Highschool mentoring

Hello!! The main idea of this blog is that I want to contribute somehow to society and I think I can help out high school students. I feel this way because I was in high school recently and feel that I would have benefited from having alumni available to talk to for advice on the future, apply to post secondary institutions, and life in general.

The really really rough plan right now is this: I'm going to make go down to my high school and be available after school for students to go talk to about things. I will be mainly talking about resources for additional learning outside of the curriculum, like books I may recommend like, "good to great", websites like philosophybro.com, and yeah something along those lines. But Hopefully I'll just be there to possibly answer questions and just hangout with people looking for a connection with a "possibly" knowledge bro who's been in the same situation as them.

I'm a first year student at SFU and... I think the main objection to my idea is... "How qualified am I to even provide knowledge to other people" or "that's great on paper but won't work out logistically" or even "that's great but no one is going to go for it"

So... I'm asking you guys if my idea is legit... and... I know there are definitely some REALLY big glaring holes, but I can't see them soooo, you guys need to point it out!

Chairman Ray Canada. October 03 2011 14:22. Posts 7347

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I'm not sure what the demand for this kind of thing is, but as an alternative, you could do tutoring instead. There's quite a bit of demand for tutors.

You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish.

jodogohoo Canada. October 03 2011 15:06. Posts 2488

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hmm how would i go about becoming a tutor... if you were to make a flow chart / tutorial, what would it look like, or should i just google it? D;

BearStorm United States. October 03 2011 15:23. Posts 771

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I don't know about highschool, but I know there is demand for people with higher education to visit middle schools and elementary schools. I have participated in an Outreach program where fellow graduate students and I visited an inner city middleschool and performed a series of experiments. It seemed like the school and the teacher wanted us to return soon and often.

"Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'"

Jerubaal United States. October 03 2011 15:31. Posts 2520

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You have qualifications because you graduated high school, applied to college and have attended college. Even if you went up to the average sophomore student, they would probably not know when they would take their SAT/ACTs/IBs, when to apply for college, what to expect etc. You've done all of these things.

The biggest problem I see is getting the kids to sit down with you long enough. Most people would rather just go home after school. If there was a study hall that you could go to or if there was some sort of program you could latch onto that would be good. I agree with Chairman Ray in that they may be more receptive in looking for tutoring than 'advice'. You can talk about college and stuff on the side. Otherwise, you might be looking more for a 'Big Brother/Sister' program.

I'm not stupid, a marauder just shot my brain.

Jerubaal United States. October 03 2011 15:32. Posts 2520

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On October 03 2011 15:06 jodogohoo wrote:
hmm how would i go about becoming a tutor... if you were to make a flow chart / tutorial, what would it look like, or should i just google it? D;

Tell them to ask you a question from their homework/classwork. Walk them through it. Ta da!

I'm not stupid, a marauder just shot my brain.

wonderwall New Zealand. October 03 2011 15:34. Posts 666

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If you get known in a social circle you can make good money tutoring high school students. It's not hard, if you can write an undergrad arts paper you can get a kid A's in High School English and related subjects. The kids do appreciate it though sometimes they can be like "fuck that". You're normally able to drop the nightmare kids for w/e reason you can think of.

Cel.erity United States. October 03 2011 15:42. Posts 3588

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Like some have said, it seems like a better idea to provide a tutoring service, maybe specialize in SAT testing. Most schools should let you post flyers for after-school tutoring, but I would recommend talking to someone in charge rather than just creeping around a high school.

Also, feel free to send your female clients to me.

We found Dove in a soapless place.

courtpanda October 03 2011 16:01. Posts 764

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i think youre making it too formal. if you do it like that, highschoolers will be reluctant to go to you. online would be better, more casual and more people would use your service

jodogohoo Canada. October 03 2011 16:37. Posts 2488

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On October 03 2011 15:31 Jerubaal wrote:
The biggest problem I see is getting the kids to sit down with you long enough. Most people would rather just go home after school. If there was a study hall that you could go to or if there was some sort of program you could latch onto that would be good. I agree with Chairman Ray in that they may be more receptive in looking for tutoring than 'advice'. You can talk about college and stuff on the side. Otherwise, you might be looking more for a 'Big Brother/Sister' program.

Yeah exactly. I feel like if I did try something like this, it would need to... be part of something "legit" or else it would be like... just me sitting in a classroom or something by myself...

My school does have a Big Brother program I might check out, but that is for elementary students D;

But hmm, the idea I have right now is something like an alumni mentorship program kind of thing.

On October 03 2011 15:42 Cel.erity wrote:
Also, feel free to send your female clients to me.

I'll consider it, but I won't be held legally responsible for what may or may not happen.

On October 03 2011 16:01 alexlw92 wrote:
i think youre making it too formal. if you do it like that, highschoolers will be reluctant to go to you. online would be better, more casual and more people would use your service

I agree with you. I think I'm trying to make this too serious, i'm not sure how to make it online but hmm I think I should do either a legit(serious business thing) or just make it really casual. But ahh this is soooo rough, ahh hopefully I don't abandon this idea.

FuRong New Zealand. October 03 2011 22:09. Posts 2677

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Saw "highschool men" in the sidebar, clicked, not what I expected.

I think you have the right idea man, but you need to think of a better way to actually "carry this to the people". Think about it. When you were in highschool, what kind of person/situation would make you comfortable to talk to about stuff like this? I'm not sure that just hanging out around campus is necessarily the best approach to take here.

Don't hate the player, hate the game

Smoot United States. October 03 2011 22:54. Posts 120

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EDIT: Ended up being a long post =P.

The best and easiest way for you to "plug" yourself into the place you want is to find programs that are attempting to do what you are describing. IE: Big brother programs, tutoring, mentoring... etc.

The easiest way to get involved is to talk to some of the teachers that you still have a good relationship with. Hopefully you made contacts with the teachers in your school. If you did the simplest way to get plugged in is to talk with one or more of them and ask how to get involved.

From experience I was easily able to help with a few after school programs which I had participated in while I was in high school. It mainly revolved around ROTC, however I also talked with many of my former math teachers at the school while I was tutoring at the local community college. That made it available for me to end up doing work as a private tutor in the local community as well.

This all led me to having a wide range of network contacts. Many of the teachers suggested that I obtain my substitute teacher licence and exclusively sub for the math teachers. I knew many of the teachers personally and they were really excited to be able to have a competent substitute that could teach the subject thoroughly.

I actually started down that path, but when I finished the course to substitute teach, I ended up finding work as an engineering co-op through another contact I made.

TLDR:
Talk to former teachers or find local programs. Get plugged in. Network and make wonderful contacts.

The first thing you will learn when you get out of school is that what matters is almost exclusively who you know and not necessarily what you know. You just need to show that you are competent enough to handle the next step and know the people who can put you there.

Last edit: 2011-10-03 23:05:43

Cambium Japan. October 03 2011 23:06. Posts 15615

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I recommend volunteering instead. The kids can ask you once they know you well enough. It's a little weird to host an after-class session just for Q&A, I honestly don't think many people will attend.

I volunteered at my old high school during my senior year in college, being basically a TA for a maths course. I even ended up teaching a few lectures when the teacher was sick and the sub had no fucking idea wtf was going on. It was a really fun experience. The teacher was my Gr. 10 maths teacher, and the kids were very friendly towards me as well.

When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.

OpticalShot Canada. October 04 2011 03:07. Posts 5929

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I don't think it will be necessary for you to make this a formal, regular kind of thing - when I paid a couple visits to my high school during my university years, the teachers just stopped their lesson and welcomed me to share a story with the class. Those would be like computer programming and math classes. Students had more questions than I thought, and some were more specific than I expected. I expected like "oh what average do I need to get into this" or "are there girls in engineering" (the answer to second question, is a definitive NO). Students asked me about the nature of competition, usefulness/applicability of AP/IB programs, possible career paths (which I had no idea at the time anyways), research opportunities, etc.

So, I recommend you to just pay an informal visit now and then. Basically you'll feel good about helping kids, kids will feel good about having an actual university student to talk to (as opposed to their 60 year old staff advisor / guidance counsellor), and the teachers will feel good about having good 20-30 minutes to slack off while you do the talking. I don't know how tight the school security will be on you though, for me I was chill with the school security dude and he was the first one to greet me lol.

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