PEER MENTORS SUCCESSFUL TEAMWORK CELEBIJE ALIJA, AARON GREGORY, JO ANN ROETTGEN, BUDDY UGWUMBA 4 minutes On this slide we will introduce ourselves and briefly state what we tutor and/or academic plans. We will then briefly outline the plan for the presentation. Celebije, Jo, Aaron, and Buddy Total presentation 60 minutes Activities 15 Minutes Q & A 8-10 Minutes Wrap-up 5 Minutes Active presentation time 30 Minutes Name, area you tutor, transfer goals, etc. 1 minute each

WHAT IS A MENTOR? WHAT WORDS DO YOU USE TO DESCRIBE A MENTOR? WHAT QUALITIES ARE NECESSARY FOR A MENTOR? 5-7 minutes Celebije and Aaron This is an activity where participants will discuss words or characteristics of a mentor. This will take approximately 5-7 minutes

Some words that describe a mentor Leader Good listener Supportive Understanding Encouraging Bridge 1 minute Jo Some words commonly associated with mentors. A mentor can serve various roles. Overall, mentors are leaders which require them to be a good listener so they can be supportive, understanding, and encouraging to mentees. Overall, a mentor serves as a sort of bridge between students and resources.

PEER MENTORS AND STUDENT SUCCESS Provide tips for student success Provide professional resources Support social and academic goals Increase attendance and retention Motivate students 4 minutes Aaron The ultimate goal of a tutor mentor program is to help increase student success. Various research already indicates that mentors significantly improve student success in many ways. Peer mentors assist students success first by offering tips and tricks. These tips can be as simple as organizing notes and as vital as where to find financial aid resources. This practical advice often goes beyond the traditional orientation that provides basic rules and such. Tutor mentors also provide tips to help improve the tutor’s success. Some of these tips include how to manage time, addressing challenging students, or difficult material. Resources are important for student success and for tutor success. Handouts, connections to other people and resources, websites, you name it. Nobody goes into anything knowing everything. Mentors help with access to the plethora of resources. Mentors also help support social and academic goals. Mentors and mentees communicate frequently. This interaction helps improve communication skills, increase social competence, develop confidence and encourages students to reach those academic goals. Important in achieving those goals is attendance. Recent research published in the journal of Social and Behavioral Science indicates that students who attend and participate in educational opportunities such as class significantly increase their overall performance. If these students are successful in their classes, the rate of retention will also increase. If students are retained they are far more likely to reach their overall goals. Students who feel connected to their institution through programs such as mentor programs are more likely to attend. This connection, as reported in the ASHE Higher Education Report, is one of the most significant factors to predict attendance, retention, and overall success. Mentors help ensure that there is always a connection with the students.

PEER MENTORS THROUGHOUT THE COLLEGE Help students succeed in their academics Build confidence Support system Build relationships 3 minutes Buddy

CHOOSING MENTORS Choose from your peer tutors Multidisciplinary tutors Tutors proven to be responsible Tutors who show leadership 3 minutes Aaron and Buddy Peer mentors can be valuable to the LRC if it is implemented properly. Tutor mentors need to be chosen from current peer tutors. Bringing in mentors from outside the LRC may alienate many of the peer tutors and these tutors may feel that these mentors cannot really understand because they do not understand the LRC.

Recruiting Tutor Mentors Ability and willingness to lead others Assist with conducting workshops Provided with expectations and responsibilities Collaboration Mentors, LRC coordinators, TSS, etc. Offered guaranteed hours Jo At Mt. San Jacinto College, an email is sent to potential tutor mentors near the end of the spring semester. Mentors are asked to serve as a mentor for one academic year starting in summer. According to guidelines, student workers may work no more than 20 hours per week. All tutor mentors are offered a full 20 hours. In addition, these mentors are provided with a list of expectations including attending and help lead each orientation, one for each semester, as well as each tutor training meeting. At MSJC, mandatory tutor training meetings are held monthly with 4 meetings and one orientation held each semester. Mentors will work collaboratively with previous mentors, co-mentors, LRC coordinators and the TSS. Because the mentor serves as a leader for other tutors, mentors must have a willingness to lead in some capacity. Not all mentors are required to be born leaders. That can be taught. The willingness is important. The MSJC LRC conducts math and writing workshops throughout the semester. Mentors assist and conduct some of these workshops as part of the mentor duties. When LRC administration reaches out to potential mentors, all of this is laid out so that the potential mentor can make an educated decision about taking on the role of MENTOR

INTRODUCING PEER MENTORS IN THE LRC Choose from your peer tutors Create a plan Outline requirements Establish goals Collaboration 4 minutes Jo and Celebije When introducing mentors to the LRC, it is important to make sure that the mentors that are chosen come from the current tutors. There needs to be a clear plan outlining requirements and expectations of the program. The reality is that these will change for any number of reasons. However, having some specific goals will help guide the program. The introduction of peer mentors to the LRC is a collaborative endeavor between LRC administration, LRC support staff, and mentors.

IMPACT OF PEER MENTORS ON PEER TUTORS Help tutors to improve Guidance to the tutors Help tutors succeed as a tutor Provide a resource for peer tutors 3 minutes Aaron and Buddy

IMPACT OF PEER MENTORS IN LEARNING CENTER Ask questions Support Guidance 3 Minutes Aaron and Buddy Peer mentors in the LRC support the LRC in many ways. Tutors may feel intimidated asking administrators questions. However, having mentors encourages these questions and increases the likelihood that a tutor will ask a questions rather than just try to figure it out and get it wrong. The peer mentors also act as support for both the mentees and administration of the LRC. mentors help guide the mentees by providing answers to questions and suggestions to different situations. Mentors also support the administration of the LRC by working closely with the tutors and serving as a big of a go between for tutors and administrators. The administrators may not always have direct contact with every single tutor except during training. The mentors can help advise tutors or expectations of administrators and advise administrators of concerns of the tutors. The mentors also help facilitate tutor training and create resources to help tutors and students. This then allows the administrators to focus on other tasks essential for the LRC.

Impact of being a mentor on mentors Learn and practice leadership skills Build professional communication skills Skill reinforcement Increase confidence Enhance resume and professional attractiveness 3.5 minutes Being a mentor feels great. A mentor is helping others. However, the impact of being a mentor is not restricted to the mentee or the LRC. The mentor is able to learn valuable leadership skills that can immediately be put into practice. Professional communication skills are necessary regardless of professional goals. These skills are valuable to the mentor/mentee relationship as well. Mentors have the opportunity to reinforce skills learned in the classroom while helping mentees improve their skills. The increase in leadership may also boost the mento’s confidence. We cannot deny the impact being a mentor has on one’s resume and attractiveness to potential employers. Mentors learn and use specific skills that are vital in most businesses. Celebije and Jo

Making Peer Mentors Viable Increase communication between LRC staff and mentors Encourage communication between mentor and mentee Encourage engagement Build empowerment Recruitment Consistent training 3.5 minutes Jo The goal of nearly any program is to make it viable. Not all programs last. Sometimes because they were not meant to and sometimes because the creation and execution did not take enough to make it strong and viable. In order to make Peer Tutor Program viable encouraging communication between the mentors and the mentees is vital. Encourage engagement between mentors and mentees which then leads to greater empowerment of the mentees. By establishing specific goals for the program and actively recruiting ahead of any turnover helps ensure that decisions are made in a timely, well thought out manner. Training for mentors may not look like other training, but consistent training and interaction between mentors and administration help ensure that goals are met or adjusted as necessary and that everyone remains on task.

PEER MENTOR: Q & A What questions do you have about anything we discussed? 5 minutes Time for the participants to ask any any questions they have at this time. 8-10 Minutes Celebije, Jo, Aaron, Buddy

DEVELOPING PEER MENTORS: ACTIVITY CREATING THE PERFECT MENTOR 10 minutes-15 minutes (Variable depending on time) Butcher paper. Crayons. Similar to the perfect tutor activity. Participants will create the perfect mentor then discuss what they created. Work in pairs or teams depending on the number of participants. This activity will be 10-15 minutes Jo and Buddy

WRAPPING IT UP 5 minutes Recap what we covered, what was important, etc. Final questions. Final comments. 5 minutes Aaron, Buddy, Celebije, Jo