How to Be an Amazing Mentor

Anyone can make steps to becoming an amazing mentor, whether you've worked with younger students before or not. Below are some pro tips:

Taking an Interest

By learning student names, asking about their interests, listening to their ideas, and helping them work through challenges in a positive way, mentors will build positive relationships with students over time.

It also shows students that you genuinely care about them.

"The worst mistake you can make as a mentor is to make it about you rather than the other person. Throughout my time at Bold Idea, I’ve worked at transforming my mentorship from “teach people and help them to avoid making the same mistakes you’ve made” to “understand the needs and goals of each person and help them get there”." - Sarah Sahibzada, Bold Idea mentor

Remember their names and what they shared with you each week. Write it down if you don't have a good memory and use it to ask follow-up questions. Example: "How was your Algebra test last week?".

Learn more about getting to know students early in the semester.

Preparation

Review the session guide before their session date and try the upcoming activity to check for your understanding. Identify any potential obstacles. The mentor should understand any new topic areas that may be introduced and is ready to discuss them with his / her students.

Empathy to the Learning Process

Think back to your first coding project or when you were learning something for the first time.

What was that experience like?
Did you get it right away?
Did you get frustrated?
What kept you motivated?

It's easy to forget that experience - especially after many years of projects and skill mastery. Use empathy to connect with your past self and keep in mind where students are as they're learning to code for the first time.

Learning Styles and Paces

You will notice there are varying skill levels on your team. Students will also learn at different paces. And that's okay.

Don't expect students to fully grasp computer science concepts after you first introduce it to them. It requires repetition, various learning styles, and practice. Just review the concept, and when they do have that ah-ha moment, make a big deal of it. The goal is to build confidence and experience being a coder.

Generally, students tend to favor one learning style over another, but most are a mix of two or even three. So, in our program design, we create ways to learn the material using all three styles:

Visual - learn from demonstrations and reading
Auditory - learn from oral presentations, group discussions and one-on-one conversations
Kinesthetic - learn from hands-on activities and note taking

Learn more about using Power Tools to facilitate learning and helping students build a growth mindset .

Offer Praise and Encouragement

Take every opportunity to give positive feedback. For example, a high five after a lightbulb moment or share how proud you are of them for sticking with a challenging concept.