Finalizing mentoring process

In May we have had two mentoring sessions. One was about expertise in working life, focusing on how to prepare curriculum vitae and also the aspects to consider when applying to a job position or going to a job interview. Only one mentee was present to the lecture given by Aino-Maria Palosaari. She has discussed about interesting things but what called my attention most is that she mentioned many times the need of being honest and being oneself, no matter the situation. In fact, I think this kind of behavior is proper in any relationship.

The other mentoring session was the final meeting with all mentors and mentees together with the teachers. It was a very good meeting in many ways. It gave a sense of task completed. We have had two main activities. One was meeting with members of other groups to analyze the process. We have shared our experiences and we mentioned positive and negative points of our process. At the end, we have made a poster to represent the discussions. It was very good to be able to reflect on the process, especially with a person from other group, who had different experiences.

The other part of the program was a lecture by the artist Einari Hyvönen. He mentioned about his career path and his experiences as a mentee in his field. I enjoyed very much listening to him. He is talented and conscious of his talents but also conscious of his limitations. He knows in what he can help others and in what he needs to ask for help himself. It was a very good lecture and helped in considering our own experiences, expertise and limitations and how to make good use of them all.

It is good to have this process finished. It gives a sense of completed duty because I have put efforts into taking advantage of being a mentee as well as a mentor.

Talking in many ways

April mentoring session aimed in presenting the mentees with an opportunity to expand their expertise by focusing on their personal development. One of the mentors in our group is a psychologist and he prepared a session to develop the self-knowledge. Besides most of the mentors and one mentee, the session had the presence of four exchange students from three different countries and a mentor from another group.

In the session we performed different activities and watched some videos. The activities and videos aimed in practicing and analyzing communication as well as the way people see others when first meeting. We have then discussed the elements people observe when meeting and talking to others. We also vastly discussed about non-verbal communication and how important it is to be aware of what our body is communicating, since most of what people “listen” when first meeting us is not our words but our gestures, voice and posture.

In my point of view, although it was not meant to be education related, the subject is at some extent related to teaching-learning situations, since the way a teacher and students communicate will be affected by the same elements as in any other level of communication; and, therefore, the same factors should be taken into account as well. The meeting was relaxing and fun and we could benefit from it in different ways. It was a positive experience in this mentoring process. 

Thinking of thesis

Our next mentoring session is about thesis and as I am not going to be present, I decided to write my considerations about my process in the blog, so that the mentees could read it, if they want, so this text is going to be directed to them.
It has been about a year since I have started my thesis process. I realize now that I have not stopped to think about it during the whole time until now. I will write about what I have gone thorough and the steps I took that worked and did not work.
My first action related to the thesis was to make a plan and I know that you have already gone there, so I will leave it out. I just want to mention that it was the most anxious period of the thesis. I was really restless for not knowing what I would research about.
After the first ideas came and the plan was ready, I soon started collecting data, as part of a research group. It was very good experience because we could support each other and we did the work together. It was also a good experience for knowing what to do and not to do when collecting data.
After spending the summer working with transcripts and translations, I had the surprising news in the beginning of autumn that my data was poor and that I would have to do another data collection. That was a moment of great discouragement, but as I did not have much time, it lasted a few days only.
I put myself to work and with the experience gathered with the previous collection, it was easier. I had to change mostly everything from my original plan; I just kept the same subject because it interests me and because I had already read a lot about it and would not have time to read as much for another subject.
I started working for collecting new data, and this new research topic was much more interesting for me than the previous one.
After the new data was collected, a new process began. How should I analyze data? How should I present it? What method? I did not get all the answers at once. I read a lot about qualitative research and research methods, I talked to classmates and other people and I asked help from my supervisor and a clearer picture started to be seen.
I am now at the final stage of my thesis and, although it is not ready, I like its results. I say results because I do not only like the content of the thesis. I have learned a lot and I have managed to do a great deal of work and it pleases me. So, here it goes some tips I think might help you with your process.
What I would recommend:

• Talk a lot about your thesis, when talking about your thesis, even to people who do not care or understand :), you develop your thinking and some great ideas might come.

• Write your ideas down, you will have some great insights and ideas, write them down, if you are not working with your thesis at that moment, because you might forget them later on – I have lost some 😦

• Ask for help! Ask supervisors, friends, classmates and everybody you can count on to help you. Other peoples’ insights enrich your work; just be a little cautious, Calvin might not be a good source of inspiration 🙂

• Take a break from time to time. You will go through periods of active production and periods of lack of inspiration, as far as I know it happens to everyone. When lacking inspiration, take a break. Do something else not connected to your thesis and, when you are relaxed, the ideas will come. Remember the other advice and take notes :).

• Start writing right away. You might not even use everything you write but if you are going to wait to “have everything” before start writing, your text will not have time to mature and get shaped in your own stile.

What I would not recommend:

• Do not get anxious or stressed, try to control your emotions, because too much of them will steal your energy and focus and certainly you will need them both.

• Do not leave things for later on, times goes too fast!!! As I said, in one year this is the first time I stop to think about my thesis. Do not postpone your work or your writing; you might not have as much time as you think.

I hope these comments help you and if you have any other questions, you know where to find me, right?

Making sense in a multi-sensory room

The January mentoring session was the first one with all three mentees. It was good to have them all together. Only one mentor was missing, so we almost had the whole group this time.

We visited OSAO, Oulun Seudun Ammattiopisto, which is a school for high school students to prepare for their careers as practical nurses and pharmacy attendants. We did not visit the whole school but we’ve had the chance to see different classrooms and meet some students. The school offers theoretical and practical teaching on a 50/50% base. It was evident in the school environment and teacher explanations that practicing is an important aspect of the learning method.

The teacher who hosted us in the school was a former LET student and mentor. He was asked what had changed in his own teaching after LET studies and he mentioned some of the activities that have been implemented so far due to the new knowledge and expertise he developed. His students are writing blogs to evaluate their own learning. They are also producing videos of the practical classes so that later on they can assess and evaluate their own performance and receive feedback from teachers and peers in order to improve for next time.  Students are also encouraged to set their own long term goals and come back to them from time to time to see if they have advanced toward them or if their goals have changed. He said that some of his students are able to analyze and think their learning but others need help in order to do so but they are all starting to work this path.  Personally it was a very enriching visit, as I could know the place and see LET in practice.

It was also an important moment for the group. We continued knowing each other and it was especially important because this time all mentees were present. We sit together in a multi-sensory room, which aims to reach all the senses in order that creativity and communication is facilitated. An activity of expressing feelings related to thesis and LET studies was done. It was not a smooth conversation, as the room would indicate, but rather a critical and frank exposition of feelings related to the studies. As it was an exposition of feelings, they varied a lot and raised other feelings.

Motivation, either having it or lacking it, was present in many of the expressed feelings and concerns with the studies. The lack of motivation was said to be due to other personal issues or disappointment with the program. The motivated ones mentioned the opportunities for learning and overcoming barriers.

When intrinsically motivated, people engage in activities freely and with a full sense of volition and without needing rewards or constraints (Deci & Ryan, 1985). But when members of the group lack this intrinsic motivation, what to do? It seems that motivation is going to be a topic in our mentoring sessions. Research has explored how various aspects of social environment affect people’s intrinsic motivation, self-regulation and performance (Deci, Vallerand, elletier & Ryan, 1991); therefore, we can use these mentoring sessions as opportunities to motivate and be motivated by others.

References:

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: PlenumDeci, E., Vallerand, R. J., Pelletier, L.G. & Ryan, R.M. (1991). Motivation and Education: The Self-Determination Perspective. Educational Psychologist, 26(3 & 4), 325-346

Mentoring

Last Friday we’ve had our last session with our mentors for the Expert course. This course has been quite different from what I had expected. I might say I did not get the answers I had expected to get from our mentors; but I got something else, even more valuable.

I thought I would get information from them for practical problems and studying situations, firstly related to the development of the thesis, but it was not what happened. I learned from them and from their experiences, but in a different way. They shared their expertise in what they thought they do well and they like to do; therefore, we’ve had creative activities during the meetings and I learned from their souls.

It was important to see the working place of some of them. How they talked about their job challenges and everyday situations. The activities developed also helped me think about study related situations and also about people’s relationship. Some of the activities I liked most were already mentioned in this blog, like the visit to a Finnish school with Pirjo and also the photo taking diary we did for Ari, therefore I am not going to talk much about them. But not only the activities were important. The relationship was as important and I could notice that most of the mentors really cared about giving us something, about helping us somehow and about making these meetings useful for us and somehow meaningful; therefore, I want to thank all of you. It was very good to be part of Mejipo group. I hope that the same way I received from you,  I have also been able to give you something.

The picture for this post shows the poem we wrote in our last meeting. It is a poem about mentoring. The poem was written in the following way: everyone would think of a poem sentence related to mentoring, then by turns each one would write their sentence, without seeing what the other had written. The result was quite amazing and in case you could not understand the handwriting, here it goes:

Mentoring sucks or does it?
A different learning experience, interesting and challenging
Knowing and being known
Oh mentor it is wonderful to be your mentee.
But where does it lead us?
How to transfer silent knowledge?
I am lost in space and in time, please, help me out!
At the end, walking together, saying bye, bye!

Mentoring session

Today in mentoring session we discussed about some difficulties we have and would like to discuss in the meetings. After that we had an hour to put into pictures one of the items listed. Here it goes my choice. I hope you enjoy it.