TTRM Session #7

Today we went to DYE as we usually do on Wednesdays. Many of the participating SWA students have been mentoring in TTRM for the whole 7 weeks now, while some of them have only been mentoring for 2 weeks. It has not been as difficult to train the new ones and switch out mentors with the 3rd grade mentees as we thought it would be initially, probably because the timing was right at the beginning. When we started Session 1, there were many new SWA students, and now many of them are still mentoring in the program at week 7.

Overall, the mentors enjoy coming to see their mentees and reading with them, even if it's only to get out of school for an hour. Today as I monitored, I noticed that the mentors have improved on interacting with their mentees, answering questions, guiding them to the right answers, and relating the reading to their everyday lives. They seem more comfortable, and they have found what strategies work for them. I didn't have to guide them much today, which is a sign that they are improving as mentors and leaders. As I have been training the new SWA students, I have told them that their goal for their mentees is to train them to read better and more independently, and the way to do that is through scaffolding: I do (modeling), we do (choral reading, shadow reading), you do (independent reading). I see that they are understanding this concept more now that they have had this experience. Also, I hope that this experience is showing the SWA students that they can have a positive influence on someone else, and maybe that will make them think more about the decisions they make in their personal lives and at their regular high schools. I have found that working with children can have that effect on people when they begin to take up the mindset of a leader and mentor. When you want children to make positive decisions, as a mentor for them, you want to show them what it looks like to make good choices, and as a result, you become influenced by them to make better choices yourself.

Friday at SWA

On Friday, I went to SWA for 2nd and 4th period. In 2nd period, Kelly videotaped each of the mentors and me telling about our experiences with TTRM so far. This is for Mrs. Davenport to take to a national conference.

In 4th period, I taught the new students about TTRM and trained them for mentoring on Wednesday. Two of the new students were at school, and one was absent. While we were training for TTRM, the other students in the class were playing some kind of string instrument led by an older lady. Needless to say, it was loud in there, so the new guys had a hard time paying attention. On top of that, the lady leading the music told us to quiet down a few times, which I thought was a little rude, especially since we were not talking loud. We ended up moving to another part of the room at her request. It was an interesting day.

TTRM Session #5

Today during the TTRM session, we started quicker than usual, probably because the teens and 3rd graders know the format by now. Because of that, they had more time today than they have during past sessions. I noticed that the mentors (teens) were using the reading strategies more this week instead of just allowing their mentee, struggling or not, to read the whole section independently. Kelly told me that she had refreshed them on the reading strategies in class and told them not to have the 3rd graders read the whole section by themselves. That was a positive change today.

However, because of the extra time, I noticed that after the pairs were finished with the magazine part, instead of starting the next step (reading the free book together), they skipped it and started playing hangman or tic-tac-toe. The mentors need more direction on what their roles are--the leader. It is their jobs to make sure the 3rd graders are focused on reading during the session, and instead, some of the mentors were causing their mentees to goof off. Part of the purpose of the program is to help 3rd graders want to read more on their own (outside of school), so when their mentors don't seem to care about sticking to the reading after the first part of the session is finished, it sends the mentees mixed signals, and that is probably confusing for them. If my professors goofed off in class instead of sticking to their lessons, I would not be too motivated to do my best work. As a mentor, it is important to show the mentee that you care about the reading lesson, and that you expect them to do their best.

Next time I tutor new SWA students on mentoring, I will be sure to focus on reading strategies and keeping the 3rd graders on task through the whole session.