Week 3 Term 1 - Academic Mentoring - Same page/Same message (Feb 14 - 18)

SAME PAGE: agreeing about something (such as how things should be done) Try to get employees and clients on the same page.

Student centered leadership is characterized by key important aspects such as building relationships between teacher, student and prioritizing the learning at the core of how we lead. For me personally, the heart of student centered leadership is the students - knowing who our students are and using this as a foundation when we are working with them. 

We are now into Week 3 and one of the priorities for Totara House this week is starting our Academic Mentoring program. I met with the Totara House Academic Mentors in Week 2 to discuss the role, what we are doing, who their students are and what the plan is for our first meeting. This is an important of the entire process, ensuring that one of the key stakeholders (staff) are on board and the same page. When we had our meeting, we made sure that we agreed on what the best approach and we felt that the best approach was to give the same message to our students. This included: 

• WHAT? - an explanation on WHAT Academic Mentoring is. 
• WHY? - an explanation on WHY we are doing this and WHY they are involved. 
• WHO? - informing the students on WHO is in the Academic Mentoring team. 
• WHAT? - an explanation on what the plan is going forward. 
• OVERVIEW - providing an overview on NCEA Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3, informing the students on what is offered to them. 
• GOING FURTHER - The students will then review their academic profile and work with the mentor through setting some goals. 

Totara House Academic Mentor Presentation: Click on the image to access the presentation. 

SAME MESSAGE: If two or more things, actions, or qualities are the same, or if one is the same as another, they are very like each other in some way.

Agreeing on the approaching and delivering the same message are vital especially at the beginning of the journey. We want to ensure that everyone involved understand the purpose of the program, their place or role in it and what the action plan is. The students involved will be notified that they are part of this group and then they will meet with their mentors. The first meeting is important especially where we are looking to set the tone and expectations for our students. The one thing that I appreciate with the Academic Mentorship team is that we are open to collaboration and to letting the journey grow naturally. Having a plan is imperative, it brings a sense of structure and security. I am hopeful that this first initial meeting will be a both valuable to the staff and students involved. I look forward to documenting how the first session goes with the Academic mentorship team and the students. 

Viviane Robinson highlights that "The more leaders focus on their relationships, their work, and their learning on the core business of teaching and learning, the greater their influence on student outcomes." Academic mentor is role where teaching and learning is the core focus, there is an element of pastoral care that comes into play with getting to your akonga but the driver is the learning. I want the staff to feel empowered by what they are doing and by using the idea on focusing on relationships and learning as the 'core business' as our direction, I am anticipating that the mentors will feel a sense that what they are doing is meaningful to the students.