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Becoming a High-Performance Mentor
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Becoming a High-Performance Mentor
A Guide to Reflection and Action


June 2006 | 208 pages | Corwin

"I serve as a mentor principal, but I didn't receive much training in the how to's of being a mentor. I wish I had read this book years ago!"
-Becky Cooke, Principal
Evergreen Elementary, Spokane, WA

"I recommend this book highly to mentor program coordinators who are looking to refine the training and practice of their existing mentors. It goes deeper into the process of mentoring and reflection."
-Audrey Lakin, Teacher Induction and Mentoring Coordinator
Community Unit School District #300, Carpentersville, IL

Ensure a rewarding and productive mentoring experience!

High-performance mentors are not born. Even experienced educators need training in order to provide constructive support to entry-year teachers. James B. Rowley's mentoring framework has been used to successfully train thousands of teachers to acquire the six essential behaviors of high-performance mentoring: committing, accepting, communicating, coaching, learning, and inspiring.

With more than twenty years of experience in training mentor teachers, Rowley blends real-life stories with established research to help readers:

  • Understand mentoring as a performance continuum with escalating developmental stages
  • Improve assessment, communication, and coaching skills
  • Reflect on the mentoring process and analyze mentoring relationships
  • Utilize mentoring as a pathway to personal and professional growth

Designed for experienced and novice mentor teachers, this book will also be an enormously useful resource for mentor program coordinators, trainers, staff developers, and principals who want to assure that participants grow in their teaching practice as a result of the mentoring experience.


 
List of Tables and Figures
 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
1. Introduction
Many Right Ways

 
Depends on What?

 
A Framework for Reflection and Self-Assessment

 
 
2. Mentoring
Low- to High-Performance Mentoring

 
Quality Mentoring as Quality Conversation

 
Good Mentoring as Good Teaching

 
Mentoring as Pathway to Personal Growth

 
The Development of the Mentoring Relationship

 
Questions for Reflection on Mentoring

 
 
3. Committing
Commitment and Influence

 
Causes of Low Mentor Commitment

 
Low Mentee Commitment

 
Commitment Indicators

 
Questions for Reflection on Committing

 
 
4. Accepting
The Challenge of Acceptance

 
Relationship of Acceptance and Understanding

 
Acceptance Indicators

 
Questions for Reflection on Accepting

 
 
5. Communicating
A Conversation Revisited

 
Developmental Mentoring

 
Beliefs Influence Practice

 
The Mentor Teacher Beliefs Inventory

 
From Theory to Practice

 
To Guide or Not to Guide

 
Communication Indicators

 
Questions for Reflection on Communicating

 
 
6. Coaching
Relationship of Mentoring to Coaching

 
Cognitive Coaching

 
Coaching for Confidence and Competence

 
Coaching as Cognitive Apprenticeship

 
The Role of Observation in Coaching

 
Coaching Indicators

 
Questions for Reflection on Coaching

 
 
7. Learning
Embracing New Ideas

 
Open to New Behaviors

 
Formal and Informal Teacher Learning

 
A Framework for Teacher Learning

 
Learning Indicators

 
Questions for Reflection on Learning

 
 
8. Inspiring
Personal Reflections on Inspiration

 
Inspiration Indicators

 
Questions for Reflection on Inspiring

 
 
References
 
Index

"I recommend this book to mentor program coordinators who are looking to refine the training and practice of their existing mentors. It goes deeper into the process of mentoring and reflection."

Audrey Lakin, Teacher Induction and Mentoring Coordinator
Community Unit School District #300, Carpentersville, IL

"Rowley offers substance for mentors who have already been through initial training and who now have some experience. It's also a good book for experienced mentors to use as a 'tune up' for their mentoring skills."

Tom Ganser, Director, Office of Field Experiences
University of Wisconsin

"This is a fabulous book! I serve as a mentor principal, but I didn't receive much training in the how-to's of being a mentor. I wish I had read this book years ago!"

Becky Cooke, Principal
Evergreen Elementary School, Spokane, WA

"Rowley speaks with authority and integrity—authority from the perspective of being a mentor to mentors and integrity because he speaks from experience."

Lois Brown Easton, Educational Consultant and Author

"The author writes with great honesty and openness to provide wonderful information about mentoring processes and tools while providing a resource rich in reflective questions surrounded by thoughtful and meaningful quotes. A wonderful and helpful resource for all principals and mentors!"

Kathryn Kee, Leadership Coach
Past President, National Staff Development Council

"Reading this book can be energizing, given the wide-ranging ideas and experiences that have been collected by the author during years of teaching and conducting mentor training workshops across the country. The examples feel authentic and the information provided has a 'that-makes-sense' ring to it."

PsycCRITIQUES, May 2007

"The book's how-to approach makes it very straightforward, and Rowley uses appropriate examples to illustrate the various points being made or skills being presented."

Teaching Theology & Religion, April 2008, Vol. 11(2)
Key features
  • Contains questions to stimulate mentor reflection and action at the conclusion of every chapter
  • Explores mentor performance as a continuum from low performing to high performing.
  • Helps to hone the skills and knowledge of experienced mentors
  • Includes a mentor teacher beliefs inventory

Sample Materials & Chapters

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 2


For instructors

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