Tip:
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So, today, what I want to do is give a mentoring tip on how
to keep in our consciousness mentoring as reciprocal
or in other words, mentoring as receiving as also giving.
By the middle of the semester and towards the end of the semester,
if we only focus on what we're giving our students,
we're in danger of actually burning out as faculty.
And the signs of burn out are fairly obvious.
We start to think in terms of like working so hard
but our students aren't responding.
We start describing our students in negative terms.
So here's a very simple tip to help faculty
who may think that they are burning out.
Sit down and write down a list of five things
that you're giving to students.
That list should actually be very simple for faculty to do.
The next part of the exercise is the critical part.
Write down ten things you're receiving from your students.
If a faculty person has more problems on writing down ten things
they're receiving, this is where that faculty person needs to reintroduce
a concept of mentoring as both giving and receiving.
I teach freshmen so there are many things that I receive from my freshmen.
I receive from them things like energy.
One example is appreciation.
My freshmen really appreciate being in college
and really appreciate me as their teacher.
But they also have a wonderment for knowledge.
All knowledge for freshmen is new knowledge
and you get excited by the knowledge.
So every single day, I look forward to going to my class because
I'm going to receive all these wonderful gifts from my freshmen.
So remember, towards the end of the semester or even towards the middle,
whenever you feel that you're giving more than you're receiving,
do this simple exercise and this will sustain you
because you will then understand not only in principle
but also in practice why mentoring is reciprocal
and it's both receiving and giving.