Tips for Mentors
August 2024
Welcome to the New School Year!
Dear Mentors and Educators,
Welcome to School Year 2024-2025! May your year be filled with intentional connections, supportive and constructive coaching conversations, and a plethora of tools to satisfy any need that may arise from a mentee.
Speaking of Arise...
Have you heard about the new book just released by Elena Aguilar? BEST Mentor Faculty will be reading Arise together this fall. I'm sure we will be excited to share our learning, so stay tuned throughout the coming months.
Want to read and study too? Bright Morning has a free book study guide on their website.
Mentor Tools to Start the Year
Here are 2 go-to, tried and true tools from The Art of Coaching by Elena Aguilar. These are sure to help any mentor or coach get started on solid ground. The idea is to set yourself up for success with structure and communication. Happy planning!
Upcoming
BEST Mentor Academies:
August & September
View the entire year of events on our BEST website.
Foundational Learning
Mentor Academy 101
Mentor Academy 201
Observation & Feedback: Using Instructional Frameworks in Mentoring
These two academies are for the NAKIA Community and offer an affinity space for Educators of Color to learn together. It is password protected. Please email BEST for more information including the password.
Extended Learning
Academy event registration will close 48 hours prior to the academy. Please plan ahead and register prior to 48 hours to the event. Thank you.
BEST Participant Feedback
 What are participants saying about the newly revised Mentor Academy 101?
The newly revised content for Mentor Academy 101 launched on August 6 & 8, 2024. Participants were asked for their feedback including the question, "How might your experience today support or change your practice?" Below are their responses showing a theme of meaningful and relevant learning.
"This experience will really help as I become a BEST mentor in my district. Learning the appropriate ways to respond and coach in conversations with my mentee was great!"
"I appreciate the sentence starters and tools offered."
"I now have a ton of tools and resources to use to build my mentoring binder. From there, I will be able to hone my skills until they become an authentic piece of who I am."
"Today's experience has helped me see what mentoring is, a much different role than what my notion of it was."
"I have been in this role for one year already, however I didn't even know that there were mentor standards! I have gained a lot of knowledge at this training."
"It has definitely changed the way I will reflect on my own beliefs and approaches to others and to situations. I will be putting into practice all I have learned."
"I can't see how this wouldn't make me a better mentor. I learned so much about tangible info (coaching stances, standards) and intangibles like identity and values."
"Good foundational information and lots of resources to continue learning about mentoring."
"I have a lot to reflect on and prepare as a Mentor. Looking forward to practicing the Paraphrasing and Active Listening tools. Lots of great supports."
Registration is open for Mentor Roundtables!
Let's keep the party going!!!!
After attending NAKIA Academy and/or Mentor Academy 101, mentors can choose an on-going learning community (Mentor Roundtable) to engage with other mentors throughout the school year.
This year, we have 15 different Mentor Roundtables to choose from offered on various days and times to accommodate all types of schedules, roles, and interests.
Mentors can sign up for one Roundtable or mix and match sessions.
Andrea's Roundtable: SPED, Mondays, 4-6pm
Ashley's Roundtable: NAKIA/BIPOC, Wednesdays, 10-12pm
Alicia's Roundtable: SPED ESAs, Tuesdays, 4:30-6:30pm
Annie's Roundtable: Burnout/Wellness Focus, Wednesdays, 3:45-5:45pm
Hilari's Roundtable: Inspired by the book, Thanks for the Feedback, Wednesdays, 10-12pm
Julie's Roundtable: Full Release Mentors, Tuesdays, 10-12pm
Katie's Roundtable: School Nurses, Wednesdays, 2-4pm
Kathy's Roundtable: Colleague Mentors, Tuesdays, 4-6pm
Kjell's Roundtable: General/Open to All, Mondays, 10-12pm
Linda's Roundtable: General/Open to All, Mondays, 4-6pm
Melissa's Roundtable: ESAs, Tuesdays, 3:45-5:45pm
Mary's Roundtable: General/Open to All, Tuesdays, 9-11am
Patricia's Roundtable: NAKIA/BIPOC, Thursdays, 4-6pm
Tanisha's Roundtable: NAKIA/BIPOC, Wednesdays, 4:15-6:15pm
Tara's Roundtable: Smalll/Rural Districts, Thursdays, 10-12pm
Mentor Roundtables are Intentional Learning in Community
Roundtables offer mentors a small group, cohorted learning environment to grow trust in community with other mentors, build mentoring skills together, and practice mentoring moves with the guidance of an expert facilitator (BEST Mentor Faculty).
There are Mentor Roundtables for School Nurses, Special Educators, Small and Rural School Districts, Colleague Mentors, Full-Release Mentors, NAKIA/BIPOC, educators wanting to learn through a lens of wellness, feedback, and open/general Roundtables. Sign up today!
The full schedule and registration links are posted on the BEST website.
NAKIA Academy Applications are Now Open!!
Apply today! Click here.
Applications accepted August 1 to September 3, 2024.
We are accepting applications for 3 Educator cohorts and 1 School Counselor cohort.
What is NAKIA Academy?
NAKIA Academy is a mentoring and leadership academy by people of color and open to people of color. The training covers Mentor Academy 101 and Mentor Academy 201 content that is specific for Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) educators and can be taken in place of Mentor Academy 101 and Mentor Academy 201. Participants who attend this event can earn up to 24 equity clock hours.
BEST remains in partnership with WEA for three cohorts of NAKIA Academy and is excited to announce a new partnership with Washington School Counselor Association (WSCA) for a specialized learning community within NAKIA Academy for School Counselors.
Topics include: Understanding identity, relationship building, confidentiality, conversation skills, mentor roles, connection and healing, imposter syndrome.
Already graduated from NAKIA Academy or Completed MA101?
Sign up to dig deeper on topics of observation & feedback with other BIPOC educators.
Registration is password protected. Please email BEST for the password: best@k12.wa.us.
Observation & Feedback NAKIA
August 21, 9-4pm
August 23, 9-4pm
These two academies are for the NAKIA Community and offer an affinity space for Educators of Color to continue learning together.
NAKIA/BIPOC Roundtables
Want more opportunities to continue the learning with NAKIA alum? Sign up for a NAKIA/BIPOC Mentor Roundtable.
We have three NAKIA/BIPOC focused Mentor Roundtables facilitated by BEST NAKIA Mentor Faculty who have extensive experience supporting and working with BIPOC educators and mentors.
- Wednesdays starting September 11, 10-12pm with Ashley Dwight.
- Wednesdays starting September 11, 4:15-6:15pm with Dr. Tanisha Brandon-Felder.
- Thursdays starting September 26, 4-6pm with Patricia Beuke.
Induction and Mentoring Resources
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