How is informal mentoring different?



sourced from mbd2.com

As a way to support teachers who were struggling to get started with e learning practices our ICT team implemented a mentoring program. Little did we know how effective it would be.

There are some tips for this to be advantageous that we have discovered through experience.
1. Be careful with putting an experts and different personalities with these teachers.
2. Mentors must be trained inhow to approach teachers with respect and empathy
3. Provide support for mentors. They can often feel overwhelmed with ongoig negativity they may be dealing with on a regular basis.
4.We used an ongoing google doc for providing a closed document to document meetings, challenges, resources and collegial support.  It became a collaborative document that is a journal of our progress as facilitators, mentors and professionals.

Informal mentoring is an extremely effective way to address performance deficiencies. The goals and objectives are less structured and are determined by the mentor and mentee as the mentoring unfolds.
Unlike formal mentoring programs, informal mentoring just happens. No program, no meetings to attend – just two people whose chemistry is compatible who get together to share ideas and learn. One takes the role of teacher or mentor, the other acts as student or protégé.
For all the information check out this awesome article http://www.lynnleadership.com/mentoring_article.htm

http://aibs.worldsecuresystems.com/announcements/formal-v-informal-mentoring-whats-the-difference