Student Mentoring - March 9, 2015

Today was my last day with my student mentee.  It seems to have gone by very quickly and has not felt like enough time.  I suppose that is a good sign.

She never did create a google docs to share her final draft of her cover letter with me, but that is because she had not actually finished it.  I learned that deadlines and due dates are almost non existent for these students.  I am not sure if that is specific to the gifted program, or if that is sort of the norm in grades 7 and 8.  My student partner actually admitted that she wished there were more rigid due dates because like myself, she needs them in place to force her to actually get things done.

As a result, we worked on cleaning up the cover letter and putting it into good copy.  She was very pleased with her work and expressed gratitude for my help, which made me feel really good and maybe even like a successful teacher!
After the cover letter was completed, she wanted to discuss her next assignment, a geography project focusing on "quality of life" factors for different countries.  It was interesting to be asked about a discipline that is not my focus, although as a history teacher it is entirely plausible that I will be teaching geography at some point.  This was out of my range of expertise, so, we consulted the Ontario Curriculum documents.  I wish I could say that this was my idea, but it was my student's!  I was extremely impressed that she was even aware of the document, let alone comfortable reading it.  I remember being vaguely aware that there was some kind of guidelines for how we were taught when I was in school, but never did I see a curriculum document, let alone consult it for a project.
But what a fabulous idea! It is obvious that their teacher has a very open, honest approach to teaching.
So, we looked at the curriculum, which helped her develop her topic idea into a thesis.  We discussed some of the ways in which she might approach the assignment and then time was up.  I was really excited about getting to put my interdisciplinary writing skills to work with this project.  I wished it had been at the beginning of our time together rather than the end.

I made sure we left time for a little debrief for both of our benefits.  I was not sure how to evaluate our time together, as it felt to me like it was poorly structured and far too brief to be overly effective.  She assured me that it had been extremely helpful for her, as rather than doing skill drills and work sheets, we were doing real work and assignments that had a purpose.  This made so much sense to me, and I think it really brings home the fact that students learn best when they can relate the work they are doing within the context of their own lives.  They need a purpose, not just busy work.  They learn by applying the skills in a purposeful manner with a meaningful product as a result.
This process was a great way for me to take all of the theory and put it into practice.  Overall, a great experience. :)