Thoughts regarding mentors: Your job requires knowledge and experience, but at least as important is the ability to coach and encourage newcomers. 1) Every one of us who knows how to navigate a ridecamp is an unofficial mentor, whether we have a few hundred miles or many thousands. Just this weekend I heard twice a complaint thats become routine to my ears by now: yah, yah, yah, I heard all about how welcoming everyone says they are and all about the endurance family, and then I came to a ride and no one was particularly warm or nice. In fact several people said some pretty mean things to me. The person quoted explained they persevered despite neighboring campers never once smiling hello or introducing themselves, and despite having no idea where to park, how to set up camp, or when and where to go to sign in. So everyone reading this, if you want this to be a welcoming community, then take every chance that comes your way to be welcoming, such as walking to neighbors to say hi, to see if they need help or want to help with a volunteer job when they have time. Including people in work and play defines welcoming. 2) If you aspire to be an official AERC Mentor, I have some advice: practice being positive. Say yes to every idea and then explain where the person is correct before going on to give more info that might lead the new person in a better direction. Avoid corrective language. Theres nothing more off-putting then announcing ones sense of a thing, only to be told, oh no--thats not right at all. Youll never get there that way! Instead, try saying, what a great idea to go out with the front-runners so as not to get too far behind. Youll want to be careful about not getting pushed around though as it gets a little tricky up there in the melee. Sometimes people try out starting a few minutes after the pack leaves, just so its not so scary. Seriously. Ive experienced several really negative mentors--people with loads of experience and wisdom but the teaching ability of a dill pickle. If you tend to know it all, dont sign up as a mentor. If you habitually use modest language about your own accomplishments and like to see others do better than you ever did, then jump onto the Mentor List. Teachers want to see their students experiment and grow and learn--they arent in the habit of constant correction and criticism. Replace, no, but.... with yes, and at every opportunity. Above all, hope to heck that your students are brilliant and able to soar past you after a single lesson, yet be prepared to be patient if you have to explain the same idea ten times since that tenth time might occur right at the moment the person can hear you. Be cheerful and, more than anything else, believe in your bones that the Greenbean in front of you has the capacity to become the greatest rider on the planet. Thats all.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 03:13:54 +0000