Mentor Help

[Alavinus]

I am hoping the CD community could help me with this question. I was in FIRST for 4 years in high school and am now mentoring a different team. Do any of the mentors out there have any advice to make sure the students learn and that the team runs smoothly? I want to try to be the best mentor I can. Thanks!

[Arefin Bari]

i am still on a team for FIRST... but i do mentor some middle and elementary school teams for FLL... just be cool with them... and become friends with them... that would help a lot... (i just work with middle school students so not very sure how much that would help you with high school students)...

[KenWittlief]

there is a mentors guide put out by FIRST - I think its on their website

[Matt Adams]

I was involved in a high school program for a few years before becoming an advisor on team 461.

I'm only going to drop a few lines about this.

First and foremost.. you need to respect the students you're working with. Once you treat them with respect, it will be returned. Keep the following in mind:

Respect is vital to a leader. Without it, no one follows. Title or position will not help it. With it, everyone follows, and title or position are not needed.

Secondly... get to know the people that you work with. This doesn't mean that you need to be best friends, but make sure that you get to know them on a personal level. Ask about their family, tell them about yours. This will make you more approachable if certain situations arise.

Third... treat your position, as a mentor, like you are a servant to the high school students. This doesn't mean you bend over backwards to meet their every whimsical request, nor does it mean that you agree or do everything the want. It means that you make sure you give high school students the chance to get the most out of their time and effort. Make sure that those who want to learn are able to. You can't force every student to be proactive, but you need to make sure that everyone is given the chance. Those who want to go "above and beyond" will do so.

Fourth and most importantly... make yourself a role model. Try to do everything you can with the poise and graciousness that the person you most respect (whoever that is) would do. Don't cheat, don't "push" the rules. Don't lie, don't steal, treat everyone fairly. Don't degrade other team's efforts. Encourage students to their full potential. Don't have low expectations. Place less emphasis on winning and more emphasis on doing things the best you can.

Fifth... give students as much ownership as they can handle. Ensure that every student is given a chance to contribute. Make sure that students are heard, and given a chance to decide on issues that will affect them if possible. Promote leadership.

To summerize... GIVE.

Give respect to all you work with.
Give a listening ear to all that may need it.
Give all the time you can.
Give students a role model they look up to.
Give students the chance to take ownership.

GIVE GIVE GIVE

... and then you'll find that you get it all back about one hundred fold, in ways you never imagined possible.

Matt

[Mike Schroeder]

Well one thing i would suggest esspecially if this is your first year in college, is dont bite off more than you can chew. School should come first, get the hang of things.

Next, dont try to be the best mentor you can, just be, any mentor is a good mentor, i try to be there for advice only, although ussually i get a little carried away, but dont get offended if a student tells you to back away, they come first, your just there to answer questions and give suggestions, if they dont listen, they dont listen its thier mistakes to make, they cant learn from yours

[petek]

I would say one of the most important parts of being a mentor is helping the students do the best job they can. For me, the hardest - and most rewarding - part of the job is helping the students learn how to solve a problem without telling them how to do it or actually doing the job for them.

I do my best to stay at least one step ahead of the students in technical areas, so that I can answer their questions and teach them what I've learned. I do help them brainstorm the problems and often make suggestions, but in the end it's up to the student(s) to decide what plan to follow.

For example, when working with our design team, I would work on ways to animate assemblies, but not use the actual robot parts. Then, I can teach the student designers what I've learned, but when it comes to doing the Inventor submission, the students are the ones doing the real work. The only time I would do work on the submission itself would be to make a really tricky component or assembly constraint when there simply isn't enough time left before the deadline for the students to do it all.

To expand a little on Matt's point about getting to know the students, you need to realize that each one is an individual, with different abilities and interests, and one of your jobs is to figure out how each one can be most constructive. An example of this is some people can really dig in and immerse themselves in one job and see it through, while others may have a shorter attention span and need either smaller jobs or more supervision.

[indieFan]

I would highly suggest talking to the coach(es) of the team that you are mentoring to find out what he expects from the mentors.

All of the advice given so far has been good, however not all teams operate in the same manner. Some teams have mentors that take a larger hands on role than others. Some teams prefer that the mentors serve primarily as resources and let the students do all the work. The only way to find out the best way to be a mentor is to consult with the coach and discuss what is expected. If you don't, you may find some animosity building due to a conflict between both your expectations and those of the teams.

I know that at least one of the two teams that I work with will be having a short meeting with all mentors on Kickoff Day to explain what role we (the coaches and team) expect them to play throughout the season.

Hope this helps,
indieFan

[Ken Loyd]

"Do any of the mentors out there have any advice to make sure the students learn"

After thirty years of teaching and seven years as a teacher/advisor with a FIRST Team, I can tell you this: No one can "make" anyone learn!

What I like about FIRST is the notion that engineering can be fun. After attending school all day and working hard (some students more than others) what students do not need is more work. They need to discover that working and learning can be fun. Putting in long hours on something you enjoy is rewarding and exciting. The successful teams learn how to balance work and fun.

I hope this helps.

Ken Loyd
Team #64

[UCGL_Guy]

This goes along the lines of some of the other posts - you have to be willing to let them make mistakes, don't do everything for them. It is about the students and the relationship between you and them. Make sure you are having fun, because if you aren't they will see it and they won't have fun either.