{"id":1213,"date":"2017-11-28T11:00:04","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T16:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/feedback\/?p=1213"},"modified":"2017-11-27T14:09:06","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T19:09:06","slug":"mentoring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/feedback\/2017\/11\/28\/mentoring\/","title":{"rendered":"Mentoring"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Mentoring. Mentor. Mentee. If you had to choose only one concept to pair with the judge program, most people would nod their head towards this one. From day one as a judge candidate to judges at highest levels of leadership in the program, it is everywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

I came to judging from an educational background, so I didn\u2019t really think twice about mentoring since it was already a large part of what I did with my time. But as I started prepping for writing an overview of what mentoring is, I came to the realization that no one had actually explained to me what mentoring meant. It could very well have been because I was a teacher at the time, but even a lot of the resources I consulted on my journey to Level Two never really spelled things out.<\/span><\/p>\n

I decided to lay out some of the skillsets and techniques for mentoring that have translated well from the teaching into judging. These particular tips are for helping a candidate prepare for a test on a mostly one-on-one basis, but can be tweaked as needed for other situations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Establish a Baseline<\/b><\/p>\n

Every judge candidate will come to you with a different amount of knowledge. Treating each person the same way will not grant you similar results; an approach like this will more often have an adverse effect of turning them off to your mentoring. It can be a lot of initial work, but the payoff translates to less work overall.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are a lot of ways you can formulate a jumping-off point. What I have found to be most enlightening has been to play a game of Magic with a candidate. You can tell a lot about a person\u2019s skill set by how they play the game. Once they are more comfortable, you should have a deck that contains some complicated or semi-complicated interactions through triggers or combat and have your mentee explain the rules behind the interactions. You\u2019re not only testing them in \u2018live\u2019 situations, but you can tweak the decks to included different things based on what level test they\u2019re prepping for. You can even turn it up a notch and have them announce every transition into steps and phases, as well as all the actions they\u2019re taking in the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another great tool that my mentor used with me takes a lot of what was mentioned above and condenses it down. He had a deck box containing cards that were targeting towards the different kinds of rules interactions and scenarios that would be tested for anyone going for their Level One certification. He brought this box during our very first mentoring session and I remember feeling like I had been forced through the wringer – but once we were done he had a good idea of where I stood. Just like playing a game with your mentee, this method can also be tweaked to suit his or her needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Jump Straight into Jargon<\/b><\/p>\n

A large number of the candidates who come to you will have some knowledge of the game, but a lot of the technical terminology may go right over their head. Being introduced to something new when you already have preconceived notions of how something works can be overwhelming. If you are blabbering in language they don\u2019t understand, you may lose them entirely. This is not to say that they shouldn\u2019t learn the ins and outs, but be prepared to ease them into things based on their personal comfort levels. Also, be prepared to use terminology again and again, until it really sticks. Repetition leads to familiarity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Concrete Examples<\/b><\/p>\n

You can spout off rules and policy until you\u2019re blue in the face, but a lot of mentees are going to need actual, quantifiable examples in order for the lessons to sink in. This can range from actual games of Magic to stories of judging events to discussions on why policy exists for certain situations or why it has changed to better suit the needs of the players and the game. This may seem like a \u2018duh\u2019 moment, but those examples will be integral for your mentee to actually take away knowledge from your sessions. Having those items and experiences and discussions set in place means that they can refer back to them when they\u2019re placed in a situation that needs the knowledge you\u2019ve discussed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Discussions of \u2018why\u2019 are my personal favorite and go-to for concrete examples. Why State Based Actions? Because without them, they game would be clogged with all this extra stuff that needs to be dealt with in order to move on. Why did we change Deck Problem to being a Warning instead of a Game Loss? Incentivizing players to call us when they\u2019ve done something wrong is much easier without a Game Loss waiting on the other end.<\/span><\/p>\n

Check for Understanding<\/b><\/p>\n

My fellow teachers will recognize this phrase, and it may again feel like I\u2019m telling you something you already know, but you need to make sure things have really stuck before moving on. No one wants to feel like the student who is lost in class because everyone else has moved on.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most mentees will have one or two (or several, depending) aspects of rules and policy that will take a lot longer to click than others. For me, it was replacement effects, and most of the judges I\u2019ve spoken with all have or had a personal Achilles Heel that they worked to overcome. You can combat this by setting stopping points in the mentoring process to really make sure they\u2019ve absorbed the information. Don\u2019t be satisfied with a \u201cYeah, no, I\u2019ve got it,\u201d but actually test them to make sure the understanding is there.<\/span><\/p>\n

Set Boundaries<\/b><\/p>\n

This may not be something that every mentor thinks about, but it is just as important as any rule or policy discussion you will have. Being a good mentor takes a lot out of you. You\u2019re not just talking to someone, you\u2019re imparting your personal words and experiences onto them and that process can be draining. That gets even worse when you let yourself be available all of the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s okay to say, \u201cHey, I can\u2019t today\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m sorry, but I\u2019ve had a really taxing day and I need to recharge.\u201d Judging is a hobby for a large number of us, albeit one that we\u2019re passionate about, but at the end of the day that\u2019s what it is. Don\u2019t let \u2018raising\u2019 the next generation of judges lead to you burning out yourself. We need all kinds of judges if we\u2019re going to keep improving the Program.<\/span><\/p>\n

I hope you\u2019ve found some or all of these strategies helpful and I look forward to working with the judges you foster into the program!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mentoring. Mentor. Mentee. If you had to choose only one concept to pair with the judge program, most people would nod their head towards this one. From day one as a judge candidate to judges at highest levels of leadership in the program, it is everywhere. I came to judging from an educational background, so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":396,"featured_media":1217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[103,4,131,25],"tags":[106,93,44,132,38],"language":[78],"class_list":["post-1213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-guest-blog","category-meg-rickman-guest-blog","category-strategy","tag-community","tag-edited-by-elliot-raff","tag-guest-blog","tag-meg-rickman","tag-strategy","language-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/feedback\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/feedback\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/feedback\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/feedback\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/feedback\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1213"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/feedback\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1221,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/feedback\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions\/1221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/feedback\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/feedback\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/feedback\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/feedback\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1213"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/feedback\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=1213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}