Mentorship
Mentorship: inspiration and instruction
“I hear…I forgot…I see…
And I remember I do…
And I understand”
-Ancient Chinese Proverb-
But the teachers whose goal was to share everything they knew joined me in my journey as a learner. They inspired and guided me and gave me the tolls to make myself a better person and professional. They taught me the trick of the trade, knowledge that is not learned from textbooks.
Growing up in the Philippine predisposed me to crab mentality knowledge is important and not willingly shared with others. Because they may become better than you. Just like crabs, people pull each other down because they are unwilling to allow someone to get ahead unhealthy competition prevent people from collaborating, helping each other improve and celebrating the accomplishment of others.
I was fortunate to have been exposed to good model in schools and at home. Through my mentors. I was expose to adapt a different view on learning and leading. Being around experts. I realized that successful people are the first to recognize that knowledge is limitless and that nothing is lost when you help others. This has influenced me greatly in creating a culture of empowerment, genuine respect and collaboration in the organization that I founded.
My on experience with setting up a school reflected the lessons I learned from my mentors. Because I chose to pioneer the multiple intelligence school in the country, I wanted the school culture to be reflective of the advocacy of MI. believing that every person is intelligent in his own way has allowed me to embrace a culture of respect, both among students and the faculty.
Schools tend to encourage competition instead of collaboration, thinking that intelligence is only for a few. MI allows everyone to contribute because we have our own strengths. We work together for a common goal or vision instead of competing against each other. I personally believe in a mentorship model wherein someone who has more knowledge or skills helps make a difference in the life o another person by nurturing and empowering him. Teachers go the extra mile for students, and children go the extra mile to help those who have difficulty, our of empathy and genuine caring.
At MI, we embrace very high ethical standards because we believe in the relationship of trust that comes with the mentorship arrangement. H have spoken to many frustrated school owners who tell me that their problem are teacher who do mediocre work and leave after learning from them. Because of this frustration and fear, they do not bother to develop their teachers.
It is true that you run the risk of being copied or used by teachers who just want to learn and leave. However, as the school’s leader, I believe that the merits of going out of my way to encourage and equip my teachers to develop their full potential is most beneficial to the life of our organization. It is my hope that through mentorship, a teacher or a child who enters our school will leave a better person.
What mentorship opportunities can I give my child
“my child has great ideas, how can I help him?” the answer is try to find mentors for your child. It is amazing how many ideas die on the drawing board simply because of poor or non existent mentoring. Schools train children for a get a job instead of a make a job mentality. So children who think of novel ideas end up frustrated because they simply do not know how to translate these into reality.
This is why we decided to pioneer an entrepreneurship program in both elementary and high school levels. The core of our program is mentorship. You might wonder, why would someone who is successful go out of his way to teach others the secret to his success? The answer is simple he possesses the success attitude and mindset that makes him a positive and giving individual.
3 ways to give child the
Exposure
Mentorship = Experts
Experience