Mentoring Relationships in the University Setting

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WE LEARN 2009
EMPOWERING ACTION: MENTORING RELATIONSHIPS IN THE UNIVERSITY SETTING

Abstract: Do relationships I have with my students really matter? Many teachers may ask themselves this question from time to time. This session outlines the lasting impact that mentoring relationships can have for women in their personal and professional lives. Participants will actively examine current theory, practices, and personal experiences of mentoring.

Presenter: Carrie Boden Presenter's Comments:

Related Resources: Comments/Questions:

SUMMARY:

Empowering Action: Mentoring Relationships in University Settings

This workshop was presented by Dr. Carrie Boden, Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Master’s Degree in Adult Education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a contributor to the new book, Empowering Women Through Literacy: Views from Experience. (Miller and King, 2009)

Carrie began the session by asking us all to think about mentoring relationships that have been important in our lives, and to free-write about these people and experiences. We wrote for a few minutes in response to the prompts: Who’s mentored you? What has it meant? How has it worked?

She then gave a presentation based the case study research she has conducted on women and mentoring in adult education. The presentation focused in on the story of one inspiring adult learner, Iresa Stubblefield-Jones, whose life was changed, and access to transformative learning was facilitated, thanks in part to her connections with supportive tutors and mentors.

After many years of being demeaned and dismissed within educational settings, Carrie relayed that Iresa had an “ahaa” moment that the negative discourse that went on within her head had to change, and from that point, she did change the way she saw herself and the opportunities she sought, and grow, as a result, “by leaps and bounds.” Carrie presented several excerpts from interviews with Iresa, beginning with her declaration that, “It was up to me to take a stand to change the discourse of my life that was branded on me when I was a child, that label that was put on me when I was in school.”

Iresa had been diagnosed with learning disabilities as a child, and this re-shaped her entire world. She felt she was drugged into oblivion to control her ADHD, and was embarrassed that people used words like “slow” to describe her publicly. Placed in special education classes throughout school, she eventually slipped two grades behind. When she was “mainstreamed” into junior high, her teachers often told her to just go out and play instead of trying to learn the day’s lesson. As a result, she entered high school with a very negative view of herself and of school.

Her teachers continued to pass her on through despite a lack of learning, and guidance counselors told her, “It’s ok, you’ll just end up on welfare with a bunch of kids anyway.” Iersa believed she really couldn’t learn, but discovered she was good at art, and won an art award for a depiction of an “empty shell” waiting to be filled with learning. Winning that art contest entitled Iresa to a scholarship to go an art institute, which she couldn’t afford, but which nonetheless made her consider college as a possibility for the first time in her life.

Empowered by her success as a young artist, she wanted to find some way to be seen by others in a positive light. She says she embarked “on a mission to change how people viewed me in school.”

Because she graduated from high school without sufficient skills, she could only get what she saw as dead-end jobs. Even though she had her diploma, she decided to go back to school for adult education and studied with GED students. She overcome significant anxiety about school and especially toward taking tests, and completed a year and a half in GED classes before moving onto college. Unfortunately, she did not do well, was not advised well, and she was not given chance to take developmental classes she needed, so she soon dropped out.

She worked more difficult jobs, got tired of that, and remained committed to her learning. When her mother and husband began attending the University of Arkansas at Little Rick, she decided to go back to school with them, and to start in the developmental classes she had missed before. She soon found a great math tutor who worked with her generously and never looked down on her. This relationship gave her gave her someone to look up to and to see as a positive influence, and they have maintained a close, supportive relationship for more than 10 years now.

Iresa finished developmental courses, was able to move into advanced math without tutoring, able to do it herself once mastered the fundamentals. She had an advocate within the developmental reading program, and found help in the writing department. She went onto get MA in rhetoric and composition, and became a writer, who has published three books!

Iresa’s evolution reflects research by Kasworm (1999) on the “different voices” students come in with – entry voice, outside voice, critical voice, straddling voice, and inclusion voice. When students develop a voice of “inclusion”, they become learners who actively seek out academic knowledge within and beyond the academic world.

Without mentors, it is a great challenge for students to find and develop their voices, because in that process, they are becoming someone new, and there is often not social support for that transformation at home or within one’s personal sphere. This is why mentors are key to unleashing the power of transformative learning!

Once she connected with positive and appropriate support networks, which helped her develop essential skills, writing became a tool for Iresa – not only for her academic achievement, career, and personal enjoyment, but it is also provides a release for her anger, frustration, and sadness. Writing has become a source of empowerment, an entry into community action, a way to understand differing perspectives, and build new relationships that had once been challenged by misunderstanding.

Even after all of her accomplishments, Iresa continues to face a strong sense of lingering inferiority. She has learned to manage her fears and anxieties of not being “smart enough” by using tools – writing manuals, spell check, looking things up, and changing her inner dialogue.

These days, Iresa is featured in an advertisement for her university, saying, “I was told I couldn’t do it, and I did it! And so can you.”

Carrie’s case study research with adult learners like Iresa made clear the key role that mentors play in facilitating the academic achievement and empowerment of women. Inspired by Iresa’s story, we then launched into a vibrant discussion in which we related our own experiences with mentoring, sharing from our earlier free-writing about what mentors have done for each of us.

Many common themes emerged. Here are some of the responses the group shared:
Mentors…
- saw something special in us that we did not see,
- shared their power, treated us as equals, advocated for us,
- shared their inside knowledge of systems and institutions and taught tricks for navigating these systems,
- told us about own strengths and how to enhance them,
- pushed and supported us to take risks,
- found ways to honestly and helpfully critique without damaging the self-esteem we’re trying to build up
- establish that the only things worth critiquing are those things that have inherent value and possibility within us; make critiques gradually and gently,
- remove shame by telling us that it is their job to invest in our growth and improvement
- take the time to expose to different perspectives and value your perspective
- realize that there can be many different but equally valid opinions
- are role models in academia, often in cases when we don’t have those models in our own families or circles of friends, help overcome the lack of female role models accessible to other young women, and help us find additional role models within our own community,
- are accepting of challenges and appreciate strengths,
- lead from behind, motivating you to keep working and keep doing what is needed,
- teach us that women can be outrageous, loud, and powerful,
- how to be studious, politically active, poised and thoughtful,
- how to leverage resources and existing services and supports,
- allow you to find your own distinct path, do not just encourage you to follow their lead.

It was interesting that a few women in the session noted that they hadn’t encountered their first mentor until well into adulthood. Similarly, some shared that they didn’t have any “active” mentors when they were young, that they were reluctant to seek out mentors, or were sometimes suspicious of their aims. Instead, they became a “watcher” of mentors from afar. This reminded us not to underestimate those watchers out there, with whom we may not be actively engaged in mentoring relationships, but who are watching from a distance for guidance and support. As one participant said, "You’re a role model whether you know it or not!"

Some observed that mentors sometimes turn out to be people who are quite different from you, but with whom you can closely collaborate. Several of the teachers and practitioners in the room agreed that they often feel mentored by their students, that they learn so much from their examples of persistence and resilience.

Carrie summed up the “Best Practices” that emerged in both her research and in our discussion: Mentors engage students, tell them about opportunities, share support, give time, treat as equals, share power, begin from a platform of strengths, encourage risk-taking, support the person’s judgment and ideas, only critique that which has value, demystify processes, engage their mentee holistically – recognizing the many dimensions of their life, scaffold experiences, build on previous success, establish rapport, create trust, and develop opportunities for voice and leadership.