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HOME > GENERAL EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES > INFORMATION FOR MENTORS
Children today face unique and complex life-challenges in and out of school. If
you are an adult interested in helping children successfully meet the scholastic and
social challenges that are part of growing up in our society, you may find satisfaction in
mentoring.
What is mentoring?
Mentoring is the process by which adults make a deep commitment to involvement in
children's lives, helping them toward greater achievement. According to Webster's
Dictionary, a mentor is "a wise and trusted counselor." You may not feel
particularly wise, but the life experiences you have gained and the interest you have in
helping a child probably qualify you for the job!
A mentor is a responsive adult who acts as a guide, friend, listener, and coach. Children
need and appreciate adults in whom they can place their trust—adults who take an
active interest in helping them achieve academic and personal goals, find ways to express
themselves, explore new interests, and negotiate the complications of growing up in a
rapidly changing world. And mentoring helps communities: Mentored teenagers are 46% less
likely to begin using illegal drugs, 27% less likely to begin drinking alcohol, 52% less
likely to skip school, and 33% less likely to get involved in a fight. 59% of mentored
teens get better grades, and 73% raise their personal goals.
How do I get involved?
The Florida Mentoring
Partnership provides interested adults in Florida with information about
mentoring and resources to help them get involved. There are also nationally recognized
mentoring partnerships that can point you toward programs in your area. You will find
links at the bottom of this page to web sites provided by mentoring organizations. You may
also find answers to some of your questions. However you choose to become involved whether
through a mentoring organization, or through your church, or neighborhood group, you can
make a difference in a child's life.
What can mentors do to help children succeed?
- To encourage academic success, mentors should review the Benchmarks for
important subject areas such as math and
reading that are applicable to their mentee's grade-level.
- Attend your mentee's
school-related and extracurricular events. Your attendance at events lets your mentee know
that you support his or her education and special interests. Children react positively
when adults show support for their activities. Attendance also gives you a chance to see
how your mentee interacts with peers and where his or her strengths, challenges, and
interests lie.
- Help your mentee
learn to manage stress and anger. Unmanaged stress results in increased frustration,
behavioral problems, health problems, and often depression. Helping your mentee learn to
manage academic and personal stress, and the anger that can come from interacting with
other people, can help him or her avoid a number of problems. You can use stress in your
own life as a way to open dialogue with your mentee about ways to reduce stress and manage
anger.
- Help your mentee
discover or express his or her personal interests. There are a number of ways to encourage
children to explore new interests. If your mentee is reserved in telling you about his or
her interests, make a list of possible activities with the child, and then talk about
which ones sound interesting. One of the greatest things you can do for your mentee is to
help him or her discover new activities to explore and ways to experience success.
- Encourage your mentee
to perform well in school. You can work with your mentee on making a homework schedule,
seeking out new resources for study, and getting serious about grades. You can use your
own academic successes or failures to open dialogue with your mentee about the importance
of grades and attendance. Your encouragement will make a difference.
- Expect high
achievement and offer praise. When your mentee knows that you expect his or her best, the
child will strive to meet that challenge. It is also important that your mentee know his
or her best is all that you expect. Praise builds confidence and will allow your mentee to
feel good about his or her performance. When children learn that their best is good
enough, they are more likely to take healthy risks.
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