One more week of summer break until school starts! Are your mentees ready? This won’t feel like a normal return to school, but we can all do our best to help our mentees stay positive and to embrace virtual school! MMSD has been sending out a lot of communication about how school will look this fall – it might be a good idea to check-in with your mentee and their family to make sure they’re keeping up to date on all of the happenings.
*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 September, the challenges will center around the theme of Back to School. This week’s challenge is to set aside some time to talk to your mentee about how they are feeling about going back to school. Make a list of the things they are afraid of or anxious about and the things they are excited about or looking forward to. Be intentional about helping them address their fears and anxieties and find out why certain things excite them. Keep this list in mind so that you can come back to it in a few weeks to check-in! As always, talk, question, listen, challenge and encourage your mentee!
BONUS CHALLENGE: September is Back-to-School Month and the layered crises facing our nation have made it, perhaps more than ever, imperative that we show up for mentees. With all of the uncertainty surrounding what back-to-school will look like, we need to make sure that students are heard, seen and supported during their learning. Challenge yourself to ask more questions, listen to the details and offer support to both your mentee and their family during this critical time.
TIP of the WEEK: Did you know that there are several different types of trauma? Trauma can be experienced in the form of a one-time event, a series of events (possibly over a period of time) or through historical events (cumulative emotional and psychological wounding across generations). Some events/experiences that may cause trauma are natural disasters, human-caused disasters, community violence, school violence, family trauma, refugee trauma, medical trauma, poverty, racial trauma and/or historical trauma. Not everyone responds the same to any one event or any series of events. It’s our job to understand this and to do our best to help our mentees build their capacity to unlearn the damaging effects they may be experiencing (possibly unknowingly) as a result of trauma.
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: TBD marilyn@intentionalmentoringmadison.org
VAL: Tuesday, September 8th 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. val@intentionalmentoringmadison.org
ASHLEY: Scheduled Individually for now ashley@intentionalmentoringmadison.org
RYAN: TBD 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Ryan@intentionalmentoringmadison.org
Upcoming Events to Note
- First day of school – September 8th!
- SHARE THIS! Parent Support Group starting 9/17! Register by 9/14.
- 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
All the best,
Intentional Mentoring