Mentoring

BRIEF SUMMARY

This topic is under construction.  

KEY POINTS

• Bullet 1
• Bullet 2

SHARED WISDOM

• From Counselor Talk, February 2018:
• Q: Mentoring program independent of Big Brothers/Big Sisters?
  • A: I created something on a very small scale about 4 years ago. We have education professions here at BHS and for the first time, four years ago, I had a student ask to spend their time with a counselor. At that point, I agreed to take them on as education professions student and I developed what we now call the Peer Bulldog program (our mascot is a bulldog).It has worked out that each semester since then, I have had one student find out about the program and express interest. After some one-on-one very basic counseling lesson plans, I send my peer bulldog over to our middle school where he/she is paired up with a younger student who may need some extra guidance from a peer. Sometimes this means just talking, playing games, or tutoring. It has lead to great feedback, experiences and life long memories for both students involved.Below are the documents that I created and have been using the last 4 years.

    Depending on the time and students, I will have my Peer Bulldog “facilitate” with myself as the “co-faciliator” a New Student Group each semester. You may see some paperwork within that does not apply to just work with younger kids. The New Student Group was implemented as part of the high school Peer Bulldog because of how our number of move-in and transfer students has grown each year and through out the year. We do numerous icebreaker activities within our New Student Group to help kids get accumulated to BHS.  (From Arika Burck, Batesville High School, aburck@batesville.k12.in.us)

Peer Bulldog Process. Peer Bulldog Listening Skills PB Survey for the PB Listening Skills Session 4 Listening Skills Session 3 Listening Skills Session 2 Listening Skills Session 1 Face to Face Confidentiality Agreement Criteria for a Peer Bulldog Completion of Listening Techniques

• • Our school was contacted by a local church who had many volunteers trained in a national model called Kids Hope USA.  We are just in the beginning stages of it- mentors start next week.  But it’s non-secular, addresses academic and emotional needs, and is one to one attention with a student.  You might check with any local churches to see if they are trained in using this program.
  • We have implemented TALKS (Transferring a Little Knowledge Systematically) in our elementary and middle school — beginning in grade 3.   Our mentoring program is sponsored through the Community Action Program.  They have brought this program into our area schools.
    They oversee/train mentors and provide the curriculum.  Schools provide the students and space to meet.  It’s a leadership/mentoring program.  The mentors are from the community.  This is our 3rd year of implementng this program into our school district.
    Students are put in same gendered and same grade groups of 3.  They are paired with an adult member of the same gender and meet at school for 30 minutes/week during the school day.

    Ideally each group is made of students who range in academic and behavior needs — high, middle, low needs.  The idea is that students will encourage one another to excel.  Their mentors use a curriculum developed by Dr. Ollie Watts Davis.
    It’s not always easy to select the right “mix” of students — but I have found that creating a small group and having a mentor from outside of school helps our students build relationships.  The groups may start in elementary, but are able to continue into middle school.
    https://www.talksmentoring.org/

RESOURCES

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