STAYING CONNECTED: COMMUNITY ANIMATOR & MENTORSHIP HUB
Written by Kayla Paquette, RECE Strive Community Animator
In a field where resources are rapidly evolving, keeping up with the latest information can be challenging! To help you stay informed, we have created a dedicated section on the Strive website, the Community Animator & Mentorship hub. This new page is a place where you can stay connected to various resources on mentorship and mentoring relationships. It offers created and curated articles, resources, and professional learning opportunities designed to support your growth and development of mentorship.
While developing the Community Animator & Mentorship page, I immersed myself in various mentoring resources. These resources not only offer information but invite individuals to reflect on approaches to mentorship.
Here are a few resources that particularly resonated with me:
Creating a Culture of Reflective Practice: The Role of Pedagogical Leadership in Early Childhood Programs
Anne Marie Coughlin & Lorrie McGee Baird
This resource thoughtfully guides readers to pause and reflect on significant topics such as values, environments, and relationships before each chapter. Each section is full of reflective questions designed to provoke thoughtful consideration and deeper understanding. Creating a Culture of Reflective Practice offers stories and structures connected to four principles of pedagogical leadership with specific ideas to enhance the work of leaders.
A particularly impactful section, "Building Meaningful Relationships," highlights the crucial role of pedagogical leaders in recognizing the potential and competence in not only children but also the adults they work with. This section stands out for its insight on how fostering strong, meaningful relationships can transform programs.
Creating a Culture of Reflective Practice is filled with reflective questions that encourage readers to engage in meaningful dialogue with others, supporting both personal and professional growth. These questions serve as valuable tools for readers to explore and discuss the intricate dynamics of their roles and relationships.
“If we want to create an environment where learning can grow and flourish, we must create an environment and specific tools that foster positive, trusting relationships.”
Supporting Teachers As Learners: a guide for mentors and coaches in early care and education
Marcy Whitebook and Dan Bellm
This book describes the way in which mentoring in Early Childhood Education and Care has changed over the last two decades, and the multiple contexts in which mentoring now occurs. Acting as a guide, this resource provides reflective questions, activities, and templates for hands-on learning, and it can be adapted to a wide variety of early care and education settings.
The book addresses…
The variety of mentoring programs operating today
Understanding adult learning and development
Building strong mentor-protégé relationships and appreciating and understanding differences
Skills and strategies for effective mentoring
Mentors as leaders and learners
“Mentors who are aware that adults, as well as children, are always developing and changing will be more effective in their role of supporting teacher learning.”
Developing Mentoring & Coaching Relationships in Early Care and Education: a reflective approach
Marilyn Chu
This book strives to bridge the gap between the vision for quality and actual practice. Packed with reflective questions, illustrative mentoring and coaching scenarios, and ready to implement planning tools. The focus is on encouraging reflection on current practices in order to achieve quality programs, meet standards, and promote positive outcomes for children in these times of rising standards and, in many cases, lower levels of support.
This resource is valuable for anyone in mentoring relationships as they encounter challenges in today's early childhood programs and can use this resources as a guide to support individuals.
Chu presents ideas, suggestions, and tools for individuals to grow their knowledge and skills in how to:
Consider their own relationship-based professional development competencies
Apply relationship-based mentoring strategies to promote professional learning
Effective communication to support observation, reflection, and planning
Initiate professional development leadership and planning for mentoring systems that grow our own professional development leaders
“Mentoring can help and early care and education program to become a better ‘community of learners’ - a place where both children and adults are encouraged to reach their full potential.”