Mentorship Progress - Essay Example

Progress Report in Mentorship Affiliation: Observation and Interactions My mentee is called Alondra Salazar, a young intelligent girl from Mexico. I started mentoring her since the spring quarter in April, 2015. When we started out, she was afraid and talked little. I was very bothered because it was difficult to communicate with her. During our meetings, she was often passive and said very little. However, she was warm and always smiled whenever we met. Her excitement encouraged me to find a way of engaging better with her. I encouraged her to open up by telling her interesting stories about my childhood that resembled what she goes through on a daily basis. I asked her to tell me stories about her friends, school and hobbies. I have learnt that Alondra is shy and reserved but she is very bright and intelligent. She is a good student who follows rules and is rarely found in mistakes. She is very courteous and respectful, she addresses me with great respect and consideration, always asking wise questions in the most mature way for a child her age (Coles, 2011). To gain more information about my mentee, we have engaged in different activities together. During our meetings, I always carry a story book that she likes and we read together in turns. I ask her to give a summary of the book and what she understands from the story. This exercise reveals that Alondra learns fast and is interested in learning new knowledge. She is always eager to ask questions and looks a time excitedly for answers. I observed that she has difficulty pronouncing some hard words and is afraid of pronouncing words wrongly. When this happens, I encourage her to make mispronunciations so that she can learn from her mistakes. We are working together towards eliminating her fear and shyness, so that she can be more open and involved in class and with her friends and family. We draw and paint together ad this made me realise that she is poor at designing and creating imaginative pictures. Despite this, she likes to learn from her classmates and I was thrilled to know that she made a beautiful gift card to her mother during mother’s day all by herself. Initially she didn’t have any idea of how to make the card but she learnt from her teacher and classmates. She also made me the most beautiful thank you and friendship card that brought tears to my eyes. We are making tremendous steps towards and I am glad to make such a positive change in her. We play games together, and I learnt that she likes to play basketball and baseball. We play this together and she is very agile and tactical. Her skills in these sports are amazing and I am encouraging her to join the junior sports team in her school to sharpen her talent in sports (Coles, 2011). I plan to hold more sessions with her and engage more in stories to help her improve her grammar. I plan to play her favourite sports with her and contact the school to enrol her in the junior baseball and basketball teams. My Mentee’s Family Alondra’s family comes from Mexico. She was born in Los Angeles but her family moved to San Diego when she was three years old. She comes from a small family of five. She has two elder brothers aged 18 years and 15 years. Her mother is a house wife while her father works at a local firm. Her family speaks Spanish and her mother doesn’t understand English. However, her father knows some Basic English words but is rarely at home to help Alondra with her homework. Since her family rarely speaks r helps her with her homework due to language barrier, her grammar is poor due to lack of support at home. Her brothers who would help her don’t stay and therefore, there is no one to help her with school work. When I visited her family, i was received with warmth and excitement. I found the mother who I talked with. However, our conversation was difficult because she doesn’t understand English and Alondra had to translate. Language barrier hindered the effectiveness of our conversation because Alondra was unable to interpret some Spanish words. However, I learnt from her mother that Alondra is an obedient and organized child (Barry, 2002). She is very helpful at home and helps her mother understand some English words that she learns at school. Her mother has given her the responsibilities of feeding her pet, cleaning her room, clean the dishes she uses for her meals and brush her shoes. The mother said that Alondra works with enthusiasm and is always willing to help. She likes to walk her dog and paly with the neighbours children over the weekends. She also watches her favourite cartoon station over the weekends and visit her cousins who live nearby. The family occasionally hold family events such as Sunday dinners and play games together. The mother said that Alondra shines during these events because they play her favourite games and she outshines all of them. Alondra is very close with her parents and brothers. She plays video games and cards with her father and brothers. She accompanies her mother for weekend shopping which she greatly enjoys. She also helps her mother make family meals and do home gardening. Alondra is surrounded by love from her family. Her brothers are fond of her and spoil her with gifts when they visit. She doesn’t spend much time with her father but he adores her (Barry, 2002). Her mother says that I should help Alondra overcome her shyness and fear of new environment. Through interactions with her family, I understand why her grammar is so poor. She has no one to look up to in her academics and I plan to fill this gap. I also plan to keep contact with her mother through visits and letters that I hope Alondra will translate effectively. My Mentee’s Teacher Alondra’s teacher is called Mrs Elsas, who is young, friendly and competent in her work. Alondra speaks highly of her and says that the teacher is her friend. During my visits, I noticed that Mrs Elsas treats all her pupils equally and personally assist them in class. She calls them by their names and seemed to know their individual learning weaknesses. Her pupils love her very much and are fond of her. They hug her during meal breaks and ask her to play with them. During mother’s day, the children made a beautiful gift card and presented it to her, thanking her for being an excellent school mother. Mrs Elsas is always happy to see and allocate time to talk about Alondra’s progress in school. She is fond of Alondra and makes great comments about her (Robinson, 2010). In my last visit the teacher said that Alondra is very helpful in class. She said that Alondra is her personal class assistance because she is always willing to help. For example, since she sits close to the teacher, Alondra helps distribute tests and collect papers and other small things. However, the teacher is worried over Alondra’s school performance in mathematics. She said that Alondra is weak in mental arithmetic. For example, she can’t immediately calculate 8*9. The teacher wanted me to help Alondra improve on her calculating ability. When I talked to Alondra, she said that she often forget the answers and doesn’t read arithmetic because she hates it. We decided to get time for this in my visits and involve her classmates in helping her revise. I also promised to bring her times table so that she can memorise the arithmetic at home. I attended a painting and drawing lesson when I last visited Alondra. I observed that the teacher engages all students and assist them to paint their designs. She also lets the students choose what to draw and paint in order to increase their creativity. I also noticed that Alondra looked confused and didn’t know how to proceed with the class activity. However, she was consulting with her classmates and teacher for guidance (Robinson, 2010). She also asked me to draw with her and appreciated the help I offered her. She is a good student and interacts well with her classmates despite being so shy in social interactions. She responds warmly to her friends, classmates and teacher. Her teacher says that her classmates love her and find her helpful despite being a bit shy and withdrawn at times. Summary This assignment helped me to identify Alondra’s weakness both academically and socially. It made me understand how I can effectively communicate with her and create happy moments with her. I learnt that she is introverted and therefore seems shy and withdrawn. However, she is very active especially in class and home. However, there are some challenges I need to address. One challenge is her weakness in mental arithmetic. I sent her times table chart to help her memorise the mental arithmetic. I am also thinking of number games that I plan to ask her family to play with her to improve her arithmetic calculations. I plan to buy a drawing kit and practice with her during my visits. I will also ask the mother to help her practice drawing and paintings at home to improve on creativity and design skills I plan on establishing healthy relationships with her teacher, friends and family. I believe these groups will help her become better academically and socially. I shall encourage her friends to get more involved in her life by playing games with them and letting them see her as a friendly girl despite her shyness. I shall talk more with her teacher through telephone conversation to get updated on her school progress. I plan to visit the family often, hold telephone conversations and write letter to encourage the family to support her education and involve her in social events so she can overcome her shyness. Overall, I am happy with her and admire her passion and spirit. She has taught me a lot through the progress she has made in such a short time. I am glad to be taking this mentorship journey with her and look forward to future interactions with her (Robinson, 2010). References Barry, L. (2002). Common Scents. One Hundred Demons. Seattle: Sasquatch. Coles, A. (2011). The role of mentoring in college access and success. Research to Practice Brief. Institute for Higher Education Policy. Retrieved from ERIC database. Robinson, K. (2010). Changing education paradigms. RSA Animate, The Royal Society of Arts, London, http://www. youtube. com/watch. Read More