To start the conversation about mentors, I thought I would start with a funny story. At the beginning of the semester, students send me contact information for themselves and their parents, they also have to list there who their mentor is. I had one student who didn’t quite understand that mentor meant the person at his school that was supposed to help him with class-related things in person. So he wrote me this long paragraph about how amazing his dad is and how he is his mentor in life. Even though this wasn’t the answer I was looking for, it was an awesome answer!

So, now for building relationships with the actual mentors that I’m going to talk about today…

The biggest thing for building relationships is communication. I think it is important to communicate clearly and as often as possible with mentors. The more I talk with mentors, the more they get to know me and are comfortable reaching out to me about their students. When I reach out to a mentor about a student that is struggling I always end the email with something along the lines of “Thank you for your help and I know that together we can help (student name) have a successful semester!” I think that a line like this helps show the mentor that I want to have a partnership with them and really work with them to find what is best for each student.

Mentor’s can be very important allies and once you get to know a few, it seems easier to manage and help struggling students.