1. Strategies for Effectively Mentoring 21st Century Students
Saundra Y. McGuire, Ph.D.
Distinguished Alumna, Southern Univ Dept of Chemistry
(Ret) Assistant Vice Chancellor and Professor of Chemistry, LSU
Director Emerita, Center for Academic Success
AAAS, ACS, CLADEA Fellow

2. Reflection Question
Think of someone who was a good mentor to you. List one quality, action, or attitude that made him/her a good mentor.

3. Effective Mentors*
Serve as role models for students engaged in academic pursuits
Provide information about, and encourage protégés to use, academic resources
Serve as a confidante and advisor on academic issues
Know when to refer protégés to other assistance when necessary
Provide information about negotiating the academic environment
Give students confidence that they can succeed *

4. Understanding Your Protégé
What are the characteristics of this protégé?
Learning style* (modality – visual, aural read/write, kinesthetic)
Personality style* (Myers Briggs Type Inventory)
Career goals and interests
What are the protégé’s expectations of the mentoring experience?
What is the protégé’s cultural background? *

5. Are Learning Styles a Myth?

6. Pashler et. al also indicate that “it would be an error to conclude that all possible versions of learning styles have been tested and found wanting; many have not been tested at all”
Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(3), 105–119

7. ARE LEARNING STYLES INVALID? (HINT: NO!)
Richard M. Felder, Professor of Engineering
North Carolina State University 
Learning styles are not either-or categories, but preferences that may be mild, moderate, or strong…students with any learning style can succeed in any career or endeavor.
Both logic and published research suggest that students taught in a manner matched to their learning style preferences tend to learn more than students taught in a highly mismatched manner.
Acquainting students with their learning style preferences can enhance their awareness of some of their natural learning strengths, and it can also alert them to learning needs which, if unaddressed, could create academic difficulties for them.

8. Let’s Consider VARK Learning Style Preferences
“VARK… measures your preference for taking in, and putting out information when learning is the objective.”* *

9. What is the MBTI Personality Inventory?
The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
“The purpose of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) personality inventory is to make the theory of psychological types described by C. G. Jung understandable and useful in people's lives. The essence of the theory is that much seemingly random variation in the behavior is actually quite orderly and consistent, being due to basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and judgment.”

10. Why is Knowledge of MBTI Important?
It helps us better understand ourselves and other people
It helps us communicate more effectively with others
You get your job because of your technical skills, but you keep your job due to your ability to communicate. When people have difficulty communicating it is because they see the world through different prisms. The prisms through which we see are based on our personality.*
It helps us to understand and shape group dynamics
* Ronald Howard Lane, Ph.D. ImmunoRes Therapeutics,
Personal Communication, October 25, 2014
Image Credit:

11. MBTI Dichotomies
Extravert
Introvert
Sensing
iNtuitive
Thinking
Feeling
Judging
Perceiving

12. Sharing Before and After Scores Can Be Very Motivational to Protégés

13. Robert, freshman chemistry student 42, 100, 100, 100 A in course
Before and After
Robert, freshman chemistry student
42, 100, 100, 100 A in course
Michael, senior pre-med organic student
30, 28, 80, 91 B in course
Miriam, freshman calculus student
37.5, 83, 93 B in course
Ifeanyi, sophomore thermodynamics student
67, 54, 68, 95  B in course
Terrence, junior Bio Engineering student
GPA 1.67 cum, 3.54 (F 03), 3.8 (S 04)
Meaningful Learning Rote Learning

14. Mentors Can Span the Gamut from Masterful to Misguided
Mentors Can Span the Gamut from Masterful to Misguided! Protégés Can Cover the Spectrum from Proactive to Problematic!

15. ADVICE Reflection Question
Have you ever gotten bad advice from a mentor? Please share it with us now.
ADVICE

16. Behaviors of Masterful Mentors
Act as a source of information about the expected behaviors, culture, and norms of the institution
Tutor specific skills and provide effective learning strategies
Give feedback and provide coaching, but allow protégés to make their own decisions
Demonstrate confidence in each protégé’s academic capability, regardless of current performance

17. Characteristics of Misguided Mentors
Controlling and Manipulative
Self – Centered
Legend in their own mind
Lack respect for protégé’s intelligence
and ability
Unwilling to remain on professional level

18. What Mentors Should Understand
Our protégé’ is not us
(Our interpretation of the Golden Rule may not apply!)
We must listen more than talk
How to brainstorm solutions with protégé
How to communicate high expectations
How to help protégé deal with setbacks
When to call in others

19. Characteristics of Proactive Protégés
Interested in receiving advice
Receptive to constructive criticism
Responsive to suggestions
Spend time preparing for mentoring session
Unafraid of asking probing questions

20. Characteristics of Problematic Protégés
Regularly miss appointments
Fail to heed advice
Refuse to take responsibility
Want academic mentor to “spoon feed”
Generally unenthusiastic and negative

21. Stereotype Threat: A Potential Barrier to Academic Success
What is stereotype threat?
How can mentors decrease stereotype threat?

22. Stereotype Threat
Stereotype threat refers to being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's group 
(Steele & Aronson, 1995)
It can negatively impact underrepresented minority and female students in STEM courses

23. To Reduce Stereotype Threat in Mentoring Sessions
Emphasize the importance of effective strategies, not ability, for academic success
Emphasize membership in a group known for success (e.g. college students) rather than the stereotyped group

24. To Reduce Stereotype Threat
Refrain from statements that “most students with your background don’t do well”
Emphasize high expectations while expressing confidence in protégé’s ability to meet the expectations
Provide tools for academic success

25. Metacognition The ability to: think about your own thinking
be consciously aware of yourself as a problem solver
monitor, plan, and control your mental processing (e.g. “Am I understanding this material, or just memorizing it?”)
accurately judge your level of learning
know what you know and what you don’t know
Flavell, J. H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.), The nature of intelligence (pp ). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum

26. Bloom’s Taxonomy Creating Evaluating Analyzing Applying Understanding
This pyramid depicts the different levels of thinking we use when learning. Notice how each level builds on the foundation that precedes it. It is required that we learn the lower levels before we can effectively use the skills above.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Creating
Putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating,
planning, or producing.
Making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing.
Evaluating
Breaking material into constituent parts, determining how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure .
Analyzing
Carrying out or using a procedure through executing, or implementing.
Applying
Constructing meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining.
Understanding
Retrieving, recognizing, and recalling relevant knowledge from
long-term memory.
Remembering

27. *Intense Study Sessions
The Study Cycle
4 Reflect
3 Review
Preview before class – Skim the chapter, note headings and boldface words, review summaries and chapter objectives, and come up with questions you’d like the lecture to answer for you.
Preview
4 Reflect
Attend class – GO TO CLASS! Answer and ask questions and take meaningful notes.
Attend
Review after class – As soon after class as possible, read notes, fill in gaps and note any questions.
Review
Study – Repetition is the key. Ask questions such as ‘why’, ‘how’, and ‘what if’.
Intense Study Sessions* short study sessions per day
Weekend Review – Read notes and material from the week to make connections
Study
Assess your Learning – Periodically perform reality checks
Am I using study methods that are effective?
Do I understand the material enough to teach it to others?
Assess
*Intense Study Sessions 1
Set a Goal
(1-2 min)
Decide what you want to accomplish in your study session 2
Study with Focus
(30-50 min)
Interact with material- organize, concept map, summarize, process, re-read, fill-in notes, reflect, etc. 3
Reward Yourself
(10-15 min)
Take a break– call a friend, play a short game, get a snack 4
Review
(5 min)
Go over what you just studied
Center for Academic Success
B-31 Coates Hall ▪ ▪

28. Cutting Edge Metacognition Workshop
Mentors Can Hhelp Students
Develop the Right Mindset
Cutting Edge Metacognition Workshop
8/27/2018
Shenk, David, The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You've Been Told About Genetics, Talent, and IQ Is Wrong. New York: Doubleday
Dweck, Carol, 2006.
Mindset: The New Psychology
of Success. New York:
Random House Publishing

29. Mindset* is Important! Fixed Mindset Intelligence is static
You have a certain amount of it
Growth Mindset
Intelligence can be developed
You can grow it with actions
Dweck, Carol (2006) Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House Publishing

30. Responses to Many Situations are Based on Mindset
Fixed Intelligence Mindset Response
Growth Intelligence Mindset Response
Challenges
Avoid
Embrace
Obstacles
Give up easily
Persist
Tasks requiring effort
Fruitless to Try
Path to mastery
Criticism
Ignore it
Learn from it
Success of Others
Threatening
Inspirational

32. Which mindset about intelligence do you think most students have?
Fixed
Growth

33. Email from a General Chemistry Student
Spring 2011
“…Personally, I am not so good at chemistry and unfortunately, at this point my grade for that class is reflecting exactly that. I am ing you inquiring about a possibility of you tutoring me.”
April 6, 2011
“I made a 68, 50, (50), 87, 87, and a 97 on my final. I ended up earning a 90 (A) in the course, but I started with a 60 (D). I think what I did different was make sidenotes in each chapter and as I progressed onto the next chapter I was able to refer to these notes. I would say that in chemistry everything builds from the previous topic.
May 13, 2011
Semester GPA: 3.8

34. Which mindset about student intelligence do you think most faculty have?
Fixed
Growth

35. Which mindset about student intelligence do you think most STEM faculty have?
Fixed
Growth

36. American, Japanese, and Taiwanese Mothers’
View of Mathematics Achievement*
American mothers rated effort as significantly less important than Asian mothers
American mothers rated ability as significantly more important than Asian mothers
American mothers said it was possible to predict a child’s high school math performance much earlier than Asian mothers said was possible
American parents are satisfied with their children’s mediocre performance, whereas Asian parents express much less satisfaction with their children’s higher achievement.
American parents and children believe that Asian children are more talented in mathematics than American children.
*Uttal, D. H. (1997). Beliefs about genetic influences on mathematics achievement:
A cross-cultural comparison. Genetica, 99, 165–172.

37. Before and After Scores Motivate Students
Robert, freshman chemistry student
42, 100, 100, 100 A in course
Michael, senior pre-med organic student
30, 28, 80, 91 B in course
Miriam, freshman calculus student
37.5, 83, 93 B in course
Ifeanyi, sophomore thermodynamics student
67, 54, 68, 95  B in course
Terrence, junior Bio Engineering student
GPA 1.67 cum, 3.54 (F 03), 3.8 (S 04)
Meaningful Learning Rote Learning

38. Effective Strategies for Strong Mentoring Relationships
Get to know each other
Establish expectations and ground rules
Remain relentlessly pleasant and positive
Set goals and timelines

39. Effective Strategies for Strong Mentoring Relationships Cont’d
Attribute failures to correctable causes
Attribute successes to protégé competence
Maintain consistent meetings
Celebrate successes!

40. Marsha’s Email Demonstrating the Power of Mentoring
Dr. McGuire, THANK YOU BEYOND ALL THANKS for your guidance and patience… I managed to get all A's this semester: On my last final today at 3, I scored 112 out of I am so happy and overjoyed! I wanted to share the good news and tell you that I totally support everything that you guys do and I want to help others in the same way that you helped me. I am truly appreciative and want to thank you for EVERYTHING!! P.S. I believe my GPA has gone from a sad probation 2.77 to a Happy FREE so I"M FREE from the academic shackles!!!

41. Dr. McGuire, you are my academic angel
Dr. McGuire, you are my academic angel. You encouraged me and helped me to regain confidence in myself when I felt that I was falling short. I believe you were placed in my life to remind me that I am capable of achieving what statistics say that I am not. For that, I am grateful. Thank you for investing in my future and seeing beyond who I am on a transcript.

42. Marsha Cole – Ph.D. Research Chemist U.S. Department of Agriculture

43. Teach Your Protégés the Art of Reflective Self Mentoring
It works beautifully when
no mentor is available!

44. What is Self-Mentoring?
A type of mentoring in which an individual cultivates his or her own professional growth through self-tutoring activities and resource-finding techniques. Self-mentoring requires the individual to be highly motivated and self-disciplined. The individual increases job effectiveness and augments professional talents by building a body of knowledge and skills without the aid of other people.

45. Things a Mentor Can Offer…
that you can provide for yourself!
Information about the culture of an institution/organization
Observe and discern the rules/norms/mores
Tools and strategies for success
Observe and talk to others who have advanced
Information about resources
Google it!
Encouragement & Inspiration
Encourage yourself by reflecting on past successes!

46. Strategies for “Self-Mentoring”
Use critical thinking to discern the rules and culture of the institution.
Talk with others who have succeeded to find out how they did it.
Encourage yourself by using positive self-talk and constantly reminding yourself that the talents that brought you to this point will lead you to future success.

47. Mentors can significantly increase student success by…
Helping students develop a growth mindset
Expressing confidence that our protégés will succeed
Teaching students effective learning strategies
Preparing students to mentor themselves when no mentor is available

48. Additional References
Aronson, J., Fried, C.B., & Good, C. (2002). Reducing the Effects of Stereotype Threat on African American College Students by Shaping Theories of Intelligence. Retrieved August 5, 2007 from
Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L., Cocking, R.R. (Eds.), How people learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Murray, M. and Owen, M. (1991). Beyond the Myths of Mentoring. San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass.
Peddy, S. (2001). The Art of Mentoring: Lead, Follow, and Get Out of the Way. Houston, TX: Bullion Books.
Peirce, W. (2003). Metacognition: Study Strategies, Monitoring, and Motivation. Retrieved August 4, 2007 from