Hello Mentor Family,

Welcome back to another edition of Quarantined Mentoring Updates. I hope you’re all hanging in there and figuring out this temporary new normal. I wanted to give you a heads up that there are a lot of resources available for families that may be struggling during this time. If you know that your mentee and their family are struggling in some way and you’re not sure how to help, please reach out to us. We are aware of resources for free meals, free internet, community resources and health resources that we are eager to let you and your mentee know about. You can also check-out some of those resources at https://www.madison.k12.wi.us/mmsd-covid-19-updates.

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 March, the challenges will center around the theme of Literacy. Due to limited access to the outside world, your challenge this week is to read a digital book with your mentee. The public library’s Overdrive app lets you download tons of audioboks for free with a library card. Also, Audible launched Audible Stories, which offers free audiobooks for kids and teens as long as schools are closed. So cool! You and your mentee can decide on a book to download and then set a reading plan together. Maybe you agree to listen for an hour each day and then check-in daily about what you read. Or, agree to finish the book by the end of the week and then face time to discuss it. There are so many good books out there, good luck choosing just one!

BONUS CHALLENGE: March is Women’s History Month. Check out these links, Women’sHistoryMonth.gov or 31 Ways to Celebrate Women’s HistoryMonth for ideas on learning, sharing and growing in knowledge and awareness.

TIP of the WEEK: The mission of Intentional Mentoring is to have Mentors interact with school, community, and families in order to strengthen the support network for students facing adversity. This means that we highly value our committment to mentee families. We truly do believe that the stronger our mentor’s relationships are with their mentee’s family, the stronger the relationship between mentee and mentor will be. That being said, we know that not all family dynamics appear stable or, sometimes, even safe. However, it is never our place to judge or assume. As a mentor, part of your role is learning and understanding your mentee’s family dynamic, not so that you can fix it or change it, but so that you can help your mentee to process it. And the best way to do this is to get to know your mentee’s family members. Check-in with yourself – do you know the names of at least two of your mentee’s family members? Do you know where they work? What hours they work? Who your mentee lives with? Do at least two of your mentee’s familiy members know your name? Do they know where you work? What hours you work? Who you live with? Your answers to these questions may give you an additional challenge for this week!

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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

REMINDER: ALL MARCH COACHING MEETINGS WILL BE HELD ONLINE OR VIA PHONE

Mentor Coaching Group Meeting Dates:

MARILYN: Tuesday, March 31st 7-8 p.m. marilyn@intentionalmentoringmadison.org

VAL: Tuesday, March 10th 5:30-:30 p.m. val@intentionalmentoringmadison.org

ASHLEY: Wednesday, March 18th 7-8 a.m. ashley@intentionalmentoringmadison.org

RYAN: Monday, March 9th 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Ryan@intentionalmentoringmadison.org

Upcoming Events to Note:

BRAT FEST is coming . . . but not when we thought it would be. Brat Fest has been moved to the end of August. Until we are closer and have more information, we’re holding off on signing up volunteers. If you have already signed up, thank you! We’ll be in touch in August 🙂

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

All the best,

Intentional Mentoring