The Importance of Mentoring and Teaching
I have had the honor of being mentored by two people in my life time. Both were professional and well educated people who came to me and offered to volunteer their time to mentor and make an investment in me because they saw the value in doing so. One was a Manager at the National Council on Compensation Insurance who was my boss and the other was a former Sunday School Teacher.
Both took the time to spend time with me, encourage my strengths, work on my weaknesses and enable me to be a better leader, speaker, programmer, encourager and eventually, a mentor to others.
My former Manager at the National Council had an interest in mentoring, it was something he grew into and loved doing. He had a gift for it, a gift that not many people have. Little did I know at the time but he fostered a desire in me to mentor and help others later on in life, just as he did me. I have found over the years, the most rewarding times I have had in my career have been the times when a co-worker needed my help to get up to speed on something and I was able to help them and give them the answer they need and help educate them. It was rewarding to share that knowledge and a pleasant surprise that I had enough knowledge to even help someone else. Knowledge is something that is growing and changing so fast these days due to technology. Therefore, the need for educators and good mentors is growing just as fast.
I can still remember the names of all my teachers in grade school and high school and even some in college. From Kindergarten to college, I can remember the teachers that were wonderful and I counted as friends. I also remember the teachers that were absolutely awful and would even embarrass you in class for no other reason than to be just plain out cruel. You never forget those comments and you never forget the names of those teachers. If I could go back to school and visit them, some I would like to take out to lunch, others I would like to take my foot and kick as far as I can send them.
It is a huge, huge responsibility to be a Teacher or Mentor. Because whether you realize it or not, the lives you touch, the Students you impact, you will mold and shape for the rest of their lives. As a Teacher, you may not always feel appreciated for the work that you do. Your students may not always put an apple on your desk, may never say 'thank you' for all you have taught them, but rest assured, your students will remember you. They will remember how you made them feel and they will remember if you took the time to speak to them and smile at them and be their friend or scowl at them and make a crude comment to make them feel small.
When I look back over all the teachers I had over the years, including my two mentor friends, I can recall the things that made the good teachers good and the bad teachers just plain awful. Truthfully, what made the good teachers 'good' were the simple fact that they cared about their students and loved what they were doing, so naturally they were good at the technique of conveying and communicating that information and it came easy for them.
What made the bad teachers absolutely awful is the fact that they were moody, they were mean, and they simply did not care about their students and it showed. It showed very well. Even an animal can sense if you love them or not. How much more a child. I even had one math teacher in grade school tell an entire class after showing us something on the board, 'well if you dont understand, you don't understand' and left us hanging. What she failed to understand was it was her job to help us understand and she had failed in doing so.
I may not remember everything that my mentors taught me and it is impossible to remember everything I learned in school over the years, but what I do remember well is the faces and names of the teachers who cared enough to say hello to me, smile at me, offer a word of encouragement and make me feel special. In doing so, they showed they were human beings too and approachable and that they wanted me to succeed as a student and eventually, in life. They encouraged me to ask questions and did not make me feel stupid or small when I did. There were some teachers who did make me feel small. I even had one teacher who made a snide comment, causing the other students to laugh at my expense. I remember that moment well, mostly because one of my best friends in class had the courage to stand up for me and say 'hey Rick, dont feel bad, I was getting ready to ask the same question". My teacher just sat their in silence looking at the floor with her jaw clenched. You could hear a pin drop for all the class to hear how very small of a person she was.
We have all heard the old saying, ""Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man HOW to fish and he can feed himself for a lifetime." I do not think people often realize just what an important task it is to teach the children and adults of today. It is a big calling and yet many are not suited for it, even those that are currently employed as Teachers. There are some that would make the world a better place by stepping down and allowing someone better to take their place.
To teach a man to fish, is to literally teach him the best techniques, methods and tools to use but also teach him the value in doing so. We could teach that man to collect welfare, live off of others and lie and cheat his way through life. That seems to be what our society has come to. Yet no one has to be taught to do that. We all do that quite well on our own, some do it so often they dont even realize they are lying or cheating. Others see it, but they do not.
A good teacher will see this and take the time to correct you and change your life forever. There is one teacher that lived on this earth who excelled at doing this, his name was Jesus. His teachings are still changing lives and will continue to do so forever.
The need to teach values and have positive role models and mentors is such a need and yet there are so few people who are up to the call to do it. When you take the time to teach or mentor or invest in yourself in the life of a child, it will always have a positive result. You may not ever see the results of your labor until years down the road or you may never see the results at all, but eventually that student will look back and remember the time you took to spend with them and relish that time spent.
How do I know this? How can I be so sure? Because I am "that student". I remember well the time, energy, hope, joy and friendship that came from those mentors and the teachers that made the effort to show that they cared. I remember seeing them smile from a distance when I got up to speak for the first time in front of a large group of people. I remember the letters they wrote to give praise for the work I have done for a mutual employer. I still have those letters and whenever I need a word of encouragement, I go to those letters and read them again and again.
I never imagined I would want to become a teacher for a career. However, when I look back at my career and the people in it that have made a difference, I could not imagine a more higher calling or profession I would enjoy. I realized this one night just by having dinner with some friends. I sat next to my friend's 13 year old daughter, who I had never met before in my life. I did not know my friends family
but as I talked to them at the dinner table, I turned to the daughter and asked, "so what are you taking in school?" Just listening to her and the enthusiasm she had for her classes, sparked more conversation and I found what a joy it was to hear the hopes and dreams of a child who had her whole life ahead of her and was excited about it. It gave me energy and enthusiasm, just by listening to hers.
Later on that week, my friend and the mother of that little girl called me to say what a great time she had at dinner. She then proceeded to thank me for taking the time to speak with her daughter and make her feel important. What a small investment to make and what a great return it produced.
During my college years, I taught an 8th. grade Sunday school at my local church. There were some kids in my class that were model students that were well behaved and listened, others that could not sit still longer than 3 minutes and others that were distant and cold. The most rewarding experience for me that year was seeing one student in particular that was distant and unfriendly who became a wonderful friend and would smile and laugh every time he saw me. What made that change? I took the time to speak to him and make him feel he was important. I found that the most important thing I did for my students was to listen to them and be there for them. I hope years from now they will remember those times and that when they grow up, they will do the same. Not just for their students, but for their children, their wives and their friends.
What a difference we can make, if we just care enough to try and try to show that we care. The time and emotional investment you make, will pay off in ways you could never imagine.
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