I am very pleased that I selected this book. It seems to tie in well to a theme I have seen develop with my studies in relation to narratives and transformational learning. Each chapter resonated with me as I thought about my own personal experiences as a mentor and mentee.
Chapter 7 discussed how mentors participate in shaping the learning environment. A quote from the book that sums it up nicely is, "Every gardener knows that the climate has everything to do with what can and cannot grow. Should it be any different with human beings?". Kegan (1994) suggests the three "c's" - confirmation, contradiction and continuity, in reference to the interplay between one's self and the environment.
For me, confirmation occurred first upon acceptance into the AET program. It has also existed through instructors acknowledgment of my ideas and understanding of life events.
Contradiction presented itself as I was left to explore my thoughts and ideas on my own and in unison with other students. When I was taking my world views and launching into new territory.
Continuity appears as I progress through this program and the new topics and subjects are less fragmented. Instructors provided this as they had some insight from initial courses and knew the path that would be taken.
What I took away from Chapter 8 was how the mentoring and learning process MIRRORS the various developmental stages. I may be able to personally identify with a particular theorist life stage and at the same time can see how inside of the learning I go through stages. The transformation that occurs with learning is almost another layer, or concurrent episode, so to speak, especially as I learn how to learn.
Lastly, the final chapter sums it up well. But in my own words, mentoring is a dance. It can be fast or slow, sometimes smooth and at times stepping on toes. We may connect with the melody more at times than others, sometimes we lead and at other times our partner does, we are accompanied by the other person and the music. In the end, something was accomplished, the dance was danced, the song still ringing in our ears, moving us to another place.
