Meeting the Mentor

MTR is a program that helps create excellent urban educators. I was fortunate enough to have them believe that there was enough raw material in me to be worth their investment of thousands upon thousands of dollars. Part of these funds goes toward paying for the M.U.Ed I mentioned yesterday. Other parts go towards live, personal training in an actual elementary (or secondary) school classroom.

There are two primary relationships that are forged as a part of this process. One, a coach who will come visit the classroom I'll be teaching in on a very regular basis and offering constructive feedback as to my performance. My coach will be also working with the two other residents at the school I'll be at.

The second is that of my mentor, who I will be the only person she works with. Because of the public nature of blogs and my vast readership (both free and subscription-based), I will refer to mine as Ms. P (for now). She is the one whose classroom I'll be in 4 days a week, serving as her "co-teacher" as she calls me. Today MTR provided a "getting to know your mentor" session where I got to meet Ms. P for the first time. We are definitely not identical in personality or temperament. According to a assessment we did, she is "analytical" and I'm a "driver." However, I think we both have a similar approach to life.

There is only so much you can learn about a person in a conversation involving personality tests. Many times we say what we think/hope/want to believe about ourselves in the theoretical sense, but in the practical sense, we are different. At this juncture, without any work having been done, I can truly say I am quite optimistic that this will be a great relationship and partnership. Laughing, especially at the very same things, is important. So is how you approach what you need to do for the day. We are alike in these key areas. I say it's a win.