CPD in Japanese schools
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2009, 10:23 PM
Sarah, and others, my inclination about models for
mentoring, for coaching, for teaching, for managing, for any situation in which
a professional(person) is involved with dealing with people is 'be as open as
possible to multiple models', and for dealing with crunch points that don't
respond to your most regualr model ...
And the model for this flexibility in model use to
deal with problems? (if this is not tautology or an oxymoron/ contradiction in
terms) ... is something like the four (or more step) process of
problem solving: ie beware the symptom-treatment trap; and work on the many
options between symptom and diagnosis; test diagnosis if at all
possible, and work ont he many options between diagnosis and choice of
treatment, and by careful observation/ questioning for data collection to inform
the analysis that leads to a diagnosis, and by careful review of options of
treatment so the one chosen is most relevant to this case, as a special
case.
eg see http://www.gdrc.org/decision/problem-solve.html for
six steps, and http://managementhelp.org/prsn_prd/prb_bsc.htm ;
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_10.htm;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Problem_Solving_Process for
others) and yes they look like action research, and Kounai-ken has some of
these phases so far as I can see ...
Dianne Allen
Kiama
----- Original Message -----
From:
Sarah
Fletcher
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 6:30
AM
Subject: Re: How mentoring and coaching
might improve teachers' CPD in Japanese schools
Dear Tadashi, (Dear All)
Thank you so much for
responding to my question in such a thought-provoking way. I
realised that business coaches see mentoring as a sub-set of mentoring
when I ran a programme for the LifeLong Learning Division at the
University of Bath in Swindon. I have also noticed this when I examine
the MA dissertations from the Business School at Oxford Brookes
University. Perhaps this is because (until relatively recently)
business was more geared to outcomes and skills than the majority of
schools perceived themselves as being. Now we have league tables. which
haven't always existed (!), schools have become more outcome focused and
as a result have adopted skills coaching and relegated mentoring to
supporting students who have learning difficulties and initial teacher
training and induction.
When I trained to become a school-based
mentor under the Licensed Teacher Scheme in Bedfordshire, my mentor was
Mike Berrill - he wrote a brilliant article entitled ITE at the
Crossroads, which was published in the Cambridge Journal of Education
(I'll find you the reference and circulate it). Mike used Eric Berne's
concept of transactional analysis to help us understand (as novice
mentors) that we need to operate in all 3 dimensions to engage
effectively with mentees; as adult, as parent and as child. There
is no one superior state - we need to be able to develop ways to relate
across all three as the parent takes care of others, the adult stands
back and can analyse the big picture and the child needs to play. (I'd
be lost without the child bit as I experiment with using the KEEP
toolkit templates for teacher researchers...) Well rounded professionals
can operate in each of Berne's modes.
Now I see Transactional
Analysis is one of the major models in the practice of coaching... I
thoroughly recommend this site: http://www.businessballs.com/transactionalanalysis.htm
the
group at Swindon told me about it. (There are links to all sorts of
coaching resources).
I wonder if it might be a useful model to
consider for supporting teachers in kounai ken or if it works better in
some cultures than others? (I will be interested to hear others views
too)
Warmest regards,
Sarah
Sarah
Fletcher
Consultant Research Mentor
http://www.TeacherResearch.net
Convenor for BERA Mentoring
and Coaching SIG
Details at http://www.bera.ac.uk
--- On
Mon, 6/8/09, Tadashi ASADA <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
From:
Tadashi ASADA <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: How mentoring
and coaching might improve teachers' CPD in Japanese schools
To:
[log in to unmask]
Date: Monday, June 8, 2009, 2:04
PM
Dear Sarah,
>I'd like to know more
about how you see mentoring and coaching
>complementing one
another as a means to facilitating teachers' learning. Do
>you
think the skills involved in mentoring and coaching are the same
or
>distinct?
Thank you so much. Your question is
difficult.
I think the notion of mentaring involes/contains that
of coaching.
Generally, coaching focuses on the physical aspect,
for example, coaching in
sports domain. In my paper coaching
focuses on the teaching skills,
ie.questioning, how to writeing on
the blackboard and so on. However, I
think the skills also means
the cognitive skills, how to think, and coaching
in teacher
education shoud deal with them. If so, coaching should not
set
limits to the physical aspect.
On the other hand, the
notion of mentoring is wide, and focuses on the human
development
through the professional development.
I think the relationship
between mentoring and coaching is similar to that
between education
and training. Education and training have the same
terminal goal,
but the learnig process is different. Training process is the
most
effective route to the goal, so at least the trainer has the
check
points to attain to the goal and the criteria of
evaluation. In education
the leaner tries and fails many
times and finally attains to the goal. In
this process the educator
support and sometimes instruct the learner and the
learner is
brought out his potential by the educator's support. I
think
training is necessary in educational process, but only
training cannnot
serve the learner's development.
My answer
to you question is that the skills involved in mentoring
and
coaching are in part the same because mentoring involves
coaching.
So I think we need to reframe the skills in
coaching from the view of
mentoring.
Warmest
regards,
Tadashi
