Schlossberg’s 4 "S’s" to Mentor & Guide: Intro (1/5)

As educators we have been charged to, to put it simply, educate.  When we, as educators, are best equipped to guide adult students through the myriad of changes or “transitions” encountered under our stead, it will best enable us to competently fulfill our charge.  

This can be done with increased chance of student success when the educator considers Schlossberg’s Transition theory, specifically the 4 S’s (Champagne & Petitpas, 1989; Evans, Forney, Guido, Patton, & Renn, 2009; Griffin& Gilbert, 2015).

As an educator, we can use Schlossberg’s 4 S’s (Griffin & Gilbert, 2015) to increase chances of not only academic success but success in life as well.  Facilitating the “S’s” from the foundation and through the lens of Socratic questioning (Turkcapar, Kahraman & Sargin, 2015), critical thinking (Paul & Elder, 2008), culturally responsive teaching (Saifer, 201) and Neurolinguistic Programming (Bandler, Grinder, & Andreas, 1982) may better enable the adult student to walk through the challenges of the given transition. 

Consider the following 4 Ss Rubric as recommended by Evans, et al., (2009) when using Schlosberg’s Transition Theory.  

(Each post is labeled according to it’s particular “S” and could be individually pulled up or printed to use when mentoring a student.)