How To's
Need Help Coming Up with Ideas for Things to Do? Brainstorm
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Monday, June 23rd, 2008
“To have a great idea, have a lot of them.”
Thomas Edison (and he should know)
Mentors are frequently looking for ideas for things to do with kids. I recently came across an article on the website Connecting Generations http://www.cgi-de.org/index.html that had a good list of ideas for things to do such as:
- start a collection together
- play a game – such as hangman, jacks, monopoly
- make a photo album
- create a collage
- learn a new craft (origami is one that can keep you busy for awhile)
- learn some words or phrases in a new language
- etc …
By why let someone else tell you how to spend your time with a mentee? Why not use your time together to do something really fun, something that will stimulate creativity, open the door to lots of conversations, break through barriers, and help you get to know the kid you work with. Why don’t you and your mentee brainstorm your own list of ideas?
And, while you are at it – have fun doing it.
TRY THIS:
Brainstorming is easy once you learn a few very simple rules. It is a great way to stretch your imagination, build confidence in your ability to generate ideas, and allow you to discover new and creative ways to look at things. It is, of course, a powerful problem solving tool.
HERE”S A PROBLEM TO SOLVE: If we could do anything in the world, IMAGINE what would we do?
List as many ideas great ideas as you can.
Consider: Where would we go? What would we do when we got there? Who would be there? What would we eat? What would we wear? What is the weather, the season, the time? Remind your mentee that We don’t have to worry about money, or time, transportation or babysitters, what to wear, or what people will think. This perfect day can be anywhere, at any time - this is your imagination, your perfect day.
The rules: There is only one - all ideas are welcome. (This means we don’t say – oh that would cost too much, or, we’d never be able to get there in time.) Keep in mind that even ideas that may not work can stimulate more ideas.
The goal: Generate as many ideas as possible. Silly ideas, funny thoughts, wild imaginings are all welcome, the more the better.
When you are done, your list may be the jumping off point that will allow you and your mentee to discover themes, interests or activities that you share, and open the door the to an entirely new brainstorm – how might we spend our time learning more about …. Jazz, hockey, France, the moon, Cajun food, computer games, … you get the idea.
Variations on this activity can include a creative story, art work to illustrate this perfect day, what else? Share your ideas here. And, please share the visions for a perfect day that are generated by this idea.
Topics: How To's, Quality Time, Things to do, Resources for Mentor | No Comments »
How I help myself get to know the students I work with better
By Lisa Pfister | Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
*Visit each of their classes weekly. (I teach vaious health a social skills lessons to students.) This helps to get to know the students invividually and how they interact with their peers. It shows you who is: absent or late frequently to school; those with attention deficits; students who are more emotional; those who are cognitive challenged; those that work well in a group versus working independently; students with trust issues; etc. The students get used to seeing your face in their classes and in the hallways, and over time learn to trust who you are, and will start filtering down to your office for issues that can’t be addressed in a classroom setting.
*After I get to know students better, I try to pair them up with things they can do at school that make them feel positive about themselves. Such as, help me with some projects I am working on like cutting out things, stapling or taping things up on walls or on to bulletin boards. Set them up to volunteer in other classes, such as with the kinders, reading to them, helping them with their work, filing things for the teachers, etc…
*I randomly invite students to come eat lunch with me in my office and play board games afterwards. This builds trust, and lets me know if the student has other needs that are going unmet. I often go outside during their recess times and walk around and just talk to various students. I bring a jumprope and encourage students to come over and play the game with me. I have even gone to a few baseball and karate tournaments of some of our students.
*When I notice students are arriving late to school, I ask them if they have had breakfast today. If they have not, I let them know that they can always come to me and I will provide them a juice box and a granola or nutri grain bar.
*I often go to the cafeteria at lunch time and sit at random tables to just talk with students. Being where the students are in their social element is where you will most often build relationships with students.
Topics: How To's, Relationship Strategy | No Comments »
Blogging Guidelines
By WaiJe Coler | Monday, January 21st, 2008
Welcome to the newly formatted blogging site!
Here you’ll find out how to:
I hope you enjoy the new format. Happy blogging!
Topics: How To's | No Comments »
How do I Login?
By WaiJe Coler | Tuesday, January 1st, 2008
To login to the blogging site simply go to http://makingconnections.ceed.pdx.edu/wordpress/wp-login.php:
Here you can login and register if you’re a new user.
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How do I Create a Post?
By WaiJe Coler | Tuesday, January 1st, 2008
After logging in you’ll be presented with a general selection bar at the top:
Simply choose ‘Write’ and you’ll be presented with this screen:
- These are your unpublished work. Published work can be seen by the public while your ‘drafts’ contains the posts you saved but have not allowed the public to see.
- The title of your post
- This is where you create the content of your posts. The bar below ‘Visual’ and ‘Code’ contain formatting you’re allowed to do.
- If you want to upload a file including images you would do so here. It’s as simple as that. ‘Browse’ and ‘Browse All’ will show the current files/images you are allowed to send to your post. More on this in ‘How do I Add Images to My Post?’
- You may create a new category on the fly and/or select a few other categories your post may fall under.
- Although autosave does exist for this blogging software, never forget to save your work and always remember to ‘Publish’ it if you’re ready for public viewing. You may also bypass the save steps and ‘Publish’ right away which would save your work and instantly make it publicaly available.
Topics: How To's | No Comments »
How do I add Images to my Posts?
By WaiJe Coler | Tuesday, January 1st, 2008
Simply browse for an Image on the ‘Upload’ panel below the textbox on the ‘Write Post’ screen.
Then click ‘Browse’ and find the image. You’ll be presented with this screen next:
Simply click ‘Send to Editor’ once you’re ready to send the image into the textbox where you write your post’s content. You may choose to ‘Show’ the full size of the image if you want, the title only or a thumbnail image. Once the image is in the textbox editor you can always resize it however you want.
Topics: How To's | No Comments »
How do I Comment on Someone Else’s Post?
By WaiJe Coler | Tuesday, January 1st, 2008
After each post on the main blogging page there is an ability to make a comment.
Simply click there and you’ll get the comment textbox where you are allowed to respond to the post. Be aware that there is an extra security process if you are not logged in. If you are logged in you may post comments pretty much on the fly without ’security text’ which is always presented if an anonymous user chooses to comment.
Topics: How To's | No Comments »