Re: [teach-in-india] Re: Email based Mentoring - and some ideas to spread the word
Aarti Ramaswami
hey there!
just wanted to let you know that is such a great idea...how public is
this?...or just accessible to TII members? I added my info to the spread sheet
that Ankit created (Thanks, Ankit!)...
some thoughts on ways to make this info available to
student audiences --
1) Email the link and TII info to teachers you are in touch with in India
2) Email it to students' parents you might know (e.g., an apartment neighbor in
your building who might have school/college-going kids)
3) Email it to friends, indian student lists, and Indian Students Associations
in your college/university (i also feel that while we are targeting school kids, college students will be equally if not more interested all the info we can share about further studies or careers in our field)
while we can send them info on TII itself, i think an email that is focused on
the mentoring and networking opportunities students will have will resonate better...else they may be too overwhelmed by all the discussion threads on TII,
not knowing where to begin...so, even if they use the database we have created
for specific reasons (ie, get info from us on whatever areas of
interest/education/etc we might have expertise in), it's still worth it and our
message only spreads further...
so an email to the Indian students' association in your univ (#3 above)
would go something like...
"hello folks...i am aarti ramaswami, a phd candidate in management at the
kelley school of business...i just wanted to share with you some info regarding
an India-related networking group i am very excited about and have been part of over the past few months...it's called Teach In
India (you can search us on Facebook or just follow this link --
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=48767387626&ref=ts).
we have been working on creating a database of volunteers who are willing to
mentor school and college students in India thru email...basically answer
questions related to areas of mutual interest (say, your major, or how to apply
to the US, career-related matters in your field, and any other activities you might be involved in).
if you studied in the US, you might recall that when you applied, you had to rely on all the info that
other students in the US, or in your specific univ could provide, to help you make
decisions and make the apping process a tad bit easier...this is one way for us to give
back...or rather, pay it forward..of course, i am sure that you are already doing whatever you can to mentor students at
your university/school/ in the US or in India...Teach In India is another outlet for you
to express yourself, and in turn, learn, share and grow...who knows, maybe you'll find someone within our
membership who may share your interests, and is able to guide you in that
area!
so once you have read the TII facebook page and feel that our activities
interest you, please join the group and add your info to our database. this is a win-win for sure.
spread the word...
-aarti"
sounds ok? feedback/suggestions/improvisations welcome...
Aarti
Hello All,
Name: Amrita Kriplani
University Affiliations: BE in Information Technology, University of
Mumbai
Intern at University of Sannio, Italy
MS in Information Systems, New York
University
Strengths & Interests: Business, finance, maths, IT, Computer science,
Artificial Intelligence, graphic design, web technologies, travel,
cultures, languages, practical applications, and will be working soon
in business development, sales, strategy
Contact: Email, orkut, facebook
On a side note for the folks I met in NYC: In Mumbai on a short trip,
visited my school, but response was as expected, will drop more
details soon.
Thanks,
Amrita.
On Jan 22, 1:10 pm, jaineel aga <jaineel....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> Jaineel Aga
> Bachelor of Engineering : University of Mumbai
> Master of Engineering Management: Duke University
> Professional Field: Strategy consulting focus in Private Equity, Education &
> Corporate Strategy
>
> I have also worked (or will be working) in the following fields and can
> talk about it:
>
> Climate Change and Renewable Technologies, Energy, Carbon Markets, Kyoto
> Protocol.
> Microfinance, Management Consulting, IIT JEE preparation, and of course
> traditional electrical engineering
>
> My location will change in the next six months but I am in Mumbai till Feb 8
> and then in Bangalore for the next two months. I would love to meet up with
> the TII folks in Bangalore.
>
> Regards
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 1:48 PM, Hussain Zamindar <zam...@gmail.com> wrote:> > Email : zam...@gmail.com
> > Hey folks,
>
> > In sync to the chain-link Mansi and Vijay have started, here's a note.
> > I am an Interior Architect and a pursuing student of Design and Arts. I am
> > currently in India on a short break and have been doing my little bit here.
> > Name: Zamindar Hussain
> > Education: - Bachelors in Interior Architecture and Design...( and wish to
> > study a whole lot further.)
> > * - On Facebook.> > On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 10:36 AM, khushboo desai <rhythms0...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > -- Am currently teaching a publication software called ''Indesign'' to the
> > office staff of the Duke University at IIM Ahmedabad.
> > -- My mother and aunt (retired teachers) recently conducted a two day
> > workshop at SEWA (Self Employed Women's Association) with a few of their
> > teacher friends.
>
> > Regards,
>
> > Zamindar.H
>
>> >> email: rhythms0...@gmail.com
> >> Hello All,
> >> I've been keeping myself up-to-date by reading all the mails till now. I'm
> >> currently in Bangalore, India.
> >> I'm trying to be a little more active member of TII.
> >> So here's my background
> >> Name: Khushboo Desai
> >> Education: Currently in the final year of Graphic Design at Srishti school
> >> of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore
> >> I'm also Facebook and orkut> >> On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 9:57 AM, Ankit Chandra <anksphenome...@gmail.com>wrote:
> >> Can guide student who would like to pursue design as a career. Also talk
> >> about the status and scope of Design in India.
>
> >> regards
> >> Khushboo
>
>> >>> email : achan...@uiuc.edu
> >>> Hi All,
>
> >>> I've been reading all the mails till now, wondering how could I jump in
> >>> to this while I am in the US and voila! here comes my chance to contribute.
>
> >>> My Background:
>
> >>> MsBA in Technology Management from UIUC.
> >>> currently working for a software product company... Have extensive> >>> On Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 11:18 PM, Manasi Bhate <manasi.bh...@gmail.com>wrote:
> >>> experience in Web technologies...
>
> >>> Lemme know how can i be used.
>
> >>> Ankit
>
>> >>>> manasi.bh...@gmail.com
> >>>> Hi all,
>
> >>>> A bunch of us met in New York in early January and one of the ideas
> >>>> that transpired was to form some sort of an online mentoring network.
>
> >>>> The idea: We have a fairly eclectic group of individuals in this
> >>>> group. A lot of us live/work abroad and only go back to India for
> >>>> brief stints of time which are often ridden with lots of other
> >>>> activities. However, while away we can still spend 15-20 mins a week
> >>>> answering questions and generally mentoring kids via email/FB/orkut
> >>>> etc. (This is of course assuming that there is some demand for our
> >>>> expert opinions :P who knows if there is, its worth a try anyway)
>
> >>>> The implementation: We start putting together a list of volunteer-
> >>>> mentors. Those of you who are interested can just reply to this thread
> >>>> with the relevant info. No personal details are required- just your
> >>>> name, your field, some form of contact info (email/facebook/orkut
> >>>> whatever). Ill start:
>
> >>>> Manasi Bhate Chemistry/Structural Biology
>> jaineel....@duke.edu
> >>>> Once we have a fair number of people, Ill make a webpage out of it and
> >>>> we can start advertising the page as a link and potential resource for
> >>>> students. This can also be printed and handed out to Principals/
> >>>> Guidance Counselors at our alum schools: sort of a meta-implementation
> >>>> of what Vanisha/Abhishek/Aabha were trying to do with their school in
> >>>> bombay.
>
> >>>> Manasi
>
> >>> --
> >>> koi bhi desh perfect nahin hota...
> >>> usey perfect banana padta hai...
>
> >>> ankitchandra.blogspot.com
>
> --
> Jaineel Aga
> Master of Engineering Management, Duke '08
> B.E (Electronics), Mumbai University ' 07
> India Number - 9833855968http://www.linkedin.com/in/jaineel
Vijay
smoothly.
i like almost every idea you've proposed in this email. you are asking
us to focus on the tangible, which is always great. the time has come
to start making our information available to teachers and students.
begin with people that you know -- school teachers, parent-teacher
associations, relatives, friends... we have each got to target,
connect and engage with the intended audience. i'm sure everyone has
begun thinking of ways in which we can do that. so far so good.
----------------
my concerns at this stage have more to do with the supply side of
things: if we try and recruit mentors too widely, too quickly, we
might struggle with quality control. good intentions need not
necessarily transform into good practices.
at a practical level, this might not be a major concern because one
would mostly be called upon to address factual, day-to-day concerns:
"my academics are not great, i scored 62%, and i don't have research
experience. should i nevertheless apply to syracuse for the same
program that you attended?"
or -- "will this course give me a good shot at landing a job? is texas
tech a good school for this program? i can't tell from the grad school
rankings."
i'm sure aarti completely understands that mentoring can also involve
a great degree of subtlety. it's harder to know what to say to someone
who is struggling to cope with an identity crisis, and cannot tell if
s/he should pick mathematics over history. your job in that kind of
situation might be to probe a little deeper, get the person to ask
the right questions, prod the person along the path to self-awareness.
we are enablers. we teach people to help themselves. students should
reach a place where they are comfortable with any decision that they
take -- but importantly, they should be the ones taking decisions, not
us.
we can only give them that kind of power if we have already attained
that level of perspective. while recruiting others for TII, keep in
mind, not everyone with a foreign degree is suited to mentorship. i'm
not for a moment saying that we should solely focus on cultivating ivy
league contacts, but people from top schools are likely to have
accrued a wider range of experiences and are often able to confidently
take advantage of greater resources. in the long run, these elite
minds -- people like yourselves -- have the potential to shape the
larger debate on how education must be imparted to indian high school
students.
i hope we are all on the same page, that we have all earned enough
cultural capital. needless to add, we are in the middle of building a
network of powerful intellectual connections. go ahead and add each
other on facebook or whichever social networking site you use. deepen
your individual ties. if everything goes well, we will end up
establishing a small army of self-motivated, gifted advisors.
-- v
Aarti Ramaswami
Thanks for your encouragement! As always, you bring up some good points.
Having researched on workplace mentoring, I have some thoughts on this issue on mentor readiness, mentor training, and managing relationship quality - based on tons of resarch and first hand accounts from organizational and academic mentors, mentees, and HR folks. One of the main issues that organizations face (and this is true even for academic advisors in schools) is how to measure and gauge mentor readiness for the time, energy, preparation, patience and commitment that mentoring will need. The problem is further exacerbated for TII since most of the mentoring will be done via email, making it a bit harder to establish rapport and a sense of comfort in the crucial initial stages of the relationship. Therefore communication of what each person wants out of mentoring should be clear, and as mentors we need to be able to channelize our as well as the mentees' energies in mutually constructive ways. Of course, I imagine that in the beginning, most students who contact us would want basic info on schools, majors, etc...these issues assume more improtance when the relaitonship becomes longterm.
Sometime in the coming weeks (once I finish with the upcoming job interview), I'll send in some resources regarding mentor behaviors that help mentees...there is also a lot of work done on toxic mentoring relationships, which all of us as potential mentors need to be aware of, given some of the discussions we have had on how we need to be careful in what we say to students, tailoring our speech and talk to the stduents' levels, and keeping the mentees' interests foremost in mind...
Hope this makes sense...
Aarti