Wanting to start a mentoring program in your school is a great idea and there are many benefits to the mentees that contribute to positive outcomes for children and youth and for the mentors (learn more about these benefits in the Framework for Building Mentoring Relationships in Schools). Knowing that starting a mentoring program in your school is great, but where do you start and how exactly do you build a mentoring program into an already busy school schedule.

Here are some examples:

Alberta schools are finding a number of creative ways to incorporate dedicated time for mentoring into school schedules. Consider the following examples.

• ƒTeen volunteers provide an after-school sports program for elementary students as the practicum portion of a CTS mentoring course.
• ƒ A noon-hour program in a multi-grade school focuses on reading and math skills with teen volunteers acting as mentors and completing the practicum portion of a CTS mentoring course.
• ƒ A flex-block in high school or an option block in junior high provides the time for teen mentors to travel to an elementary school to participate in a service learning project.
• ƒ A class partnership based on curricular links, such as a high school English class and an elementary language arts class focused on a particular genre of writing, meets as part of regularly-schedule class time.
• ƒ The idea of cross-age activities is extended and enriched by organizing sustained activities between teens in an older grade with a younger grade over a school year.
• ƒ Scheduled class time for high school Career and Technology Studies (CTS) course is used for mentoring activities.

Learn more foundational information, implementation strategies and resource references in establishing and/or enhancing mentoring programs in your school by downloading the Framework for Building Mentoring Relationships in Schools.