Please indicate the student skill areas that you feel you influenced through this project.
0 - Improved math comprehension and ability
0 - Improved science comprehension and ability
10 - Improved written communication skills
0 - Improved basic research skills
2 - Improved project management skills
5 - Improved collaboration skills
Please indicate if your mentoring support aided your student in the following areas.
2 - Better understanding of a professional work environment
2 - Improved awareness of post-secondary educational opportunities
1 - Increased desire to research and plan for post-secondary education
4 - Improved awareness of the value of a professional support network
The average quality of the messages received from students throughout the project.
3.20
Did your student share a final product (presentation, research report, plan, etc) with you for this project?
2 - N/A
2 - Yes
6 - No
Average level and quality of assistance received from the teacher throughout the project.
3.90
Average level and quality of assistance you received from Mentored Pathways staff throughout the project.
3.50
Things either the teacher or the Mentored Pathways Staff do to make a similar project more successful.
This was a writing for impact project. I enjoy Mr Shinn's method of ensuring that the mentors know what the teacher is looking for so that we can coach the mentees in that direction.
Having regular communications from the teacher stating what was expected per week was very helpful. It was also helpful to be given details of what the kids were expected to produce so that I could give feedback that I felt was consistent with the teachers expectations. It was also very helpful to use Google Docs as this made providing feedback on the students documents very easy and clear.
Make sure we can open and edit google docs. This was very frustrating because I couldn't give my student recommended changes in a different color so they could tell the difference.
It would help a lot if the teacher could provide more feedback on the feedback I give the student. At the conclusion of the course, I sensed a bit of pushback from the student so I am afraid I might have used too much red ink at times or inadequately prepared the student with a mindset to constructively accept feedback.
I think allowing a week or so to establish rapport between student and mentor before jumping into a project might help; it seems to me that some students view communicating with me as just another assignment, so they don't get as much as they can out of it.
Feedback regarding the quality of the student's final project as well as suggestions for improvement.
Eli improved significantly in his writing skills throughout the semester. Originally, he had problems organizing his thoughts and preparing a clear and concise document. As the term progressed, his skills in this are improved significantly and his final writing project was much more clear and developed.
I felt that the student had made progress in his written skills. It would have been interesting to see what the teacher thought of the feedback I had given so that I could ensure that my feedback was in line with the teachers expectations. I felt my feedback was consistent but I did not have any way of validating this.
The student generally took suggested edits in the various writing assignments. However, there seemed to be a sense of resentment stemming from the perception of being corrected. For improvement efforts where personal style and identity are concerned, it would be helpful if the teacher can prepare the students, particularly the ones who are already quite content with their own sense of ability, to accept feedback.
Overall experience in the program.
4.20
Would you consider mentoring new students in the future?
0 - No
10 - Yes
Why or why not.
This is an important and very rewarding experience for me.
I enjoy getting to know different children and also learning more about different grade levels as I was not educated in the US.
My perceived level of impact to effort felt very high.
I very much like the idea of positively affecting lives early on.
The most rewarding aspect of participating.
Clay wrote often and communicated well.
Ian seemed to feel that he gained some reflection about his writing from this project which is great.
The most rewarding aspect is seeing students develop their skill sets and discover their own writing style.
Working with kids and feeling that I am making a positive difference to them and, hopefully, helping the teachers make education a more engaging activity for the kids.
Actively engaging with the student's perspective.
Seeing positive effects that I have on a student.
The most difficult aspect of participating.
Project was cut short.
The most difficult aspect at times is getting the student to focus on the task at hand.
Since this is all virtual it is hard to learn about the environment in which the kids are working. In this project the teacher helped in providing some information. It would be great if future projects also provided information such as if the kids are working as groups, if they are in an advanced class, if their first language is not English, if the class is large, if all kids have access to a computer in class, how much time kids have to do the work that they are required to do, etc. This would help me set my expectations for the quality of work that the student produces.
Google docs
Pushback from the student, who didn't feel like they needed help in the first place.
Asking questions of students and having them not respond or acknowledge them in their next message.
First time you've been part of a formal mentoring program.
9 - No
1 - Yes
