A true Mentor- An Alchemist
Just the other day, I was reading to the kids, a Burmese fable of lazy Thiri who imagined himself to be an alchemist and was on the quest for the magic formula to turn sand into gold. In comes a wise old man, Win who leads young Thiri through a journey of change, showing him that true gold can be secured only through hard work. My 9 year old who has been recently introduced to the term mentoring at school asked me a very relevant question, “Is Win Thiri’s mentor?” That question got me thinking, not about mentoring but about Alchemy – the magical science of transformation.
Webster defines a mentor as “someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person”. From The Odyssey, where
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If that is what mentoring means, then why is it that we don’t learn from everyone or everything? Why is every teacher not able to ignite the spark of discovery, insight and understanding? Here is where alchemy comes in. A mentor is successful in achieving his outcome only if he is able to transform and let’s try to look at how this transformation has to happen.
The process of mentoring is a lot like panning for gold. The amount of gold you can extract would depend upon the finesse and patience with which you shake the pan. Mentoring is all about teaching the protégé how to shake the pan. Like you adeptly sieve through the black sand to spot flecks of gold that it has successfully masked, mentors look beyond the obvious, sight the invisible and extract the best out of the protégé as both the mentor and the mentee move patiently along the path of shared discovery.
If a protégé was to be just taught to hone the obvious, then there is no reason for mentoring. What should differentiate mentoring from training or teaching, should be the fact that the mentor helps the protégé to discover the real treasure that has been always lodged in the dark sands of irrational beliefs, myths, fear mistakes and prejudices. In this context, a mentor is more like a friend, someone who understands you, accepts you unconditionally and faithfully and who works with you to add or multiply and not
A mentor is a trusted guide who shows you the way in life. Through the mentors of Pi and Antonio, they help save and point them to the right way in life. In the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Ultima shows Tony that good can always overcome evil, no matter how evil it may be. Life of Pi by Yann Martel, shows that Pi can face his fears by the help of a big Bengal tiger in a small boat, and that the littlest things in life can change the course of how your destiny awaits.
The Alchemist was a great book about a young boy, Santiago, who wanted to travel the world. In the beginning of the book Santiago’s family wanted him to become a priest, but Santiago wanted to travel the world. Santiago’s father told him that the only people that travel the world are the rich and shepherds. When Santiago heard the information he then told his father he will become a shepherd. In response to his son’s decision, he gave his son one gold coin to buy his flock of sheep. As time went on Santiago began having a dream, a dream that he kept having. Eventually he met a merchant that he sold his wool to once a year. The boy had fell in love with the merchant’s daughter and the next year the dream was finally going to
“And maybe it wasn’t that they were teaching me, but that I was learning from them.” This quote from the novel The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, is said by the protagonist Santiago. Throughout the course of the novel, Santiago is met with multiple learning curves, encounters numerous influential individuals, and learns multiple salient life lessons throughout his journeys. Santiago indisputably changed as a person due to these interactions and lessons. The things that were considered his “teachers” throughout the course of his increased maturity and deepend world understanding were not only physical people, but spiritual and internal guides as well.
Mentors can come in different ways from omins to people. In The Alchemist Santiago has many helpful mentors that help him understand the universal ideas. One of his mentors was an old king named Melchizedek, he helps purswaid Santiago to pursue his Personal Legend. Also, Melchizedek gave Santiago two stones called Urim and Thummim. The stones represent good omens and bad omens. After all, Santiago did not use them very often because he was able to understand the universal ideas of good and bad omens quickly. Another mentor that
This definition of mentor is ratified by Parsloe (2009): To support and encourage individuals to manage their own learning in order that they may maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be.
Mentoring can be that hand that reaches down and pulls you out of the pit. Mentoring can change lives forever and create permanent relationships. Mentoring can help a child get on the right track if they do not have someone else to help them. Whether they have grown up without active parents, have gotten into trouble from time to time, or even if they are a straight A student, the youth needs mentoring. It will build a country that has a solid foundation in which the current youth of America will one day lead. Mentoring proves that “regardless of background, [all children] are equipped to achieve their dreams” (Bruce and
Mentoring program becomes instrumental and breakdown barriers as employees are interacting and carrying out the organization’s vision. This allows employees to interact with employees of different cultures and backgrounds with the goal that one will learn more about the individual.
He says that mentoring is something that leaders should do throughout their career since it is not only beneficial to themselves, but it is also beneficial to the person they are mentoring. It is important to identify and groom key players and use aggressive mentoring to not only lift up your employee, but it also improves the skills of the mentor. In today’s society, he has found that it is important to spend at least one day a month mentoring your key players including people who are showing great potential. Mentoring should be done at all levels of leadership, including junior managers. Mentoring is important at all levels of management in order to develop future leaders (Flaum,
Before Greek mythology, the term mentor had its origin in Homer's Odyssey when Odysseus gave Mentor, an insightful and scholarly man, the duty of sustaining and instructing his child, Telemachus. Mentor stayed behind to instruct Telemachus while Odysseus went off to fight the Trojan war. This education included every part of Telemachus’ life. Anderson and Shannon (1988) conclude from The Odyssey that modeling is a standard and style of behavior constituted a central quality of mentoring and that mentoring was intentional, nurturing, insightful, and supportive.
Firstly, a mentor is someone who trusted by others to give guidance. In the Heart of the Sea provides the reader with excerpts from the crewman's diaries and recounts of the events to show that they view Captain Pollard and First Mate Chase as advisors during trivial
There are countless heroes throughout literature. Their stories are all timeless and meaningful. The Alchemist, written by Paulo Coelho, is home to one of these heroes with an incredible quest. Interestingly, it is quite common to see quests and journeys throughout all literature. In the Alchemist, the protagonist, Santiago, goes through many stages of being a hero such as, call to adventure, refusal of the call, supernatural aid, crossing the threshold, and road of trials. Santiago clearly demonstrates all these stages throughout the entire novel.
The Mentor is a character created to guide the Hero via protection and wisdom. This character leads to the success of the Hero (AN). In Harry Potter Albus Dumbledore acts as a mentor to the hero Harry Potter by giving advice about the Mirror of Erised, and not to dwell on it’s visions. (HP pg.213), giving Harry
Mariano Martinez pd:2nd The Alchemists What The Alchemists is trying to tell us (the reader) is you should always follow your dream’s. It started with a boy who wanted to travel. In conclusion, he became a shepherd he assumed this job would allow him to travel as much as he wanted. One year the boy meet a merchant;in addition, the merchant also had a daughter which the boy thought was very attractive.
Garvey, R. Stokes, P. and Megginson, D. (2009) Coaching and Mentoring theory and Practice. London: Sage
Mentoring is a strong educational tool and is very useful especially within the New York City Department of Education. It is a great way for experience teachers to pass down information. The one and one interaction is more lasting than reading it from a book. This method will allow a smooth transition for new teachers. There are a lot of procedures that are confusing to beginners and mentors can uncoil those kinks. Beginning teacher will also get the opportunity to experience different teaching styles and also decide what will work for them and what will not. Mentoring is a valuable asset in guiding person’s development.