January 8th - 16th

This week was amazing! The mentors found out who their mentees are on Monday and began laying the foundation for a strong mentoring relationship throughout the rest of the week.

Courtesy of Community Reach Center and the A50 resource liaison, I was afforded an opportunity to meet with the mentors. During that time, we discussed who their mentees would be, as well as set some goals for the week. I challenged each mentor to learn three things about their mentees: hobbies, who they lived with, favorite things, etc... While I was doing that, Lila and Julia met with mentees and led a valuable discussion regarding the small group classes, which will occur each Monday for the next month.

Tuesday was spent working as small groups. The students had a chance to introduce themselves to their mentors/mentees during a lesson called "Let Me Introduce Myself." All the kids did a wonderful job, even though a few of them were nervous to participate.

Due to testing, the school was on an assembly schedule Wednesday and Thursday. Naturally, the kids had extra energy so I compensated for it by planning team building games. On Wednesday, the mentor and mentee pairs worked together to build spaghetti and marshmallow towers. Their goal was to create the tallest structure that was also strong enough to stand on its own. The teams came up with some really cool ideas and the tallest one from the whole day was thirty-nine inches!

On Thursday, we played a game I called "The Lumber Relay." Each mentor/mentee pair worked as part of a larger team to compete in a relay race. All pairs had to walk from one end of the room to the other while using 2"x4"s as skis. Once they reached the designated area, they had to perform tasks like popping balloons by sitting on them, creating paper airplanes, writing down what YESS stands for, and even eating a cup of applesauce without hands or utensils!

On Friday, we began to explore the role of mentors in the class. The students were very insightful about the things they want in their partners.

This week, we will continue to explore the various roles each student will play within the class. We'll also continue building a strong mentoring relationship by engaging in lessons like "Personal Coat of Arms" and "Life Map."