Chen Hefang. What is the "good mentor" in the eyes of master's students in education [EB/OL]. (2021-08-27)
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/e0Ebz-1amI3TVNSp0dIS3g
Keywords: Master of education; "good mentor"
Excerpt未分: "Good mentor" in the eyes of master students in education reflects high quality in terms of guidance attitude, guidance ability and guidance style. First, in terms of guidance attitude, we are "serious and responsible" because of doing our best; second, in terms of guidance ability, we are "incited" because of our deep learning; finally, in terms of guidance style, we are "warm and loving" because of our active care.
is different from the teacher-student relationship at the undergraduate stage. The "tutor responsibility system" is implemented for graduate student training, that is, the college issues indicators to teachers who meet the graduate student guidance standards, so that they can be fully responsible for the training of graduate students and provide individual guidance to graduate students. Therefore, the teacher-student relationship in the postgraduate stage is one of the most important and basic interpersonal relationships for graduate students, and one of the important factors affecting the postgraduate learning experience. Through the survey of master's students in education in A-school B-school, we can find that the "good mentor" in their eyes has very similar personal qualities.
1. In terms of guidance attitude, "serious and responsible" because of doing everything possible
The story of a master's student S1 was particularly typical in the survey. Her mentor is the vice president of the college. She is busy with administration on weekdays and has very tight time. But like other tutors, he will contact students in time at any stage and will basically not miss any link. Even if it is occasionally pushed back a little bit, it will be filled in soon. He is also very concerned about students' work and internship practice activities, will take the initiative to inquire, and provide information and help. S1 believes that although his tutor is very busy, he is very serious and responsible. He basically did everything a tutor should do, and a guiding relationship formed between teachers and students, and his teachings and guidance are very useful to students. S1's view on teacher-student interaction has changed over time. Before studying for a postgraduate degree, I had high expectations for my supervisor and hoped to achieve great academic development under the guidance of my supervisor; at the same time, I also hoped to receive more care from my supervisor in life. However, after studying for a master's degree, I found that my previous thoughts were "very extravagant". The tutor was very busy and could not accompany the students' growth at all times. For example, the tutor usually starts to handle student guidance matters only at 11 pm, and the return opinions are often in the early morning. It can be seen that the instructor completed the guidance of each link and showed an extremely serious attitude, which sacrificed his sleep time to ensure the number and amount of guidance of students. Therefore, S1 believes that his tutor is a "good tutor". His efforts and conscientiousness and responsibility deeply touched the students.
2. In terms of guidance ability, it is "inspiring" due to deep learning
Another master's student S2 told a new interpretation of a "good mentor". Her tutor is an old professor with rigorous academic research and has strict requirements on students. The teacher will hold a regular reading meeting every month. Every student must report the papers or reading experiences he has written in the past month. The tutor will attend and comment. Because of the active maintenance of the tutor, the atmosphere of learning in the teacher is very strong. This atmosphere not only stimulates the learning enthusiasm of teachers and also brings them great academic pressure. The instructor listens to each student’s report and comments every month. This quality requirement is more challenging than formal requirements such as attendance and clocking in. Moreover, the tutor is very serious and is never ambiguous academically, even to the point of being inhumane. He is very stingy in praise and will not easily praise students' attitudes and efforts, and does not consider students' feelings or attitudes and efforts. If a student writes a poor paper, he will criticize it in public, pointing out where it is not well written, why it is not well, and how to modify it. These criticisms will hit the students very hard, but the tutor's speech is very reasonable and convincing.So students still understand rationally that the tutor looks at the problem from his height and level, and the shortcomings of the paper he sees do need to be taken seriously. After abandoning personal face, the students felt that the tutor was well-educated and very reasonable, and the criticism he made could be regarded as a "good medicine". S2 believes that although the high requirements of the mentor bring great pressure to his classmates, these requirements and criticisms can promote growth, so everyone thinks he is a "good mentor" and is very fortunate to meet such a "hard core" mentor.
3. In terms of guidance style, it is "warm and loving" because of active care
In contrast to the above-mentioned "hard-core" tutor, "good tutor" also includes "warm" tutor. This type of tutor is proactive in teacher-student interactions, often actively care about students' academic progress, and provides timely guidance on their academic development. In addition, this type of tutor can always care about students' thoughts and trends in life, be able to promptly discover students' negative emotions and provide positive guidance, and like parents, assume their comprehensive tutor responsibilities.
"warm" tutors are widely loved because the tutors have actively adapted the relationship between teachers and students, making students feel "very helpful". This actually shows that although master's students are already adults, the growth environment for most students is too simple and their mental development is not mature, and they also need the active care and guidance of their supervisors. Behind the praise of "the supervisor's initiative" is the issue of "student passivity" in the current relationship between graduate students and teachers.
After entering the postgraduate stage, master students can basically be "satisfied with the situation" in the teacher-student relationship. If you meet a tutor who gets along well in life and study, graduate students often choose to "love their teachers, listen to their words, and believe in their words." There are also a small number of master's students who have bad emotions such as disappointment and confusion when they find that the gap between ideals and reality is large. These emotions are also a normal reaction, but they must be moderate; if you allow negative emotions to develop and cannot save yourself in time, it will delay your studies and personal future. This is like primary and secondary school students are entangled in bad teacher-student relationships and give up learning. Many graduate students in the interview said that they hope that their supervisors will care more about themselves and guide their studies and future career development, but out of self-esteem or inferiority complex, they often dare not take the initiative to contact their supervisors. Some people are afraid that the mentor will see their true level is unbearable, some are afraid that "the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment", and some are even afraid of strangeness and embarrassment in communication. In fact, graduate students should be more rational in their behaviors. This "ice-breaking technique in social interaction" is very easy to learn. Master students should handle their relationship with their supervisors from a higher perspective. In addition, master's students should plan their studies and careers as soon as possible, set their own learning examples, enhance their sense of responsibility for learning, and actively mobilize their enthusiasm for learning, so that they can ask questions and seek feedback and guidance from their supervisors when they are confused. As long as there is a definite content for advice, the tutor generally will not refuse to give feedback, because such communication is already an academic discussion and is no longer an "ineffective social" with empty content and overly generalized content. Therefore, in the teacher-student interactions between graduate students, the initiative of graduate students is more valuable than the initiative of the supervisor. In this way, the standard of a "good supervisor" does not need to emphasize "warm type".
In short, the "good mentor" in the eyes of master's students in education often shows the "serious and responsible" of guiding attitude, the "incisive" of guiding ability, and the "warm and loving" of guiding style. The tutor focuses on having specialties without taking everything into consideration, but students should base themselves on comprehensive development and actively seek guidance from their tutors.
