3.2 Confessions of a doctoral supervisor: valuing interdependence  (Page 8/12)

In the next section I attempt to provide perspective, balance, and hope by briefly exploring what the WIT doctoral group learning process looks and feels like when it is functioning synergistically and in concert with the expectations informing my mentoring creed.

A Doctoral Supervisor’s Mentoring Creed in Action

Mentoring Creed—Rule #1 (Supporting Interdependence)

The WITs express gratitude for the peer mentoring they receive through the cohort that has met in my home once monthly for years. Despite the various stages of matriculation reflected, based on the input received no one is made to feel more or less important than anyone else. Students further along in the process help those still doing coursework, and those just beginning are encouraged to help those more advanced by asking“naïve”questions and by offering feedback. A student who joined the WIT cohort in 2006 emailed me after the first session, saying that it had proven“refreshing”because, unlike graduate coursework, the meeting was“simultaneously casual and intense, as well as student-led and, unobtrusively, professor directed.”In this cohort, mentoring transpires across all programmatic levels and differences, primarily gender, race, and class.

Support for student interdependence and goals within the cohort is evident. Members regularly underscore the importance of our learning community. For example, several WITs have expressed pleasure while in doctoral candidacy with the progress they had unexpectedly been making, which culminated in graduation. They had joined the group after having failed their proposal defenses with another dissertation supervisor, from disciplines outside educational leadership. These individuals have stressed that such cohorts as the WIT are rare in their experience.

WIT members support one another in their goals and aspirations, a reality that seems to undergird cultural change. Because they share the goal of completing the doctoral degree and the quest of learning, the students relate well to one another, forming strong interpersonal bonds and friendships. With one another’s support, meeting deadlines and following guidelines become easier. WITs have described the metamorphosis experienced after joining the cohort, as in:“It wasn’t until recently, through pointed but caring conversations with my major professor, that I took ownership of the doctoral process.”

The group also supports members by sharing ideas and thoughts about the materials presented at the WIT meetings. In fact, the simple accountability of knowing that their work will be peer reviewed encourages focus and accountability:“You want to do your best, and you know that other WITs will be looking at your work, so I try to give good hints and advice.”Moreover, many WITs believe that the expectation of sharing and reviewing others’work fuels motivation. They want to be seen as serious, prepared learners and contributors to their productive learning community:“I didn’t want to look unprepared and unread, so I would read others’works as assigned. If I was on the agenda, I knew people were expecting a product. I didn’t want to let them or myself down.”