FAHA: Communication between mentors

[JaneYoung]

I've been thinking about this for a couple of days. Two things have come to mind.
Respect for different styles of mentoring.
The importance of communication.

If I read this correctly, you are a young mentor for the team and a take charge kind of person. You have a lot of information, experience, and knowledge that you can share with the students and with the teacher. How you do that will be helpful or will cause obstacles, blocks in communication.

Time spent with the teacher discussing the different roles and outlining your goals, individually and together, would be time well spent. You are quickly moving into Kick Off and build season. This year can be looked at as a year of growth and development as a team, learning how to work together and to communicate with each other. Mentors should have times that they meet together and discuss different aspects of the process, esp. if there are areas that require some attention.

Teachers spend a lot of time listening as well as sharing knowledge. Good teachers offer opportunities for development and learning. If this is the teacher's first year in FIRST, there is going to be a huge learning curve involved and will require patience on your part.

Learning to work together as a team takes time. Bringing in new mentors, new students, new parents takes a lot of work, it doesn't happen 'automagically.' The students will see you working together as mentors with common goals and as role models. That is why it is important that you learn to communicate with each other and to respect each other's mentoring styles, having defined your roles within the team.

All the best in 2008,
Jane

[Sunshine]

The most important thing you can do is sit down with him and express your feelings in a positive way. Do it NOW. Do not wait. If you have these feelings now things will only escalate.

He may feel threatened by your expertise. You may be over reacting. You will not know until you talk things out.

Don't let things just happen. Having a discussion about job responsibilities and who does what is healthy.

Starting the season off with these pent up emotions is not healthy for anyone. The kids will read right through and possible problems between mentors.