What a beautiful weekend. Hopefully you were able to get outside and enjoy it!
*Just a friendly reminder – please be mindful of Dane County’s face mask order. If you are spending time indoors with your mentee, be sure that you’re both wearing a mask (We have some if you or your mentee need one). If you’re outdoors, please remain cautious and smart about your interactions with each other.
Don’t forget to follow us and tag us on social media! Look for IntentionalMentoringMadison on FB, Instagram and Twitter!
Challenge for the week:
For October, the challenges will center around the theme of Character Education. This week’s challenge is to teach your mentee about responsibility. A good place to start might be with giving your mentee a self-evaluation like the one below.
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY:
TRUE or FALSE I do what needs to be done
TRUE or FALSE I am reliable and dependable
TRUE or FALSE I never make excuses or blame others for my actions
TRUE or FALSE I always follow through on my commitments
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:
TRUE or FALSE I do my part for the common good
TRUE or FALSE I volunteer in my school or community
TRUE or FALSE I participate in community service
TRUE or FALSE I do what I can to help take care of the environment
I think I am/am not a responsible person because ________________________
You can follow up the self-evaluation with some of the prompts below.
- What does “taking responsibility” mean?
- How does behaving responsibly affect our relationships with our friends? How important is that?
- How does behaving responsibly affect your relationship with your parents? How important is that?
- Have you ever caused problems for somebody else by being irresponsible? What happened? Would you do things differently if you had another chance?
- Has anybody ever caused problems for you by being irresponsible? What happened? What do you wish that person understood about what happened?
- How does it make you feel when somebody lets you down?
- How does it make you feel when you have let somebody else down?
- Do you think there is any connection between being responsible and being trusted? Between being responsible and being respected?
It would be great if you shared answers to these questions as well. Model being vulnerable and open in honest conversations. Talk, listen, share and learn together!
BONUS CHALLENGE: October is S.T.E.M. Mentoring month but the reality of youth in S.T.E.M. is not the prettiest of pictures. According to Mentoring.org, The struggles of girls and young women, youth with disabilities, youth of color, and first generation college students to engage in and persist in STEM are also well documented, as these groups continue to remain disproportionately underrepresented in academia and the STEM workforce. This is an issue that not only limits the career choices being considered by young Americans, but the dilution of the talent pipeline hurts American competitiveness in many industries. Closing these gaps in STEM engagement, performance, and representation has become an issue of national importance. Challenge yourself to expose your mentee to S.T.E.M. this month and, potentially, spark an interest!
TIP OF THE WEEK: Some other ways you can help support someone who has experienced trauma, is by focusing on choice and collaboration.
CHOICE
- Include mentees in decision-making processes whenever possible
- Consider the environment and sensory modality that is best for mentees to engage (seek mentee input and be responsive)
- Allow mentees/families to choose how communication will occur (email, mail, phone, etc.) and what content is most important
COLLABORATION
- Collaboration is about sharing power to ensure shared decision-making and honoring of personal rights
- Seek to be inclusive of your mentee’s voice when deciding on activities, style of communication, meeting days/times, etc.
We love seeing photos of you and your mentee spending time together! Please share them with us via your coach or using the hashtag #intentionalmentoringmadison
Mentor Coaching Group Meeting Dates:
MARILYN: Last week of October marilyn@intentionalmentoringmadison.org
VAL: Tuesday, October 12th 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. val@intentionalmentoringmadison.org
ASHLEY: Scheduled Individually for now ashley@intentionalmentoringmadison.org
RYAN: October 5th 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Ryan@intentionalmentoringmadison.org
Upcoming Events to Note
- Check out all the events at the Wisconsin Science Festival!!
- There are a lot of cool and FREE events at the Dream Bank on E. Washington St.. Check out the AmFam Dream Bank site for more info and to register.
- For a listing of local events checkout www.MadisonWithKids.com
- Free Library Events/Activities: Fitchburg Events Calendar Madison Events Calendar
- For Orchard Ridge events check Orchard Ridge Calendar
- For Toki events check Toki Calendar
- For Sennett events check Sennett Calendar
- For Cherokee events check Cherokee Calendar
- For Blackhawk events check Blackhawk Calendar
- For JMM HS events check Memorial HS Calendar
- For West HS events checkWest HS Calendar
- For La Follette HS events check La Follette Calendar
If you have a change in personal information (phone/address/email) please respond to this email or notify your mentor coach ASAP.
QUOTE of the WEEK
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.“ ~Winston Churchill
All the best,
Intentional Mentoring