Thank you, Dianne, for such a thought provoking and informative two week seminar and thanks too for everyone else's contributions.  My apologies for being out of touch. I have been ill. I am delighted to be able to report that I am beginning to feel very much better. Dianne, I promised to get back to you with some thoughts about my own mentoring and while off list I have been mulling over your questions and my reflections they've provoked. One aspect that I am aware of is that the questions I pose are not just for a mentee but fundamentally for me too... When I ask questions I am asking us both and hoping we'll create knowledge between us. As you said, Dianne, and I do agree, mentoring is about developing a relationship.  Perhaps this is where I might distinguish between coaching (where the focus is on end product/goal/achievement) somewhat more than on process. One of the aspects of my questionning is a desire to bring us both onto shared ground - building a micro culture of understanding between us as we explore possibilities in this learning process. Starting from questions that I'll design to explore the affirmative (rather than a more traditional approach as an action research starting from defining a problem) seems to enable the development of a collaborative process more readily than when I initiate a problem solving process.  It was Einstein who suggested we must step beyond problem solving in order to develop new ideas and what a simple but crucial insight that is. Where we have explored with Dianne her 'typology' of mentoring questions over the past two weeks, I would agree wholeheartedly with the 'sets' Dianne has outlined in her email (below), my own mentoring/coaching questiining 'taxonomy' (for want of a better word...) tends towards asking questions that I hope will enable the mentee to see him/herself in an affirmative light - e.gs. What have you achieved recently that you are most content witn in your (activity)? How did it feel to achieve this and how did you know x/y/z was going well? My most recent coaching/mentoring has been with a lady in her late 60s who has begun to realise that she needs to develop a new identity as the last member of her family has died. Starting from exploring problems would have been a No-no as she was very emotional and also starting from What do you want to achieve? would have run the risk of a response that would be self negating (e.g. I cannot achieve anything... I am feeling completely lost now...) Starting from exploring her delight in experiencing colours and textures in fabric and music was a much stronger and less emotionally pitfall ridden way of developing our relationship. I had possible goals in mind as I spoke with her and exploring What do you feel about doing x/y/z? was a powerful motivator as I tried to keep our conversation focused on 'affirmatives'. I am moving towards a position that any taxonomy of questioning differs (perhaps not too surprisingly?) according to the context in which mentoring/coaching will be taking place.  Where I have been  (for many years) involved in mentoring noviceg teachers and teacher researchers I've developed a quasi routine for question posing.. Working in what might be called a more 'life coaching' environment with very elderly people and their relatives (I do some voluntary work at a nursing home where I tend the gardens and this brings me into close contact as a confidante and mentor) is developing my awareness of how contexts influence what is essentailly the process I have been involved in since 1992 when I was enabled to become one of the first 'school based' ITE mentors in the UK - what a privilege! Warmest regards and heartfelt thanks to Dianne and All, Sarah --- On Sat, 5/15/10, Dianne Allen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:   My top-of-my-head/ 'seat-of-my-pants' list looks like this:   For clarification For information For challenging For deeper investigation For descriptive material For assumptions material For explanatory understanding material   Reviewing that again now, I would want to re-order and re-express them as follows:   For information (open) ; for clarification (open and closed); for descriptive material (open)   For descriptive material: of assumptions; of explanatory understanding   For deeper investigation: by clarification; of descriptive material; of assumptions; of explanatory understanding material For deeper investigation: by challenging; of assumptions; of explanatory understanding material   For challenging: of assumptions; of alternative explanatory options   And I would want to add the category 'hypothetical' - for exploring the implications or the mentee's theory-in-use, for/of their own thinking   So, now for questions designed to take your engagement with our discussion here, and to gather some more data to work with about mentors' questions in the mentoring context,   Can you review the most recent mentoring engagement you have had, and one of the (rounds of) questions you asked ...   What was the question (round of questions)? What was the context of that question (round of questions)? What were you as mentor trying to do in that question (round of questions)? How were you, as a mentor, seeking to do that in the question (round of questions)?