mentoring
Rejuvenating Joy Through Mentorship Stephanie Kapsa, WMEA State Chair, Mentoring
Finding joy in the month of January can be challenging for many teachers. As the beginning of the year excite- ment tapers off and the merriment of December disap- pears, teachers re-
turn to school after winter break tired and exhausted. Twelve years ago, I signed on to work with a student teacher and to my surprise, stumbled upon a solution to my annual January teaching slump. Teaching and mentoring share many of the same at- tributes and can be just as fulfilling. Men- toring revived and rejuvenated my teaching and restored the joy I had been searching for by injecting jubilance, optimism and youthfulness back into my teaching.
Jubilance
As teachers, we can overlook all of the incredible, superhuman things we do on a daily basis. We grow accustomed to witnessing and doing remarkable tasks because we are surrounded by these acts regularly. As time goes on, the excitement and satisfaction of accomplishing the im- possible begins to feel ordinary. I remem- ber a particular instance when a student teacher was able to captivate the attention
of an entire class of first graders for the first time. His excitement was palpable as he had 27 six and seven year olds hanging on his every word. Witnessing his joy in delivering a stellar lesson, reminded me of the remarkable things we do with our students each and every day and restored a sense of jubilance back into my teaching.
Optimism
As the teaching landscape continues to be more demanding and taxing, it can become harder to stay on the sunnyside of life. Mentoring allows you to work beside someone who is new to the profession and likely upbeat about all things education. This positive energy is contagious and can be especially helpful during the long and cold January days. Restoring optimism is vital to rejuvenating your joy and love of teaching.
Youthfulness
Working with student teachers or mentor- ing a new staff member allows you to be in close proximity to fresh and innovative ideas taught with youthful exuberance. Seeing and experiencing things through a new teacher's eyes, allows us to reminisce about our own journey into teaching and to recapture some of the youthfulness we once held.
“Perhaps the greatest gift of mentoring a new teacher is the privilege of having a front row seat as we watch someone
take flight on their journey to become a teacher.”
Perhaps the greatest gift of mentoring a new teacher is the privilege of having a front row seat as we watch someone take flight on their journey to become a teacher. While mentoring doesn’t seem like the obvious path to rekindling your love for teaching, it might just be the very thing that brings back the joy and excitement heading back to school after winter break. I wish you all a joyful January filled with mentorship!
Stephanie Kapsa is music education adjunct faculty at UW-Stevens Point and full-time doctoral student in educational sustainability. She has worked as an elementary general music teacher for the past 20 years.
Email:
stephanieswans@gmail.com
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January 2023
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