Mentor Thought

I've done a fair amount of poking around on the web, looking for info on middle school and mentors. One thing that occurs to me: very few people have a practical, concrete program. They're usually long on buzzwords, short on 'here's how'.

So heres what I've come up with. This is very much a work in progress. I haven't presented any of it to my mentee. They're just ideas. Some are good, some aren't.


Goals:

• Get a sense of whats being studied in each class.
• Lay out whats going on -- projects, homework -- and what the due dates and requirements are.
• Listen and encourage!

Actions:

• Pick one subject's material and we'll go over it together.
• Write one paragraph general summary of what was studied this week in any class. If you want, we can do the summary together.
• A one paragraph summary of whats going to be studied in any subject in the next week.
• Pick one topic from any class that stuns you. Lets talk about it.
• Take one days subject and teach it to me.
• Write a high level summary together of one upcoming chapter in any textbook.
• Once a cycle, spend an hour in the township or school library or other location and review one subject from that cycle.
• A monthly pizza study get together, possibly with one or two other people in your class.
• Talk with the teachers TOGETHER to detail whats happening and ask for their involvement.

Ongoing:

• Bring any tests that occurred in the last week, particularly if they didn't go well. Lets talk about them.
• If a review sheet or study guide is handed out, bring it to a meeting and lets discuss it.
• List any tests or projects that are going to happen in the next month, and talk about what you're going to do to prepare for them. Lets plan on reviewing these things together before the test or project is due.

Concepts:

• Should we have a written contract? Should there be a 'mentor evaluation'?
• There should be something in everything we do that speaks to the need to be comfortable in reading.