Mentoring

All education majors taking courses at TJC are expected to participate in the Mentoring Program. This applies to all students taking an education class, even those from other institutions! The MP offers advantages to both mentors and those being mentored. If you are a new major at TJC, take advantage of the experience and knowledge of your mentor. If you are a mentor, the process of mentoring majors that are behind you in the program helps you become a better student and professional yourself.

During the fall semester, TECA 1311 students mentor EDUC 1301 and TECA 1303 students. During the spring semester, TECA 1318 and EDUC 2301 students mentor TECA 1354 students. Mentor assignments are posted on the “MP Assignments” page, which is linked above, by 9/5 in the fall semester, by 2/5 in the spring semester, & by 6/5 in the summer semester. Your name and email address are paired with your partner’s. The email address used is the one you send to you professor in the required Student Information email. (See Internship page.)

Assignments are made at random. Depending on class size, it is possible that you may be assigned more than one mentor or more than one person to mentor. Please do not request a specific person with whom you wish to be paired. Pairs are assigned at random. It is critical that you come to appreciate and respect diversity. After all, you will ALL be coworkers in the same profession before long! See this as an early opportunity to network.

You are encouraged to meet as frequently as possible with your mentoring partner. You are required to meet a minimum of three times during the semester (once per each reporting period) and to complete three mentoring forms in your online portfolio. The information requested is straightforward and reflective. There are no right or wrong answers. However, your responses will be compared to the responses of your MP partner to ensure that you are participating in the program. The following chart lists the forms and due dates by education course. You may not submit forms more than two days before the due date. We want you to report on things as they stand on that date, not two weeks prior. It is your responsibility to remember and meet the due dates!

Semester	Online Portfolio Form	Due Date
Fall	1st Mentee Form (EDUC 1301, EDUC 1325, TECA 1303, TECA 1354) 1st Mentor Form (EDUC 2301, TECA 1311, TECA 1318)	10/1
	2nd Mentee Form (EDUC 1301, EDUC 1325, TECA 1303, TECA 1354) 2nd Mentor Form (EDUC 2301, TECA 1311, TECA 1318)	11/1
	3rd Mentee Form (EDUC 1301, EDUC 1325, TECA 1303, TECA 1354) 3rd Mentor Form (EDUC 2301, TECA 1311, TECA 1318)	12/1
Spring	1st Mentee Form (EDUC 1301, EDUC 1325, TECA 1303, TECA 1354) 1st Mentor Form (EDUC 2301, TECA 1311, TECA 1318)	3/1
	2nd Mentee Form (EDUC 1301, EDUC 1325, TECA 1303, TECA 1354) 2nd Mentor Form (EDUC 2301, TECA 1311, TECA 1318)	4/1
	3rd Mentee Form (EDUC 1301, EDUC 1325, TECA 1303, TECA 1354) 3rd Mentor Form (EDUC 2301, TECA 1311, TECA 1318)	5/1
Summer	1st Mentee Form (EDUC 1301, EDUC 1325, TECA 1303, TECA 1354) 1st Mentor Form (EDUC 2301, TECA 1311, TECA 1318)	6/26
	2nd Mentee Form (EDUC 1301, EDUC 1325, TECA 1303, TECA 1354) 2nd Mentor Form (EDUC 2301, TECA 1311, TECA 1318)	7/17
	3rd Mentee Form (EDUC 1301, EDUC 1325, TECA 1303, TECA 1354) 3rd Mentor Form (EDUC 2301, TECA 1311, TECA 1318)	8/7

Your first step is to contact your partner as soon as possible after the MP assignments are posted. You should plan on contacting your partner during the first week of each of the three reporting periods. Only email addresses are posted so you need to make first contact by email. However, you are welcome to make contact after that in any way that is mutually acceptable – by email, phone, instant messaging, snail mail, chat room, in person … whatever is most comfortable for the two of you. By necessity, some of you will be forced to “meet” electronically since you live hundreds of miles apart!

Before the names are even posted, you should read through the “Guidelines” page, which is linked above. There is a right way and a wrong way to be a mentor. If you are a mentor, it’s your responsibility to know the right way. If you are being mentored, it helps you to know what to expect. Keep in mind, though, that this should be a pleasant and productive experience.

How pleasant and productive it is depends on you. If you and your partner get off to a rocky start, don’t call your professor. Work it out. You are working to become professionals in the field so start acting like professionals now. If there are things that disturb you, include those in your portfolio form reflections.

There is one exception to the “don’t call your professor” rule. If you make repeated attempts to contact your partner but get no response within a week or so, let your professor know immediately. You will be assigned to a new partner so you do not miss your next portfolio submission due date. Do NOT wait until the day before a due date and then tell your professor that you’ll be late because you’ve never been able to contact your partner. That excuse is not accepted. Also, do NOT submit a form that says "I don't have anything to report because I've never talked to my mentor/mentee." Remember that you are required to meet at least one time during each reporting period. If you haven't, then obviously neither of you has met the requirements!

If your partner makes repeated attempts to contact you but gets no response within a week or so, he/she is expected to notify us quickly. We will replace you with someone else and take you off the chart on the MP Assignments page. We will not give you to another partner because, if you aren't going to respond, there is no point to your having a partner. That may sound harsh, but if there is a misunderstanding or mistake - a bad email address or an unanticipated hospitalization or whatever - the major removed notices right away and contacts his/her professor. You notice those things when you're really participating!

Usually the students we remove don't contact us or don't contact us for a long time because they aren't participating anyway and never notice they don't have a partner. That's a shame because your non-participation hurts not only you, it has the potential to hurt your partner as well. If we don't know you aren't participating and aren't contacted quickly, your partner will also fail the requirement because of your refusal to respond. That shows not only a lack of responsibility in your coursework, but also a lack of concern for a fellow education major. Because education is a very collegial profession, educators who are feel no loyalty to their colleagues don't last long.

One final warning ... dishonesty on your mentoring reports is easy to spot. If your partner is reporting that you never respond and you're reporting meetings together, we know one of you is misreporting. Even more obvious is when your partner is paired with someone else and you are removed from the program, yet you continue to submit mentoring reports! The easy way to avoid all of this is to meet the requirements! Mentoring program participation is required in order to pass all education courses and it's a very simple and enjoyable requirement to meet.