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Paying It Forward by Mentoring Someone
It’s summer . . .and for us teacher-types, it’s a time to rest, restore our spirits, and recover a bit from an increasingly stressful profession. It is hardly a three-month “vacation,” as it was once thought to be.
Rather, it is a time to update credentials, assess and reassess plans and ideas that worked (and those that didn’t), and to ponder new concepts to try in the upcoming year. And, if you’re anything like me, it’s an endless process with ideas popping into my head in the middle of the night, the middle of a conversation, or the middle of a traffic jam.
I’ve been “retired” from full-time teaching for nine years now, but I still think and operate on school calendars. And, summer is still the best time to generate new ideas for next year. Just a little bit of rest, and my mind flourishes and ideas abound.
In this latest stage of my life, I have been blessed to be able to mentor some young teachers in the beginning of their careers. Nothing formal . . .just word-of-mouth calls for help . . . and, an opportunity for me to use my wisdom and experience to set them off on a positive path. The average teacher starting out today makes it only five years before quitting the profession. How sad for them, and for our students.
Without getting into the pitfalls and politics of education, I would like to address mentoring as a Pay It Forward concept. Perhaps, you are a veteran teacher, or retired, as I am. Perhaps, it is your second year in the classroom, and you vividly remember some of the horrors of being a beginning educator. Perhaps, you are not a teacher at all, but work in an entirely different profession. Each and every one of us, at every phase of life, can be a mentor to someone—providing a gift of our skills and services to another at a lesser stage or age.
First graders can welcome kindergarten students and show them where to hang their coats. A sophomore can show a freshman around the school campus. Or, college students might be mentors and role models for at-risk students at a nearby high school.
If you were being true to the spirit of Pay It Forward, you would help three people, encouraging each of them to help three others over a period of time.
Mentoring three people at once might become overwhelming. However, if you only helped one person each year during the next three years, and specifically requested each of them to do the same, it becomes quite manageable. Furthermore, it does multiply exponentially, as fictional Trevor had planned in the Pay It Forward novel.
I challenge you to take a few moments to consider ways that you might mentor someone at work or at play.
Perhaps:
Mentor a new employee at work.
Mentor a new member in Toastmasters (a speaking group).
Join Big Brothers or Big Sisters.
Tutor someone for free.
Teach someone how to play tennis (dance, play the piano, surf, ski, cook pasta, speak Russian, catch a baseball . . .you get the idea).
If you’re a teacher, consider ways that you can have older students mentor younger ones.
Senior citizens can mentor young teens in playing a game of chess.
Young teens can mentor senior citizens in understanding and using the computer.
The possibilities are endless. Just remember how quickly it spreads if you do it in threes. And, if you are a teacher, in theory you have the next three months to figure out ways to incorporate Pay It Forward mentoring into your classroom.
I encourage you to try some form of mentoring. It’s a gift “that keeps on giving” in a Pay It Forward manner. Enjoy the journey!
Anna Unkovich,
PIFF Education Director
(a volunteer position)
www.annaunkovich.com
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Click here for simple 1, 2, 3 steps to designing Pay It Forward projects in your classroom.
Click here for book excerpts.
Click here for information about our mini-grants.
click here for a file of free printable Pay It Forward cards and stickers
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A more comprehensive and detailed plan for incorporating Pay It Forward in your school...
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