Introduction
Foundations of Mentoring was developed through UBC’s Provincial Teacher Mentorship Program (PTMP) pilot initiative to give mentors the fundamental knowledge and tools to begin their mentoring role with confidence.
Grounded in non-hierarchical, reciprocal partnership, the program emphasizes an equity-centered and relationship-driven learning. Mentorship is approached holistically, recognizing that supporting teachers means nurturing their professional skills and their personal well-being, personal and professional identities, and sense of belonging in the profession.
Primarily designed for District Liasons and mentors in the PTMP pilot, all educators (teachers, school leaders, and specialists) who want to strengthen their mentoring and leadership practices are welcome to use this resource.
How to Use This Resource
This resource is intended to be flexible, with multiple points of entry. It includes four modules, each with suggested activities, facilitator and participant notes, and links to supporting resources. Use the modules as a menu. Select, adapt, and sequence activities to fit your context and participants’ needs. Options include:
- Synchronous participation through whole-group, small-group, or paired dialogue
- Individual reflective work supported by guided prompts
- Optional asynchronous extensions (e.g., discussion board or reflective journalling) to deepen reflection
- Flexible formats adaptable to online, hybrid, or in-person delivery
*Creative Commons
Foundations of Mentoring is an open educational resource licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. This allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.
Intention
This learning module explores the key elements of launching holistic, non-hierarchal, relationship-driven mentoring, personalized to your unique context. The activities are designed to build understanding of mentoring in your district, as well as connection, trust, and belonging among a team.
Proposed Learning Objectives
By the end of this module, participants should be able to:
- Establish shared norms that create a safe, inclusive, effective learning environment and reflect a collective responsibility to co-create a positive space
- Outline their team’s shared purpose, collaboration norms, communication preferences, and decision-making approach
- Define holistic mentoring and explore four research-informed themes that support teacher well-being and resilience
- Describe multiple types of mentoring and how to use and adapt different mentoring structures to respond to evolving goals and authentic learning needs
Opportunities for Collaboration:
Participants can select and adapt suggestions for collaboration to suit their needs:
- Synchronous participation through whole-group, small-group, or paired dialogue
- Individual reflective work supported by guided prompts
- Optional asynchronous extensions (e.g., discussion board or reflective journalling) to deepen reflection
- Flexible formats adaptable to online, hybrid, or in-person delivery
Learning Bursts Preparing for Mentoring
- Activity 1: Norms
- Activity 2: Ways of Working
- Activity 3: Mentoring for Resilience and Well-Being
- Activity 4: Types of Mentoring
Expected time: 15 Minutes
Activity Description:
Groups norms are shared guidelines for how we interact. They help create a safe, inclusive, effective learning environment and highlight our collective responsibility (facilitators and participants) to co-create a positive space. Participants will review a set of proposed norms and reflect on what they mean, which ones resonate, and what they would add or adjust for their context.Norms should be revisited regularly so teams can adjust them as relationships and needs evolve.
Introduction:
Begin with these proposed norms (have on a slide deck or handout)
Think about each of these norms and how you personally can bring them to life. What do each of these norms look like, sound like, and feel like in practice?
- Engage fully
Your presence matters. Engage fully by participating with intention and staying connected to the learning. Bring your voice, your questions, your ideas, and your attention. When we engage fully, we strengthen trust, deepen our learning, and make our time together meaningful. - Take risks
Growth requires courage. Taking risks can look like sharing your ideas and experiences, asking for help, trying a new idea, or naming an uncertainty. Risk taking isn’t about being perfect; it’s about being willing. We build stronger mentoring communities when we practice being brave together and treat mistakes as part of the process. - Assume positive intent
We will not always land our message perfectly, especially in complex conversations. Assuming positive intent means starting from the belief that people are trying to contributeand mean well, even if their words or actions don’t initially land well. When something feels off, slow down, ask clarifying questions, and check interpretations before making assumptions.
- Take care of yourself
Sustainable participation is the goal. Taking care of yourself means noticing what you need to stay engaged and well, in the moment and when we step into our schools, classrooms, and mentoring relationships. Step out when needed, set boundaries, and choose your level of participation with honesty.
Reflection and Discussion (5 minutes)
Invite partners or small groups to discuss the following questions:
- At this moment, what personal connection are you making with this set of norms?
- Which norms might be most important for your full participation in our team/mentoring circle?
- Are there other norms you need to work effectively?
Share Out and Update (5 minutes)
- What did you take away from the discussion with your partner or small group?
- Are there any questions or thoughts about these proposed norms?
- Are there any additional norms we need to add to make this a productive team or mentoring circle?
Expected time: 30 minutes
Activity Description:
Co-creating a Ways of Working agreement establishes a shared understanding of how team members will collaborate, communicate, and make decisions. It is a living document that should be revisited and revised as teams evolve. District Liaisons will facilitate the completion of a draft agreement that the mentoring team can use immediately and refine moving forward.
Introduction (5 minutes)
-Explain the purpose for a Ways of Working agreement and name it for a living document that is meant to be revisited and revised as relationships develop, needs shift, and the work evolves. Briefly walk through the sections that participants will be completing as a team.
Completing a Ways of Working Agreement (20 minutes)
-Invite participants to approach the completion of a Ways of Working agreement as co-learners: curious, respectful, and honest about professional capacity. Explain that the goal is to work together to complete all sections at a draft level. It is not meant to stay the same forever and can be refined during future get togethers. Encourage short, practical statements over perfect wording.
Closing (5 minutes)
-Express appreciation for the care and thoughtfulness put into the creation of your team’s agreement.
-Invite participants to respond to the following sentence starter:
- One thing I appreciated about how we worked together is…
-Agree on a date to revisit your agreement so it remains a living document.
Extending Activity:
Consider revisiting this activity after mentees have been selected and co-creating a new Ways of Working Agreement that is inclusive of all participants in the district’s mentoring program.
Expected time: 60 minutes
Activity Description:
The Provincial Teacher Mentorship Program takes a holistic approach to mentoring, grounded in values that affirm teachers’ identities and foster meaningful growth. Through relational mentorship, reflective dialogue, and collaborative learning, the program aims to nurture connection, resilience, and a deeper sense of belonging within the teaching profession.
In this activity, participants will explore the meaning of holistic mentoring by engaging with a research article about early-career teacher resilience and well-being. Participants will use the themes identified to reflect on their own contexts and experiences, name practical ways mentors and mentees can support resilience and well-being, and consider strategies they could use in their own mentoring relationships.
Introduction (15 minutes)
-Listen to the NotebookLM Audio Overview (or m4a) of Kustyrubua et al.’s article on teacher resilience and well-being.
Reflection and Discussion (25 minutes)
–Invite participants to think about the following prompt:
- Which idea from the audio overview resonated the most for you as a mentor? Why?
- What might that look like in your context or in a real mentoring conversation?
-In small groups of three or four, share your thoughts with the group.
-Continuing in their small groups of three or four, invite participants to discuss any of the following questions:
- Cultivating work-life balance was one of the themes identified as supporting teachers to survive and thrive beyond the first five years. What helps you cultivate work-life balance? What could you and your mentoring circle do to encourage non-judgmental, supportive reflection, and practical action around work-life balance?
- Nurturing a positive mindset was also identified as beneficial for teacher resilience and well-being. In your view, what is the difference between a positive mindset and minimizing challenges (sometimes called toxic positivity)?
- Committing to reflective inquiry was also found to be of considerable benefit for teachers’ resilience and well-being. What reflection routines or tools could you and your mentoring circle use to sustain reflective practice over time?
- Supporting teachers to consult, connect, and collaborate with others (the 3 Cs) was also highlighted as essential to resilience and well-being. What are some formal and informal ways you and your mentoring circle could help each other to consult, connect, and collaborate? How else might you support others in building a wider support network beyond formal mentoring relationships?
- Based on your lived experiences, what advice about resilience and well-being would you give your younger self?
- How has this discussion shaped your understanding about holistic mentoring and the strategies you want to use in your mentoring relationships?
Thinking Routine (15 minutes)
-Reflect on your definition of mentoring. In a few sentences, describe what you used to think about mentoring either earlier in your career or before listening to the audio overview. Start your sentences with “I used to think…”
-Next, describe how your thinking has changed as a result of your experiences or what you have heard in the audio overview. Begin with, “Now, I think…”
-Invite partners or small groups to share and explain their shifts in thinking.
Closing (5 minutes)
-Many of the challenges described in the audio overview are present throughout a teaching career. What’s one small change you are willing to try based on what was discussed today?
Resources:
- Kutsyuruba, B., Walker, K. D., Stasel, R. S., & Makhamreh, M. A. (2019). Developing Resilience and Promoting Well-Being in Early Career Teaching: Advice from the Canadian Beginning Teachers. Canadian Journal of Education / Revue Canadienne de l’éducation, 42(1), 285–321. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26756663
- accompanying NotebookLM Audio Overview (or m4a) of the article
Expected time: 40 minutes
Activity Description:
The Provincial Teacher Mentorship Program is designed to be responsive, relational, and rooted in shared learning. Relationships are intended to be non-hierarchal, reciprocal, and flexible. Mentoring partners and circles co-create their journey by setting shared goals, building trust, and shaping meaningful learning experiences together.
In this activity, participants will explore different types of mentorship and consider how teachers can engage in more than one mentoring relationship at the same time as needs and goals shift. Participants will also reflect on how mentoring relationships can evolve in structure and focus to best align with each teacher’s objectives and learning needs.
Introduction (5 minutes)
-Provide participants with the Type of Mentoring one-pager. (dyad/peer/group/web/network?/distance/informal/communities of practice…with learner in the centre)
-Emphasize that there are many mentorship models and each learner should be encouraged to create a web of mentorship support that meets their authentic learning needs and goals.
Gallery Walk (30 minutes)
-In groups of three or four, participants rotate through stations to explore each of the seven types of mentoring. At each station, invite one person to act as the recorder and capture the group’s responses, reflections, and questions on chart paper.
-Use the following sentence starters as prompts:
- What I like about this model …
- What I don’t like about this model …
- Helpful because …
- Hard because …
- Best used when …
- Not ideal when …
-After three to five minutes, groups move to the next station. Participants begin by reading what the previous group recorded and then add their own thinking. Continue until each group has visited all stations.
-Invite a Reporter from each group to summarize the key points from each station. Alternatively, offer one final gallery walk so participants can review the full set of notes and notice what was added over time.
Closing (5 minutes)
-Share a brief overview of how the PTMP pilot is being implemented in your district, connecting it to the different types of mentoring explored in this activity.
-Invite participants to share what was learned, key takeaways, or what they’re still thinking about.
References
Barrette-Ng, N., Nowell, L., Anderson, S.J., Arcellana-Panlilio, M., Brown, B., Chalhoub, S., Clancy, T.L., Desjardine, P., Dorland, A.M., Dyjur, P., Mueller, K., Reid, L., Squance, R., Towers, J., & Wilcox, G. (2019). The mentorship guide for teaching and learning. Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning, University of Calgary. https://taylorinstitute.ucalgary.ca/resources/mentorship-guide-teaching-learning
Ontario Public Service. (2021). New teacher induction program: Induction elements manual. Ontario Public Service. https://files.ontario.ca/edu-ntip-inductions-manual-en-2022-08-02.pdf