Customer Reviews

Mentor: Guiding the Journey of Adult Learners

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Clear explanation of developmental theory in a readable format. I found the dialogues with Daloz's "non-traditional" students to be the strength of the book. Most existing developmental theory seems to end with college students. Daloz takes a look at adult learners (returning students, those older than the "traditional" 18-22 year old residential students) to find whether current theory is adequate to understand these students' experience and learning needs. Reading the book makes me personally consider what my role should be as an educator, a mentor in higher education to meet unique needs and life experiences of the growing non-traditional student population. Are their developmental needs different than traditional students? Will current programming for traditional students be adequate to meet needs of adult learners? If these are questions you are asking or NEED to ask, pick up this book.

Daloz takes us on a journey through the wastelands and orchards of the educational experience. Through insights on developing learners through humanistic relationships, personal vignettes, and the best explanation of Perry's theory of intellectual growth I have ever read, Daloz leads us to the heartlands of transformative growth, for both teachers and learners. I highly recommend this soulful book to anyone who teaches, whether it be mentoring adult women learners as Daloz does, or lecturing in a traditional classroom. It is unusually readable, and you will find it hard to put down both times through.

Both at work and at home, we function either as a mentor or as a student. And in some situations, as both. We provide or receive information, suggestions, criticism, etc. This is an on-going process. How can we help others to learn more? How can we can learn more from others? These and other key questions are posed and then addressed in this book. Daloz focuses primarily on the mentor (or teacher) whose "partnership" with each student "finally determines the value of an education. In the nature of that partnership lies the mentor's art." Those who share my high opinion of this book are urged to check out Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline [bold face] and The Dance of Change bold face]. I am reminded of a situation years ago when there was a tuition increase at Harvard and parents vehemently protested. Then president Derek Bok responded "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." The value of the mentor's art may be incalculable (I believe it is) but, as Daloz carefully explains, it is an art worthy of those who practice it with passion, competence, and commitment.

Daloz explains that this book "is directed to all those who seek a fuller understanding of the life changes accompanying adult learners as they go on to postsecondary education. But it does more than simply describe or dramatize those changes....It goes on to suggest how we can work more effectively with the new learners to enrich their educational experience and decrease the likelihood that they will drop out." That is to say, the primary purpose of this book is to "offer new perspectives for understanding adult learners and to suggest concrete and practical ways based on developmental theory how we can work more effectively to improve the quality of their educational experience." At the heart of Daloz' book are the interviews and personal descriptions needed to ground the principles, concepts, and theories. For it is in what Daloz calls "the living tissue of conversations between real students and real teachers" that we can best apprehend the developmental advising and instruction.

This is a wonderfully engaging book for anyone who has an interest in deriving a deeper meaning from teaching. The book offers interesting and applicable advice for promoting the educational process through establishing a mentoring relationship. The book explains and provides a definition of mentoring with an overview of its history, the importance of mentors and guidelines for mentoring.
Structure/Organization
A helpful review of adult development and learning theories is provided, as well as an interesting section on the differences between males and females as learners and mentors. This book confirms the importance of establishing a relationship with the learner, listening to the learner, and providing instruction which is flexible and individual. By providing insight into the learner/facilitator relationship, Daloz compliments and enriches the learning process.
The main themes of the book are confirmed with vignettes that are interspersed throughout the text. These keep the book interesting by providing the reader with personal application of the ideas and techniques discussed. Encouragement, support, trust and listening are recurrent themes throughout the book and their importance to the mentoring relationship is established through use of the vignettes. The vignettes also help establish and demonstrate the influence and role of the mentor, different phases of the mentoring relationship and traits of the mentor.
Evaluation of Author Success
This book is wonderfully comprehensive and very effective to the author's intent. The book provides a greater understanding and explanation of mentoring and its importance within education. Further, it offers an understanding of the learner as they return to school. Guidelines for becoming a mentor and qualities associated with the mentor role are interspersed repetitively throughout the book.
Personal Reaction
At times the author becomes a little too eloquent, offering perhaps too many analogies and flowery prose. While beautiful and evocative, these have little to do with the subject at hand. Despite these digressions from the intent of the book, it is extremely informative, powerful and effective to its purpose. The inclusion of information relating to adult development is a helpful reminder of the diversity of learners. Other works are cited within the book with enough information to determine if they would be of interest to the reader. I have already purchased one of the books suggested for additional reading related to these topics. This book provides inspiration that teaching may be taken to a higher level through effective use of caring and mentoring.
Effectiveness for Program Planning
Basic principles of program planning which are important to the program planning process are found within the text. While this book does not provide specific information on planning models or instructional design, it does offer a wealth of information in other areas. The program planner that accepts a personal stake in the success of the individual learner would benefit from this book. Challenge, encouragement, support, trust and listening are concepts that should be important to any program planner. Those who are confused that mentoring may be a 1:1 process may be surprised by the suggestion that it is possible to mentor a class. The sections on adult development and growth would facilitate the planner's understanding of adult learners and assist the selection of appropriate content, design and instructional materials.
Comparison to Caffarella - Planning Programs for Adult Learners
Though this book does not address program planning, there are many similarities to the information offered within Caffarella's Planning Programs for Adult Learner. Daloz acknowledges the necessity to meet the student's needs as well as the program's expectations. The environment where learning takes place is discussed as it relates to the individual learner. While Caffarella encourages sensitivity to diversity, due to the narrow scope and focus of this book, it is not surprising that race and class are not discussed. Caffarella notes that at times program planners have little influence regarding the content and design of the programs they are planning. Mentoring offers these educators the opportunity to obtain satisfaction in their role, benefit to the student and personal growth within their practice area.

Daloz's book centers on adult learning and mentor/student-type mentoring; but even so, there is information that can be related to a church mentoring ministry. For example, the chapter, "Guiding adults through difficult transitions," Daloz explains that in order for growth to take place, there must be both "support" and "challenge" (p. 208). He illustrates this dynamic through a graph (p. 208).

According to Daloz, if "support" and "challenge" is low, then little growth will take place; but if support is increased then the "potential for some sort of growth" increases (p. 208). On the other hand, if there is too much challenge and little support, then growth does not take place (p. 208). Daloz describes "support" as, "the activity of holding, of providing a safe space where the student [or individual] can contact [his or her] need for fundamental trust, the basis of growth" (p. 209). "Challenge" is defined as, "opening a distance in the relationship, drawing the [person] outward to fill the gap, straining him to move to accommodate his inner structures to the new environment created by his mentor's distancing"--it is "creating a cognitive dissonance" of "one's perceptions and expectations," which is illustrated in the following statement, "I think I should be there but I see myself here" (p. 216). Growth takes place when one moves "to close gaps" in cognitive dissonance (p. 216). According to Daloz, growth happens "in the context of [one-to-one] human relationships" (p. xviii-xix).This information is helpful because it shows that challenging people and also providing plenty of support will result in positive individual growth; meaning that mentors should not refrain from challenging people to devote themselves to such things as personal Bible study and prayer. Mentors are to "encourage," "guide," and "cajole" but mostly, they are to reinforce new behavior (i.e. daily Bible reading, devotion to prayer, etc.) by way of their "honesty" and "trust" within the mentoring relationship (p. 216, 218).

Daloz states, "Mentors or mentoring communities [exert] a powerful influence in shaping the particular form of each person's commitment" (p. 21). In essence, if churches want to positively influence their members then a mentoring ministry should be started. Dolaz summarizes the role of the mentor--they "offer encouragement and concrete help . . . . without adequate support [people] may decide to stay where they are" (they may never grow) (p. 21, 244). Dolaz' comments are reminiscent of select Scripture verses: 1 Peter 2:2a, "You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation"; Hebrews 5:12-14 "though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." These Bible passages show that Christians should not be stagnant--they must grow, and in some cases they need the help of others to mature. Mentoring is best expressed in Romans 1:11-12, "I [Paul] long to visit you so I can share a spiritual blessing with you that will help you grow strong in the Lord. I'm eager to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. In this way, each of us will be a blessing to the other."

This is quite a sneaky book. It reads in quite conventional ways: the prose is lucid without being exciting; and there is a narrowness to the diversity of the samples (the author admits this). But I was throughout impressed by the saturation in the knowledge and experience of the author. It is really quite wise as a book. It sneaks up on you -- particularly the fact that by the end the author has reviewed a huge amount of the relevant literature painlessly.

I would recommend this book to anyone trying to be more thoughtful -- you don't have to be a mentor or trying out for one. It is just a good book (and there aren't many of those around, really).