[CASL-L] Small student groups

[Yulo-medeiros, Julie]

Cromwell High School calls the mentoring program Connections. Our mentoring groups meet once a week for 22 minutes between period 2 and 3. Four days a week we have one schedule and then on the day we meet with our mentees we have a modified schedule to accommodate our mentoring time. Our activities range from serious to fun. The topics include but not limited to bullying, drugs, ways to be involved at CHS, and local and global issues. A teacher writes the lesson each week and gets paid a stipend for taking on the additional responsibility. Teachers, students and clubs sometimes will ask permission to develop the Connection activity for the week. For example, I'll ask to write the lesson when I want to promote the book for Cromwell Reads which is an effort between the school libraries and the public library to get the community to read and participate in activities based on one book.  Each group has between 10 and 13 students plus a mentor. The mentors include all teachers, the principal, school librarian and some paraprofessionals. The guidance counselors act as subs. Other support personnel such as psychologist, social worker and speech pathologist do not have groups in part because some of them are in more than one building plus they are available for individual problems. Our Connection program is mandatory and if you cut a Connection meeting you receive one or more lunch detentions issued by the assistant principal.
 Many high schools in New England have mentoring programs because it is an expectation of NEASC. High schools are evaluated every ten years by NEASC and the mentoring program is considered part of a successful high school. The mentoring program replaces the homeroom for some high schools. We do not have home rooms. Please see the link below for the NEASC indicator that explains the expectations of the mentoring program.
NEASC - Leadership and Organization- Indicator 9
http://cpss.neasc.org/getting_started/explanation_of_standards/leadership_and_organization/le_indicator_9/
Our Connection coordinator, a math teacher, and our former principal wrote a book about building mentoring programs in schools. Please see below for the title, authors and the publisher's synopsis.
Mentoring Matters: A Toolkit for Organizing & Operating Student Advisory Programs
By Mark Benigni and Sheryll Petrosky
Synopsis:
As schools are trying to connect with their students and assure that every student has an adult mentor in the building, the need for school-based mentoring programs could not be greater. When creating our school district's mentoring programs, we could not find age-appropriate, current, user-friendly mentoring lessons. With limited financial and human resources, schools are searching for a practical, innovative, and trial-tested resource. Here it is!
Mentoring Matters is the action plan with all the resources necessary to launch a school-based mentoring program. The forty-five thirty-minute lessons will serve as the foundation of your mentoring program. From Facebook to bullying to teenage stressors, we cover it all. We live it with you every day! We have eliminated all the hurdles and obstacles and created a handbook for mentoring success.
Best of luck with developing your mentoring program.
Julie
Julie Yulo-Medeiros
School Librarian
Virtual High School Site Coordinator
Cromwell High School
34 Evergreen Road
Cromwell, CT 06416
860.632.4841 Ext: 14830
jyulo at cromwell.k12.ct.us<mailto:jyulo at cromwell.k12.ct.us>



From: casl-l-bounces at mylist.net [mailto:casl-l-bounces at mylist.net] On Behalf Of David Bilmes
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2013 7:37 AM
To: CASL listserv
Subject: [CASL-L] Small student groups

This is an off-topic question. Our middle school is trying to have a small group (15-20 students) of students meet once a month with a staff member as an informal type of advisory group. Do any of your schools do something similar, and if so, what type of activities do you do in those groups. Also, how often do those groups meet.

Thanks in advance for your help!




David Bilmes
Library Media Specialist
Schaghticoke Middle School
23 Hipp Road
New Milford, CT 06776
(860) 354-2204, ext. 113 or 115
bilmesd at newmilfordps.org<mailto:bilmesd at newmilfordps.org>

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