Sanchez Elementary School Online Mentoring Program Why is this program being launched?

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Mentoring programs also usually take on other goals as part of their endeavor -- to help youth learn a particular trade, to tutor them in a subject or help them with classroom projects, and so forth.

The Sanchez Elementary School Online Mentoring Program has been set up to help support the academic goals of fourth and fifth grade classes at the school, primarily in the areas of reading and writing; and to establish a positive, trusting relationship between online adult participants and the students.

Other outcomes we hope to achieve are increasing in positive feelings about technology from the point of view of all participants -- students, teachers, mentors and parents.

Mentoring is connection -- it brings people together. Mentors give, but also receiving something in return. This can also be said about the Internet: Cyberspace is connection -- it brings people together. Internet users both give and take online. We hope that this program will provide all participants, mentors and youth alike, with meaningful human connections.

 
How This Online Mentoring Program Will Work

For the pilot part of this program, September 2000 through January 31, 2000, this program involved two fourth grade classes at Sanchez Elementary School. These kids are nine and 10 years old. The teachers overseeing this part of the project, which will continue through June 2001, are Genny Gamboa and Jim Wahrer.

In Spring 2001, this program will be expanded to involve at least one fifth grade class at Sanchez.

Students will log in from classroom computers at least once a each to check their e-mail through this special web site, to answer mentors e-mails or to start new conversations with mentors on their own. Conversations will center around books the youth are reading, classroom activities, and other subjects the students want to discuss. We also have suggestions for other topics of conversation to help keep your conversations flowing. In addition to e-mails from their protegés, mentors will also receive e-mail updates from the teachers.

Learnings and best practices from this program (but no real names or contact information of participants) will be shared via the Virtual Volunteering Project and the National Mentoring Partnership, two nonprofit organizations working in collaboration to help develop quality standards and resources for online mentoring programs throughout the U.S.

 
VERSION: December 15, 2000

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