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Mentoring Resources Mentor Manual Resource Library The YouTube Channel Just for Mentors Google and YouTube Searches
Get to Know Your Team Who is the team? Age? Gender? Experience? School? Club? Organization? What are the team’s goals? Resources? (Human & Material)
Mentoring Survival 1. Avoid the temptation to do the work and deprive team members of the chance to discover the right answer on their own. 2. There’s a large gap between giving a student the answer and telling them to go figure it out themself. Hints, Pointers, Links and Feedback can all be used to direct the student to the answer. Become familiar with the Robot, Rules, Resources, etc. so that you can be a credible resource to the students.
Mentoring Survival 3. A Mentor’s behavior and attitude can and will influence how a Team responds throughout the season and at events. This is FUN! If the students are not enjoying themselves then lighten the atmosphere and help them feel better. 4. Foster discussions between all Team members and groups. Discussions are critical for effective brainstorming and strategy development. 5. Patience is a necessity. Especially with the most trying of students.
Mentoring Survival 6. Never let students indulge in fruitless activities during learning hours. 7. Infuse enthusiasm in every activity and part of the Challenge. To spur creativity, mix humor and a passion for learning and discovery. 8. Get involved in technical and non-technical experiences. Be supportive to students in both regards. 9. Be a Team cheerleader & enthusiast.
Mentoring Survival 10. Ask open questions 11. Act as a sounding board 12. Provide positive, helpful feedback 13. Acknowledge achievements 14. Ask 2 questions for every 1 answer 15. Help with Time Management both during a build session and towards completion of the robot by competition dates.
Mentoring Survival 16. Involve all team members by breaking it into smaller areas (Builders, Programmers, Engineering Notebook, Team Managers, Outreach/Fundraising, Pit,....) 17. Encourage accountability through action items, deliverables and deadlines. 18. Keep them FOCUSED! (This will not be a trivial task.)