During or second day of New Student Orientation, the 9th grade Mentors (including myself), met our 18 mentees for the first time today. What a strange and unsettling experience it was - I felt like I had failed my mentees already within the first meeting, just because I felt completely lost as to what I was supposed to say or do, or how I was supposed to behave as a Mentor.
Halfway through our meeting I did apologize for my laughable awkwardness because of the newness of the position, and I was surprised by how noticeably better my mentees responded after that bit of transparent honesty. I suppose that is one absolutely wonderful thing about being a teacher/mentor: mistakes are redeemable through honest effort. Simple "Sorries" and "Thank Yous" go a long way. I'm anxious for mentor time tomorrow, to start immediately redeeming today's first session.
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