Day 6 of my 30-Day Blogging Challenge for teachers from teachthought.com

Here is the link to the site with the 30-day challenge. 
http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/reflective-teaching-30-day-blogging-challenge-teachers/

Day 6. Explain: What does a good mentor "do."

A good mentor does exactly what a good teacher does: makes themselves progressively unnecessary. I DO NOT believe that education will ever get to a point where teachers are not needed in the classroom and we are all be replaced with computers, but the ability of a good teacher/mentor to prepare their "pupils" for what lies ahead is a skill that cannot be take for granted within our education system.

I mentioned in previous posts that knowledge of one's content area does not necessarily make him or her a good teacher; and I think that the same applies to being a mentor. Mentoring/teaching require an ability to make connections with people through collaboration and patience.

I was lucky enough to have a mentor here at Buffalo Grove High School (Joe Taylor @joe_edtech) for 9 years before I became the technology facilitator. I remember watching him, when I first came to BG in 2005, and I was so impressed with his ability to talk to and assist teachers with complete and utter patience. I would constantly tell myself, "I could never do his job." However, over the next few years, I jumped on the technology bandwagon and began blogging with my students using Wikispaces as well as Google Sites for everything from classroom activities to youth football conferences.  Although I HEAVILY relied on Joe in my first few years using different technologies, Joe was always incredibly patient with me and, like I said before, made himself progressively unnecessary in my every day teaching.

Now, I still have my moments where I need to call or text him frantically since he left our district and became the Director of Instructional Technology at Deerfield High School, however I think that someone like Joe is really what exemplifies what a good mentor should be: someone who:

• shows you the way
• aides your growth and 
• is always there for you......until they are killed by Darth Vader with a light saber. (Sorry for the Star Wars reference. I couldn't resist!!!)