1. |
What are the needs of our elementary
children? |
| • |
Reliable and consistent relationship with a caring
adult |
| • |
Positive role model |
| • |
Praise and affirmation of their worth and value |
| • |
Confidence in ability to learn and be a “good
student” |
| • |
Help with basic skill holes and gaps |
| • |
Personally experiencing joy in learning, reading, doing
science and projects related to their special interests |
| • |
Help to explore personal interests, develop talents,
gain self-worth |
2. |
What resources do we have available to
meet these needs? |
| In our organization |
| • |
Mentors |
| Schools |
| • |
Teachers, counselors, nurse, social workers,
Title I teacher, ESL teachers |
| Public housing sites |
| • |
Rooms for club and mentoring meetings, training, family
events |
| Business, Kiwanis, Rotary |
| • |
Often provide admission to events and museums. |
| • |
May provide some funding for consumable materials. |
| Broader community |
| • |
UM and EMU provide access to athletic and musical
events. |
| • |
Many parks in area for outings, projects.
|
3. |
What are our goals, target populations, and
desired outcomes? |
Goal: One-on-One, Pair, and Small-Group
Intentional Mentoring |
| • |
Match 1–4 children with their own mentor |
| • |
Mentors see children at least once a week, interact with
teachers and support staff at least monthly, make at least
1 home visit per semester, have lunch at school with children
and see teachers at least 1 time a semester, and do some
outing or field trip at least 1 time a semester. |
| • |
Mentors will call their children the night before club to
remind them and may have opportunity to talk to parent/guardian.
|
| • |
Depending on the site, we will provide homework help, reading
and writing support, basic math skills support, and hands-on
science projects. |
Desired Outcomes |
| • |
Outcomes include: regular attendance by mentors and children.
Mentor and child surveys to capture perceptions of value for
clubs/mentoring: rank enjoyment of mentor/mentee relationships,
enjoyment of particular activities and projects, heightened
confidence in ability to learn, greater success in completing
homework and assignments. |
4. |
How does our program incorporate research about
best practices? |
Reach Out! One-on-One, Pair, and
Small-Group Intentional Mentoring |
| Research: |
Mentoring addresses issues and needs of children, including school
performance, holes and gaps in basic skills, emotional growth and
behavioral choices, sense of worth and value, core beliefs about
abilities to succeed academically. |
|---|
Many parents cannot help their children with school work and
homework, but mentors can. |
6. |
What capabilities do we need to change or add to
increase quality of relationships among mentors, children,
teachers and parents? |
| • |
All sites will assign mentors to individuals, pairs, or small groups
of children to enhance relationships, sharing of training, and
offering programs, family events, and outings/field trips. |
| • |
Site leaders will interact more with coordinators to unite efforts
with children and parents. We can share our professional development
and training, our resources in the community and universities, field
trips and outings. |
| • |
Site leaders will meet with principals and teachers of feeder
elementary schools to share our programs, to give list of children we
serve, and to provide teachers and mentors respective contact
information to foster more communications and sharing of ideas. |
| • |
Without a paid Elementary Coordinator, site leaders will need to
maintain databases, files of registrations and field trip permission
forms, conduct mentor orientations, gather and record end of semester
survey information, arrange for and implement field trips and outings,
arrange for and implement recognition events, and be contact person for
their elementary school principal and staff. Site leaders will be
responsible for recruiting new mentors at FestiFall, Serve It Up,
NorthFest, presentations to professors and classes, presentations to
student organizations. Site leaders may pay for some materials out of
pocket, borrow equipment and materials kept at Scarlett Reach Out!
resource room, and use some funding left in student account. Director
will provide monthly site leader meetings to offer support and
professional development; will try to provide copies of orientation
handbooks, other PD and training handouts; will copy and provide mentor
and child registration forms. Site leaders will need to copy lessons,
outing/field trip flyers and permission forms. |
7. |
How will these capabilities be carried out?
|
Changes to Program for 2004–2005 |
| • |
Hikone and Pinelake sites will continue with returning Site
Leaders. |
| • |
We will no longer be at Pattengill Elementary. Three different
principals in 2 years, changes in staff, and coordinator’s leave
all contributed to a decline in quality programming and our ability to
have mentoring for lunch-time science clubs. |
| • |
Should we garner funding for an Elementary Coordinator, the principal
at Mitchell Elementary and her staff would like us to develop a
mentoring and science club program with them. Mitchell feeds into
Scarlett Middle School and is physically located next door. Its 4th
and 5th graders will also be part of the Scarlett NASA Explorer School
Program. Scarlett mentors and staff have also looked at our children
being mentors for Mitchell children, sharing projects, outings, and
community service projects. Research indicates that elementary children
being mentored by middle schoolers often can radically improve reading
and writing skills with book clubs and whole language approach
programming. |
| • |
Site Leaders and Director are interviewed mentors at various sites to
identify new Site Leaders for fall. Professional development was planned
during the summer and provided for all site leaders before classes began.
Some sites may have a site leader for every 3 or 4 mentors and their
children to handle the responsibilities required to make program most
effective. We recognize that 4–5 hours a week is the limit that
site leaders can invest without pay or stipend. |
8. |
How will we assess the quality of our program, services,
and relationships? |
| • |
Surveys for mentors, children, and parents will be offered in December
and April to gather information about perceptions of value for
clubs/mentoring: enjoying relationships, enjoying particular activities
and projects, heightened confidence in ability to learn, greater
success in completing homework and assignments. Site leaders will
need to enter survey data into database, and work with Director at
monthly meeting to assess what we have learned, make program changes,
adjust roles, define projects and services to improve mentoring. If we
are able to hire an Elementary Coordinator, these roles would fall
under her position. |
| • |
Site leaders will need to maintain attendance records for all mentors
and children. |
10. |
How can we recognize and honor mentors and
partners? |
| • |
Our Site Leaders and current mentors need to examine how they wish
they had been honored and recognized. |
| • |
We currently submit nominations for Reach Out! and for leaders
to the UM Ginsberg spring recognition event and to the Governor’s
Service Awards annual spring event; seek honor cords for our graduating
Site Leaders; and pay for plaques for graduating Site Leaders. Individual
Site Leaders also recognize their mentors and partners by way of pizza
parties, passing out certificates, and making framed photos for children
and mentors to keep. |
| • |
The Director also provides a dinner for all site leaders. |
| • |
Each site hosts an end-of-semester recognition party. |
| • |
We also place an ad listing all mentors’ names in The Michigan
Daily and in The Ann Arbor News in January during National Mentoring
Month. |
