Mentor/Trainee Roadmap

Week 1   Week 2   Week 3   Week 4   Week 5
Week 6   Week 7   Week 8   Week 9

These are activities for the first eight weeks of the mentoring program. There are links at the end of this page that will give you more suggestions for activities. Also, if you’re having difficulty with any of these activities or you need additional suggestions, please contact the Hopeworks Formation Director (mentoring@hopeworks.org) at any time.

Week 1. Getting to know your trainee [Top]

Start by giving a brief bio. This can include what you do, the city in which you live, your favorite activities and hobbies, your family, your favorite movies, pets, etc. You should then ask the trainee to do the same. Be sure to ask a lot of questions—this will help the trainee respond. You may also want to share how often you check your email and ask the trainee the same question.

In Weeks 1 and 2, try to determine the trainee’s goals for this relationship. Is he looking for encouragement with school work? Looking for help with an education or career goal? Looking for someone to talk to about life?

You might say something like this:

Dear Jason,

Hi! My name is Joey and I’ve been matched with you as a mentor. I am excited to get to know you. I want to tell you a little about myself. I live in Cleveland, Ohio with my wife and two kids. We have a great dog named Maria. I enjoy reading – especially the Harry Potter books – I’ve even seen all of the Harry Potter movies. I enjoy running and I coach my daughter’s T-ball team.

So tell me a little about yourself? Do you live in Camden? What kinds of things to you like to do in your spare time? What kinds of things have you learned at Hopeworks?

I can’t wait to hear back from you! I am always on my email – so I’ll be able to get back to you very quickly. How often do you check your email?

Take care,
Joey

Now that you know a little bit about your trainee, ask questions about some of the things you talked about last week. Also expand on some of the things you have in common or talk about some of your differences. Ask your trainee to tell you about the projects she's working on or what level of training she’s at. You may ask if she has thought about what she is going to do for her personal web site.

A sample note:

Dear Michelle,

Wow! You're going to be starting college next semester! That's awesome. Do you know what you are going to majoring in? I hear that Camden County College is a great school. What kind of dog do you have? – I have a Husky/Timberwolf mix. She loves to be outside during the winter. She loves to go jogging with me.

How's everything at Hopeworks? What are you working on right now? Have you done your personal web site yet? What's it about – I can't wait to see it! I'll talk with you later this week! I hope you have a great week!

Take care,
Joey

Talk with the trainee about your expectations. Bring up mutual respect (letting each other know if you’re not going to be able to email), get feedback from the trainee (let me know how things are going), tell each other if something made you feel uncomfortable, agree to work together to solve any problems that arise. It might also be helpful to work out a schedule for when you’ll email each other.

Dear Jason,

It was great to hear from you last week. I am excited and happy to know you! It sounds like you are learning some really cool things at Hopeworks! I just wanted to let you know that you will be getting at least 2 emails from me a week. I am always checking my email, so when you respond, you’ll hear back from me pretty soon. I will be doing most of my emails to you on Monday morning and Wednesday morning – so make sure you look for my email on those days. Sometimes I travel for my work, so I will let you know if I am going out of town.

I also want you to know that I am excited to be emailing you – and that if we every have any problems between us – that we should make sure we let each other know so that we can talk about them.

When do you think you'll send me emails? Do you think you'll have a problem with letting me know if there is a problem? I hope that everything is going well with you this week. Let me know what you think!

Take care,
Joey

Share with your trainee your top strengths, your biggest obstacles and the opportunities that you have right now. Ask him to think about and share the same things.

Week 5. What are my goals?

Start this week by sharing some of your professional and educational goals with the trainee. Include the whys:why did you make some of the choices you did? Ask the trainee to do the same. At this point, you’ll want to start thinking about how you might be able to help the trainee plan to overcome the obstacles and take advantage of the opportunities you talked about in week 4.

Week 6. Planning for my goals [Top]

Tell about how you’ve achieved your goals so far and how you plan to achieve your future goals. Ask the trainee about what things she needs to do to achieve her goals. Ask question about specific goals she has and how she plans to achieve those goals.

Week 7. Getting to know you on the Web

Share your favorite websites with the trainee. Ask him to comment on your favorites and share his favorite sites with you. Continue discussing other cool websites you’ve found.

Week 8. Web Discussion [Top]

Find a website related to any of the trainee’s goals. (e.g. if she’s working on her GED, find a website that might help her with one of the sections she needs the most help on). Ask the trainee what she liked about the website and how she thinks it could help her with her goals. Ask the trainee to find another website that would help her achieve her goals. You might also share some websites that you use as resources. Check out this link for suggested sites: Mentoring Activity Links

Weeks 9 and beyond:

Suggestions for Activities (E-mentoring handbook, pages 19-22)
Mentoring Activity Links