Looking for Resources for Beginners

[Cynette]

We try to pair up the new students with veteran students.

Make sure the veteran students know that it is part of their responsibility to make sure the new students are engaged and understand what is going on. Emphasize to the new student that they can ask as many questions as they want. It develops good team skills in both sets of students. The veterans have to learn patience and how to teach what they know to the other students. New students learn how to ask for help (thats actually a skill I think a lot of students lack).

As mentors, we then are on the look out for the new student who looks disengeged and try to refocus him / her. We also watch out for the veteran who is totally exasperated from working with a why, why, why student.