SGHS Mentor Training 2012

Items to Cover Purpose of Mentors Confidentiality Skills needed for Mentors  Empathy  Attending Skills  Questioning Goals for the upcoming year Freshmen Registration

Mentoring Benefits Opportunity for self-growth Contribution to others and sense of school community A chance to give back to the community Resume booster A+ hours

Confidentiality Students often feel more comfortable talking with a peer than adult-so it is imperative that you understand confidentiality.  You must break confidentiality if Threats are made student Threats that a student will harm themselves Student threatens to harm others  See Confidentiality Contract

Careful Listening Look at the person who is talking Pay attention to who is talking  Avoid drifting away to your own thoughts Be aware of the feelings that go with the words Say something to show that you have been listening  Wait till it is your turn to talk  Don’t change the subject unless it is deliberate  Don’t always wait till the end of the story to interject  Read example  Role Play

Empathy Empathy-Understanding other individuals so completely that their surface feelings and even their deeper feelings, thoughts, and motives are easily comprehended.  Sympathy is pity and is different  Use paraphrasing to convey your empathy for a situation It is not effective when repeating word for word It lets others know that you are listening Things often sound different when they are repeated back to them, so the helped helps them to get a more complete picture or understanding of their feelings. This is one of he most important skills!

Summarizing and Paraphrasing Examples You seem to be saying….. In other words… Correct me if I am wrong, but you are saying What keeps coming through me are these ideas Ex. I didn’t know what to do, sometimes she is nice and sometimes she is mean Ex. I am really having a hard time getting my parents to trust me and it make me so angry every time I go out

Questions Open vs. Closed  Avoid Why/ Try What or How Ex. Why do you like him or What do you see in him? Ex. Why don’t you like the class or How would you describe the class?  Try not to ask too many questions Worksheet What are some questions to ask of new students when giving a tour?

Other Compliments are helpful and be as specific as possible  Ex. one of the things that I noticed about you is…. Simple acknowledgement Thank you Thanks for sharing Reassuring/Supporting/Advice  Dangerous territory Ex. I know you feel Ex. It’s going to be alright Ex. you need to study more Ex. go ahead and ask her out Avoid Sarcasm Avoid Negativity  Ex. Dances are really stupid  Ex. That teacher is easy Boundaries-Never give out your phone number Classroom Behavior Tips

Resources Website  See Mentor Plan  Advisory Visit Reports Communication  /Texts  Lead Mentor Meetings

Goals for This year Have a concrete plan for mentoring the Buddy Program Enhance and expand Freshmen Olympics Work with freshmen class sponsors with ideas to enhance advisory Enhance 8 th grade presentation in October Mentors chair events 100% advisory teacher satisfaction! Use Club Day Meeting for Practice and Planning

All Mentors Exchange Contact Information Advice/Best Practices and Challenges to Mentoring in the Classroom  Would like to add to website Information about the upcoming meeting

Freshmen Registration Advisory Assignments Comments/Questions

My Agenda