Please indicate the student skill areas that you feel you influenced through this project.
0 - Improved math comprehension and ability
2 - Improved science comprehension and ability
7 - Improved written communication skills
7 - Improved basic research skills
6 - Improved project management skills
6 - Improved collaboration skills
Please indicate if your mentoring support aided your student in the following areas.
7 - Better understanding of a professional work environment
6 - Improved awareness of post-secondary educational opportunities
6 - Increased desire to research and plan for post-secondary education
6 - Improved awareness of the value of a professional support network
The average quality of the messages received from students throughout the project.
4.29
Did your student share a final product (presentation, research report, plan, etc) with you for this project?
0 - N/A
0 - Yes
7 - No
Average level and quality of assistance received from the teacher throughout the project.
4.29
Average level and quality of assistance you received from Mentored Pathways staff throughout the project.
4.00
Things either the teacher or the Mentored Pathways Staff do to make a similar project more successful.
I thought the Mentored Pathways staff did a great job!
As I've talked about with David N, I would like to see a way to know what / how other mentors are giving feedback and advice to their student. I'm sure that I would benefit from some of the other mentors' skills and approaches.
Shorten the length of the emails.
I enjoyed working with Chloe and she did high quality work. David also stepped in at very short notice to send a quick backup message to my student when a family issue took longer than expected to resolve and also helped leverage the mentoring network to help put me in touch with a couple of professionals in my student's career of interest when my enquiries drew a blank. I really appreciate the support that the Mentored Pathways program gives to mentors. Nick was also a great teacher to work with and always kept me up to date on where thigns were with the project. It makes it so much easier for mentors when the teacher provides regular updates not just about the project itself but also about other things that might affect communications such as testing schedules.
Feedback regarding the quality of the student's final project as well as suggestions for improvement.
The final project does encompass the highlights of the meat of the mentorship. I would suggest adding a couple slides where the student has to elaborate on what they learned specifically, something that surprised them/misconceptions, or they're favorite thing they learned. I feel it was missing more commentary from the student.
I thought Shane did pretty well, especially when I remind myself that he's a ninth grader. There were times when it seemed pretty clear that he rushed, and therefore the polish of sentences that made sense, and correct spelling suffered. I would encourage him to make sure he leaves time to thoroughly proof read his content before submitting it.
Prezi was well organized.
For most of the assignments on the project Chloe and I had time to work together and refine her final submissions. The final project didn't quite get to me in time as a lot of things piled up at the end of the project so I only saw a partial set of slides. It would be really good to have a formal wrap-up process, which I know is in the project plan so it may just have been that Chloe was behind - it's hard to know when, as mentors, we should say 'goodbye' to the students. It would be great to be able to hear how final presentations went and again, if there could be a way in which remote mentors could skype in to watch a student presentation that would be really good. I know mentors have attended presentations in person at some of the Colorado schools but it would be great if that could be extended.
Douglas, did an excellent job on his project and in all the communications.
Overall experience in the program.
4.57
Would you consider mentoring new students in the future?
0 - No
7 - Yes
Why or why not.
I found the program to be very rewarding and I feel I was able to benefit my student.
Over the years I've discovered that helping young people is so important; so many have no one that really sets them on a good path. I believe that even if my students haven't been the most responsive, I've still pushed them, however slightly, towards a better life.
I enjoy doing it.
Always enjoy the challenges of finding what motivates a student, how to communicate best with them, helping them clarify thinking about careers and learning new things myself.
The most rewarding aspect of participating.
The sense that what I suggested really meant something to the student. I think he will and is doing many of the things I suggested to him, which will help him make informed decisions down the road.
Seeing that I've influenced the thoughts or attitude of the student.
The student relationship.
Working with a student who both provided and responded to a lot of detail and enjoyed discussing different aspects of the careers in which she was interested.
The most difficult aspect of participating.
It's a very short-term program. I wish there was a way to follow their journey. I feel very limited in the impact I can truly make and I feel the student isn't getting the absolute most out of this mentoring and networking opportunity. Although, I understand and agree with the underlying concerns, I hope there will someday be a means by which both the potential and the concerns can be satisfied.
In this particular project, it was trying (and pretty much failing) to get professionals in my student's chosen field to respond to requests to answer my student's questions. I can understand why - usually I am someone they've NEVER heard of, and thanks to the phishing, spam, etc., I'd be tempted to blow it off too.
Contact professionals.
Sometimes Chloe struggled with procrastination - mostly this was OK and she would be able to catch up but it did cause a problem in getting thank you notes to the professionals who responded to her survey. Not sure if I should have contacted the teacher to make sure Chloe followed through on this when my requests and reminders weren't working (so no fault of Nick's at all) but, if possible, it would be good in general if teachers could really stress the message that thank you notes should be a priority once surveys are received as professionals are taking time out of their day to respond to a student they don't know. On other projects I've always found that the thank you notes really do mean something to those professionals.
Never having any follow-up with the students after the project ends. It would be great to get an update after a few years.
First time you've been part of a formal mentoring program.
6 - No
1 - Yes
