| This qualitative, intuitive inquiry resulted in the creation of an original 9 Gates of Mentoring template. The study investigated how mentoring and writing can awaken empathy and compassion in 12 at-risk, 9th-grade teenage boys. The research also investigated a parallel process of awakening in the boys' mentor, the author of this study. Nine broad preliminary lenses were crafted to reflect the perceptual filters through which the joint odyssey of mentor and boys was undertaken. These preliminary lenses were then released as a second set of 12 refined lenses were crafted as a direct result of fieldwork. Finally, 9 transformed lenses became the 9 Gates of Mentoring. Writing activities, individual mentoring sessions, weekly classes, group councils, and mindfulness meditations helped students to identify pathways for opening to empathy and compassion toward self and others, as well as illuminating obstacles to this awakening. A resonance panel of 3 members reviewed the introductory and results chapters, offering validation and critique of the study's efficacy. The boys' insights throughout the 16 weeks, catalyzing growth as demonstrated both in writings and live exchanges with their mentor, indicated that a character-education-based approach to writing served as an effective tool for discovering, quickening, and strengthening the qualities of both empathy and compassion. Educators new to these notions, as well as transpersonally inclined or transpersonally based educators, can employ these findings as a way to guide students toward empathy and compassion, and to consider how the power of mentoring and writing can serve this awakening process. |
