| you can’t do it? You’re going to be a great teacher.” Not only did these two conversations with professors Silverman and Cornelia change the trajectory of Dixon’s life, but they will also ripple through classrooms for years to come as she teaches and mentors her own students. Mentoring conversations do not always begin during positive moments like the ones Dixon experienced when faculty encouraged her to dream big about her future. Karey Frink of Hope College had a powerful conversation when she felt she was on the brink of failure: Chemistry was kicking my butt and I just had no idea what to do. And I got back the second exam and I thought, “Shoot! This is not going well. I need to get out.” So I thought, “Well, it’s either W or an F, so I will do a W.” My professor, Dr. Peaslee, is a nuclear chemist and he is a wizard—super smart. He had heard that I might withdraw from chemistry, and he asked, “Why don’t we talk?” I was shaking in my boots—I have to confront my super smart professor and tell him that I’m failing chemistry. But he really spoke to where he saw my strengths and said, “Karey, there are people in that classroom that were born to be in a lab; it clicks with them. But that might not be you and that’s okay. Because where I see you being strong is having skills that others in the class don’t have |
heart of education, not just elite education.” Zaretta Hammond reinforces Bass’s assertion by placing “authentic relationships” at the heart of culturally responsive teaching. Indeed, this point is echoed throughout the research on undergraduate education; a recent synthesis from the Stanford Graduate School of Education boldly tells students that if you intentionally focus on learning and community, including seeking out faculty, staff, and peer mentors, you “are more likely to thrive after college.” Laurent Parks Daloz, a scholar of mentoring and higher education, uses the metaphor of a tree to illustrate what a community of mentoring is really all about: Ecologists tell us that a tree planted in a clearing of an old forest will grow more successfully than one planted in an open field. The reason, it seems, is that the roots of the forest tree are able to follow the intricate pathways created by former trees and thus embed themselves more deeply. Indeed, over time, the roots of many trees may actually graft themselves to one another, creating an interdependent mat of life hidden beneath the earth’s surface. This literally enables the stronger trees to share resources with the weaker so the whole forest becomes healthier. Similarly, we human beings thrive best when we grow in the presence of those who have gone before. If every student is to put down deep roots in college and to thrive after graduation, then each individual on campus must be conscious of how interconnected we are and the enormous potential we hold |
