Love this! I try to make active listening and prioritizing student autonomy a big part of my pedagogy. As with all teaching- and teaching-adjacent things, though, I find that (with undergrads at least, which has been my teaching & mentoring experience) making sure students/mentees/coach-ees(?) know why you're approaching it this way is crucial; otherwise, they may take what you're saying as advice anyway, but find it too nebulous to actually follow.
Jenn (or others), do you find that this translates in any way to your experiences working with mentees who are further along in their scholarly journeys?
This is spot on, Erin! I think that the power dynamics in teaching and mentoring can be a challenge. They feel that if you give advice as a teacher or mentor, then they have to do it that way. That's how the academy often works. Sure, certain mentors and teachers work to dismantle the power differentials, but it can be a challenge to go against academic culture in that way. One of the things that I do in giving guidance is to say something like, "This is my knowledge and experience, but I want to be clear that it's up to you to decide what you want to do. You know you best. There are other ways." Basically, I'm explicit that they are in the driver's seat for the decision and don't have to wait for me to tell them what to do in order to proceed.
Love this! I try to make active listening and prioritizing student autonomy a big part of my pedagogy. As with all teaching- and teaching-adjacent things, though, I find that (with undergrads at least, which has been my teaching & mentoring experience) making sure students/mentees/coach-ees(?) know why you're approaching it this way is crucial; otherwise, they may take what you're saying as advice anyway, but find it too nebulous to actually follow.
Jenn (or others), do you find that this translates in any way to your experiences working with mentees who are further along in their scholarly journeys?
This is spot on, Erin! I think that the power dynamics in teaching and mentoring can be a challenge. They feel that if you give advice as a teacher or mentor, then they have to do it that way. That's how the academy often works. Sure, certain mentors and teachers work to dismantle the power differentials, but it can be a challenge to go against academic culture in that way. One of the things that I do in giving guidance is to say something like, "This is my knowledge and experience, but I want to be clear that it's up to you to decide what you want to do. You know you best. There are other ways." Basically, I'm explicit that they are in the driver's seat for the decision and don't have to wait for me to tell them what to do in order to proceed.