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Mentorship is a Privilege

Today I spent the afternoon with my "mentee". I've been asked to mentor a new Vice Principal, T. I'm kind of nervous and excited and wondering what on earth can I offer this lovely woman??? We participated in a large group PD session and she asked me to hang back after it was over. We chatted about how her first few months in the role have been going. She was very clear that she had no regrets and was really enjoying the role. A lot of stories that she recounted were so familiar and her feelings and reflections certainly struck a chord with me. I could tell almost instantaneously that her heart was crafted for this position. She seems to be getting a handle on the knowledge as time goes on but she is rightly motivated. She is going to be a great advocate for kids. It's going to be my privilege to listen and ask or answer questions. I'm excited about checking in with her to see how she's doing. I'm honoured at how receptive she is to feedback beyond her own team. It's funny... she recalled a conversation she and I had while she was discerning and she asked if I remembered what I had said to her and for the life of me, I couldn't (and I was secretly crossing all crossible body parts that it was a nugget of brilliance... lol). She told me that I had said that the key to being in this role is embracing the team you're on. I was so relieved! It's also interesting that this is a well-timed reminder for me personally... I'm really looking forward to spending time with T. All of our system's secondary principals and vice principals will be participating in our annual conference next week and I hope to have more time to chat and tell stories because that's where a lot of our learning in this role happens - in the sharing and exchanging of experience and wisdom. I think I stand to learn a lot from this experience. I think I am going to be forced to take a hard look at my own practice as she works through her own. There's as much PD in it for me as there is for her.

"The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your 
riches but to reveal to him his own." Benjamin Disraeli
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