{"id":101,"date":"2019-01-29T15:08:57","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T15:08:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/wiproteacherfellow\/?p=101"},"modified":"2019-01-30T11:28:12","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T11:28:12","slug":"getting-started-in-our-mentoring-roles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/wiproteacherfellow\/getting-started-in-our-mentoring-roles\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting started in our mentoring roles"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday 23rd<\/sup> January the first of three webinars of the Wipro took place attended by the Wipro Mentors and members of the project team<\/a>, Richard Pountney, lead for the Mentor strand<\/a> of the project, and Emily Perry, project lead. \u00a0It followed the launch of the project on 17th<\/sup> January, when mentors met for the first time and were able to meet and talk to the Wipro Teacher Fellows<\/a> that they will mentoring.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Wipro Teacher Mentors and Fellows launch meeting<\/p><\/div>\n

Building on the very rich discussions that took place at the launch, the webinar was an opportunity to follow up and explore the next steps and what mentors need to offer individualised support through mentoring to their Teacher Fellows. To that extent we have devised a set of three workbooks that run alongside the webinars, each consisting of: a reader covering the main issues and associated literature; a case study of practice; learning activities and a self-evaluation. In workbook 1 we ensure that our experienced mentors are fully up to date with current ideas on mentoring practice; in workbook 2 we look at understanding teachers\u2019 practice and how it develops; and in webinar 3 we look at improving teachers\u2019 practice through challenge.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Workbook 1 screenshot showing the Welcome page<\/p><\/div>\n

One of the issues we discussed in the webinar was whether, and in what ways, mentoring a more experienced teacher is different to mentoring a trainee or newly qualified teacher. Rachel suggested that the experienced mentor would \u2018have some ideas about their practice and will have established some skills\u2019<\/em>, while Andrew pointed out that more experienced teachers have \u2018greater teaching load, so can be harder to find time to meet up and\/or observe them<\/em>\u2019. The differences in outlook on practice was noted with some thinking that experienced teachers are more reflective but may possibly be less open to new practice. This led to a further question about whether mentors are mentoring or coaching. Bonnie suggested that \u2018coaching is about performance whereas mentoring is about building capability<\/em>\u2019, while Maroof argued for coaching \u2018when the mentee is wanting to focus on specific skills<\/em>\u2019. We also wondered what might be different in mentoring in a STEM context and the importance of pedagogic content knowledge.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Webinar 1 screenshot (slides and chat window)<\/p><\/div>\n

The idea of mentoring as a form of dialogue, as a two-way process between mentor and fellow, that is influenced by the nature of the relationship and the conditions for critical reflection, was seen agreed to be important. We discussed the starters for conversations, including inviting the mentee to speak about what\u2019s on their mind and tactics, including listening well and encouraging the mentee to open up. Margaret shared her strategy to ask the mentee to \u2018imagine the classroom and imagine how you would like it to be\u2019<\/em> as way of facilitating discussion.<\/p>\n

The need to develop rapport with the mentee was agreed and discussed, including how this might lead to a form of modelling by the mentor, and it was noted that this could take various forms including feedback on observation, live and videoed, including the mentor\u2019s practice. Those who had used the case studies in the workbooks also felt that watching others is a good basis for discussion about practice. There was a consensus that whatever form of exchange and observation was involved it would need an agreement by both parties, and this might form the basis or the first professional principle<\/strong> to be considered for the Wipro Teacher Fellow, that we will build on and develop in the coming months.<\/p>\n

In these ways our first get together following the launch underlined and reinforced the key ideas of the project: collaboration, enquiry, innovation and trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday 23rd January the first of three webinars of the Wipro took place attended by the Wipro Mentors and members of the project team, Richard Pountney, lead for the Mentor strand of the project, and Emily Perry, project lead. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/patusS-1D","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":221,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/wiproteacherfellow\/evaluating-the-wipro-programme\/","url_meta":{"origin":101,"position":0},"title":"Evaluating the Wipro programme","author":"Emily Perry","date":"September 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Alongside delivering the Wipro programme for Teacher Fellows and mentors, we are carrying out an internal, formative evaluation.\u00a0 This plays a key part in our quality assurance of the programme, by helping us to understand participants' experiences and perceptions, what they learn and enjoy and what we can do better.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/wiproteacherfellow\/wipro-programme-in-the-media\/","url_meta":{"origin":101,"position":1},"title":"Wipro programme in the media","author":"Emily Perry","date":"January 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Sheffield Hallam Media Centre's story about our first day together can be found here, with lovely photos of the Teacher Fellows and Mentors, and quotes! \u00a0","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":194,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/wiproteacherfellow\/subject-coaching-and-mentoring-in-secondary-computing\/","url_meta":{"origin":101,"position":2},"title":"Subject coaching and mentoring in Secondary Computing","author":"Richard Pountney","date":"January 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"My name is Jason Davis, I\u2019m a Computer Science teacher at Handsworth Grange School, Sheffield. 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The project team has been super-busy planning\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":318,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/wiproteacherfellow\/case-study-anthony-wells\/","url_meta":{"origin":101,"position":4},"title":"Case Study: Developing others, and one’s own, practice, through mentoring","author":"rp7884","date":"October 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Anthony Wells, Executive Deputy in 2 Lincolnshire schools, talks about his mentoring experience with Richard Pountney, lead for the mentoring strand of the Wipro Programme. Anthony and Richard Transcript Anthony also reflects further on his time on the programme: \"Over the last 2 years since joining the Wipro mentoring program\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/wiproteacherfellow\/hello-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":101,"position":5},"title":"Hello world!","author":"Richard Pountney","date":"October 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to the Wipro Teacher Fellow blog. 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