Mentoring
Mentoring
Why should I do it:
- Provides a student with a personal connection and buy-in
- Helps student to feel like someone “has their back”
- Increases student morale
- Improves student motivation
- Source of accountability, encouragement, support, and advocacy
- Helps student to perceive school, teachers, work in a more positive light
When should I do it:
- When students are unsuccessful academically or behaviorally
- When other intervention seem to fail
- When a student is having significant issues getting along with others
- When students exhibit very little motivation and effort or just do not seem to care about work and/or behavior
- When students seem to have little guidance and/or support in the home
- When a student seems suspicious of the school and staff
- For those kids that always seem to get a bad bream and are perpetually in trouble and/or failing
- When a student is frequently suspended and/or is in danger of expulsion
- When a student does not seem to respond to anything else
- When a student does not seem to have any significant connections to learning, academics, behaviors, etc
How do I do it:
- Read the RESA mentoring presentation below. If you cannot open the document, save it to your desktop and then convert it from its current format, pptx, to a PowerPoint slideshow, ppt, using this website: http://www.freefileconvert.com/
- Mentors should be voluntary
- Keep the student with one mentor, don’t switch around
- Mentors should not set out to “fix” the student and all the student’s issues
- Mentors should be supportive, encouraging, and engaged
- The student/mentor relationship is all about connecting and establishing a rapport and trusting relationship
- Mentors should try to do something fun or engaging with the student, like shooting a basketball, playing cards, or talking about a common topic of interest
- Mentors should listen, listen, listen! Use active listening with students
- Mentors should help students to set goals, plans, and solutions
- Mentors only need meet with a student once a week for 15 or so minutes
Resources & Support for technique:
(Items with footnotes link to external websites)
- RESA Mentoring as a Tier II PBS Intervention.pptx 1
- Tips For Mentors 2
- TIPS FROM THE EXPERTS on Mentoring.doc 3
- 20 Ways to Be a Great Mentor.pdf 4
- What If?.pdf 5
- Mentoring Guidelines.pdf 6
- Mentoring Activity Ideas.pdf 7
- Tips For Mentors: Open-Ended Questions 8
- Tips for teen mentors: How to make connections with teens 9
- Articles:
Footnotes:
- McEvoy, C. School-wide Positive Behavior Support: Mentors. [http://www.resa.net/downloads/positive_behavior/adult_mentors_20120725_141558_10.ppt].
- Carr, R. Tips for Mentors. [http://www.mentors.ca/mentorideas.html].
- Adapted by Mentoring.org from mentoring program interviews conducted by MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership. TIPS FROM THE EXPERTS. [http://www.mentoring.org/downloads/mentoring_488.doc].
- Mentor Michigan. 20+ Ways to be a Great Mentor. [http://www.michigan.gov/documents/20_Ways_to_be_a_Better_Mentor_101420_7.pdf].
- Mentor Michigan. What If… [http://www.michigan.gov/documents/What_If_101421_7.pdf].
- Mentor Michigan. Mentor Guidelines. [http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Mentor_Guidelines_101422_7.pdf].
- Mentor Michigan. Mentoring Activity Ideas. [http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mentormichigan/Mentoring_Activity_Ideas_288509_7.pdf].
- Katz, L. Tips for Mentors OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS . [http://www.everydaylearners.org/sites/uwucdev.org/files/attachments/Open%20Ended%20Questions.pdf].
- Stairs, K. (2008). Tips for teen mentors: How to make connections with teens . [http://www.helium.com/items/1005522-tips-for-teen-mentors-how-to-make-connections-with-teens].
- Philip, K. (2000). mentoring and young people. [http://www.infed.org/learningmentors/mentoring.htm].
- Price-Mitchell, M., Ph.D. (2013). The Moment of Youth. [http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-moment-youth/201301/mentoring-youth-matters].