WHAT NIGERIAN SECONDARY STUDENTS NEED MOST ARE MENTORS/LIFE COACHES NOT “TEACHERS” (3)
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...break period during a seminar for mentors at Mason College.....[/caption]NOTES COMPLETION / HAND WRITING / TEXT BOOK INTEGRITY CHECKS / OTHER ACADEMIC TOOLS CHECKS (WEDNESDAYS)
33.This is one of the most important parts of the mentoring work in the school and mentors are advised to do 3 things always before each Wednesday or the day fixed by management for any of these checks.
(a) Having a record of the maximum number of expected notebooks per student and ensuring that their students have filled and submitted the relevant form previously (subject choices available to ss1 – ss3 form). In fact the mentor should keep a copy of these forms for each of their students in their operational files.
(b) Continually encourage their wards to have tutors sign or initial their notebooks for completion throughout the week before the D-day for checking. But mentors have to watch out for possible trickery by students notebook covered with his own outer casing as evidence that his or her notes are complete.
(c) Continually remind their students about weekly checks and the need to bring all notebooks to school on D-day.
34.Marks awarded or penalties deducted shall of course be related to the actual number of completed notes submitted. Although deductions shall be related logically to those not yet submitted, gross violation of expected rules shall lead to the award of zero to the student concerned. For instance completeness amounting to 25% or more of expected notes shall be treated as gross violation.
35.Mentors are to note that they shall be expected to provide appropriate comments whenever necessary on handwriting and other integrity checks such as on the availability of textbooks or other academic tools. This can be done in line with school calendars or according to random checks on their students but promptly agreed with management. Random checks mean a deviation from the checking of notes for completion. It does not imply that students shall not be informed in advance about what mentors intend to check.
36.All checks for textbooks and other academic tools shall however be expected to take place before the mid-term examinations.
37.Mentors are to please note that some integrity checks are usually included within the calendars prepared by management for each term. They should please work with these calendars in mind except if amended by management.
38.Mentors do have a very challenging job on their hands in relation to what is called the Notebook Integrity Project (NIP). The relevant write-up which converts the project into a tool for mentors and school management is to be found in the section of Eduguide for staff members. This check has to be planned carefully as substitute work for Notes Completion checks but the focus and length of time involved are different. Mentors are therefore advised to read this write-up carefully, because it is one of the most important ever prepared on the issue of notes completion for students anywhere in the world.\
39.Mentors are to note from the NIP that students who have spent more than one year in the school are expected to combine notes of the years gone by with those of their current classes in such a way that all notes of JS 1 – 3 or SS 1 – SS3 classes are bunched together.
NOVEL SUMMARY SCHEME / ORAL ENGLISH / PUBLIC SPEAKING (THURSDAYS)
40.Each student is basically expected to have a wide vocabulary of English words, understand lots of idiomatic expressions and ultimately be in good position to express himself/herself appropriately. It does not matter whether the school is in the private or public domain. In Mason College students are usually launched into orbit by being asked to give words of exhortation at the daily school assembly .
41.For this purpose also, there are write-ups to support mentors. There are write-ups covering public speaking, vocabulary improvement, spellings, idiomatic expressions,famous quotations etc in the students and staff sections of Eduguide. There are also library-related guidelines, and write-up related to modern retrieval and research methods to boost preparation of students and staff for this purpose. Even where public speeches are not required there are also write-ups on the techniques of writing reports which mentors can read and interpret or convert to acceptable levels of understanding for their wards.
42.The Academic Group shall determine the fortnight cycles or turnovers to be used for the Novel Summary Scheme. These shall be done through the calendars usually prepared at the beginning of each term. The operation of this scheme cannot be successful without keeping to the rules guiding the use of the school libraries (at school location as well as at Bookends).
43.The objective of the scheme is to get each student show in the first week of each cycle that he or she actually collected a novel for reading. By the end of the fortnight or even before its end the student must write at least a half page summary of the novel based on certain guidelines of the Novel Summary which were divided into types A, B or C (these shall be specified in future posts)
44.Students shall be expected to seek audience with English Language/Literature tutors to have the type of summary chosen. It is important therefore that mentors and English Language tutors get to know the summary types and activities listed as types A,B and C. These are to be found under the students’ section of the Eduguide.
45. In the second week of the cycle mentors shall ensure that the students have their summaries marked by English Language/Literature tutors.They should also have these scores transferred for their working papers.
46.Mentors are also expected to ensure that their wards prepare well for periods of exhortation during daily school assemblies. It is expected that the Vice-Principal Admin shall comment on student’s performance daily on public exhortations and mentors linked to such students shall be named, praised or called to order for their students' oral deliveries.
47.Students who submit their summaries early are to be encouraged to read more novels for pleasure by mentors, the Academic Group and librarians. Students shall be encouraged with bonus marks where considered necessary by their mentors. Where a student fast-tracks or fast-forward all his/her possible submission dates for a term such student shall definitely be given bonus marks by the mentor in charge.
48.It is to be noted that senior students usually prefer novels from Bookends at 5th Avenue and that there are approved library rules for the operation and management of this. Mentors shall please ensure that they are aware of these rules.
49.Penalties for late submission or non-submission shall be the same as for assignments.
BEHAVIORAL CHECKS (FRIDAYS)
50.The areas of focus for behavioral checks are:
(a)Regularity (b) Punctuality (c) Appearance (d) Participation in Break Activities
(e) Oral English Expressions (Or use of Pidgin English).
51.Mentors have limited work or decisions to make on these. Most of the statistics in this section shall normally be extracted from Students Admin Records or from scores provided by Admin officials in charge of break periods. Mentors however might disagree with certain scores provided under Appearance and Oral English Expressions and discuss their opinions with the Vice Principal Admin before modifying the scores provided. If ,however, the Admin Department insists on its scores mentors must refrain from.
52..Each of the factors under behavioral checks has a maximum score of 20 and mentors have the simplest job of just adding each score to get the behavioral score for the week.
53.In addition to this, they shall be expected to speak to students on regularity and punctuality as guidance counselors for these two shall always attract the attention and punishment by Management each week.
54.A student who makes an overall pass grade on behavior but failed woefully on punctuality should have the matter either attended to publicly at the assembly or by the Director at 5th Avenue. The job of the mentors shall therefore be to ultimately reduce the numbers of wards who might become caught in the vicious web of not being punctual to school always.
MATHS / ENGLISH CLINIC STUDY / EXAMINATION / JAMB TECHNIQUES AND SEMINARS / MOTIVATIONAL DISCUSSIONS & FINISHING TECHNIQUES / NOTAZINE WORK / GP EXERCISES.
55.Write-ups on these are being posted on our websites for use of mentors.
CLASSROOM TOOLS AVAILABLE FOR MENTORS / STAFF FOR USE OR FOR REFERENCE
56.Mentors are advised to read or get to know how to use the following tools for their work in the school. They must always remember that the time fixed for checks are usually late in the day and are not the best of time for effective brain or memory work by them or their students. It is also important that clinics and checks are held / conducted in an atmosphere of friendliness that shall make students thankful for what our mentors specifically and the schools generally are doing for them
a.Director’s Overall Review Questions Covering Academic Related as Non- Academic modes in
the school.
b.Students Projects – Summary of how to conduct researches.
c. Review Tests for Red Note Scheme Part 1 and 2.
d. The Notebook integrity Project.
e. Students’ Attitude Checklist.
f. Students’ Problem Inventory for SS 1-3 classes.
g. How to conduct research work for Students' Projects (SS1 –SS3 only).
h. Techniques of Writing.
Good luck
EDUPEDIA IS WILLING TO SET UP AND MAINTAIN A SIMPLE AND WORKABLE MENTORING SCHEME FOR ANY SCHOOL AS A PREMIUM-LEVEL SERVICE
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