C6 Features
silverchips
March 10, 2016
Teaching lessons that extend beyond the curriculum
Formally or casually, teachers mentor students throughout high school
By Julian Bregstone and Joshua Fernandes Senior Ange Ngatchou bursts through the door of social studies teacher Maima Barclay’s classroom. “Hi, Mommy!” she exclaims, rushing over to hug Barclay. “What has it been, four days?” asks Barclay. Even though the two are not actually family, and first met during Ngatchou’s sophomore year, they have become extremely close. Ngatchou was drawn to Barclay’s honest, fun personality, and Barclay felt compelled to help Ngatchou focus on school and overcome the problems that she was facing. Now, they visit at least every week. Like many teachers, Barclay volunteers her time and effort into helping her students succeed in high school. Some teachers choose to mentor students formally, while others choose a more informal style. Both ways, students reap the benefits of a positive teacher relationship, improving their academic and personal spheres.
reading teacher Theresa Hiller, who all had experience mentoring students informally, worked together to organize and improve their various styles. Smith recalls seeing mentoring pairs fail when teachers were assigned to students. To avoid these artificial relationships, Triumph has students choose a mentor rather than assigning one to a student. “What we decided to do was allow the students to find an adult in the building that they like,” Smith explains. “Those relationships work a lot better because there’s already that bond, that affectionate bond that’s present.” Sophomore Jason Chavez joined Triumph in his freshman year, and he believes his successful mentor relationship with Smith comes from its natural formation. “When I first met him, I was like, ‘He seems like a cool guy
actually something and that I could become someone with his help.” After attending the meetings and talking to his mentor, Chavez decided he wanted to go to Thomas Edison for part of the day in order to pursue his interest of computer engineering and network operations. He says that Smith played a role in motivating him to set his own goal. “Mr. Smith supported me in that and he’s happy that I found out what I want to do,” Chavez states. One-on-one connections Unlike the teachers behind Triumph and Teen Choice Leadership Club, English teacher Adam Clay chooses to mentor outside a formal program. He instead helps his students and keeps up his relationships with former
counselor began to develop. A decade later they still keep in touch to check in on how they are doing. Ramaswamy’s interactions with her counselor and teacher are now focused on what she is up to. “I think they want to make sure that I become successful because we had a real strong connection and they actually care about me,” she says. While it is difficult for them to meet in person, Ramaswamy and Bain make a point of catching up around their birthdays. “We have the same birthday so sometimes around that year we go and eat ice cream together,” Ramaswamy says. One memory from fourth grade sticks out in Ramaswamy’s memory as particularly touching. “I remember one time where I got really sick and then when I came back to school the whole classroom was filled with cards for me, like, ‘get better soon,’” she recalls. “I was really touched that my teachers had put that together.”
Community in the classroom
Learning from mentoring
In addition to informally mentoring students like Ngatchou, Barclay decided to begin her own mentoring group, Teen Choice Leadership Club, this past October. Having informally mentored students since she started working at Blair more than a decade ago, Barclay decided to organize her mentoring this year. She aims to help female students overcome in-school and out-of-school problems, such as arguments with family and conflicts
Mentoring programs often have ambitious goals spanning many areas of a student’s life, but Hiller says that even if academic goals are not met, she will be happy if her students can find a lasting trust and community through the Triumph program. “You know how it takes a village to raise a child?” she says. “A big part of it is to build a village for these students because you can’t really do that
“If I hadn’t met Ms. Barclay, I’d probably be suspended or expelled. She gets my life straight.” — Ange
GRIFFIN REILLY
PATH TO SUCCESS English teacher David Goldberg helps members of the Triumph program during lunchtime meetings in social studies teacher Kenneth Smith’s room.
Ngatchou
“It’s so important that every student, every student, feels that they have adults in the building that they can go to and that they trust.” —
between students. Often, she will talk to students, their families, and their counselors individually about these issues, but she also leads group meetings where these students can talk together about current events. “Every Wednesday lunchtime we meet here. We have discussions about issues that may be relevant to you or your age group,” Barclay says. Ngatchou believes that these meetings really help her and other young women learn about the world and see from other perspectives. “The more we talk about in these meetings, we realize that there’s a lot of things we didn’t know and by talking together, we improve together,” Ngatchou explains. Barclay says her youthful attitude allows her to connect with students more easily. “I am a child at heart. I stayed a teenager,” Barclay explains. “I think I understand the minds of young people because for me, those were my most difficult times growing up.” Senior Chancelle Yatti is another student who has been mentored by Barclay after having her as a teacher. Yatti met Barclay through the High School Plus after-school program, and the pair has been close ever since. “I’m a senior. I’m trying to graduate. I will ask her what do you do to get a job, what do you do to get a scholarship, she will go through it and help me out,” Yatti says. Above all, Yatti appreciates Barclay for her openness. Yatti believes her relationship with Barclay grew from Barclay’s acceptance. “It doesn’t matter who you are, or what color you are, she will just take you as a sister,” Yatti explains, “and give you good advice because she was already there and doesn’t want you to make the same mistakes.” Triumphing over the odds One of Blair’s formal mentoring groups is the Triumph program. The Triumph mentoring program came together two years ago when social studies teacher Kenneth Smith, English teacher David Goldberg and
GRIFFIN REILLY
TLC IN TCLC Social studies teacher Maima Barclay organizes meetings every Wednesday during lunch for her new mentoring program, Teen Choice Leadership Club. and I want him [as a mentor],’” says Chavez. The program’s main focus is helping students develop trust and creating a community in school that they can be a part of. “On paper, we want to increase eligibility. We have them set goals every quarter and check-in on them to maintain and improve their grades,” Hiller says. “It’s so important that every student, every student, feels that they have adults in the building that they can go to and that they trust.” Another facet of Triumph is group meetings where all the students come together with Smith, Goldberg, and Hiller. They discuss current events, group rules, and even their own personal experiences. “We generally have some kind of topic that is interesting and relevant and current and they tend to have lots to say because you don’t typically have time to talk about things that are on your mind in most of your classes,” Hiller explains. What Chavez finds the most rewarding from Triumph, however, is the motivation and help he receives from Smith and his other mentors. “He cares about me a lot,” Chavez explains. “I need to make him proud that I am
students as much as he can. “The best part of the job is keeping those connections going,” Clay explains. Junior Karla Ramirez had Clay for freshman English, and he helped her raise her grades and motivated her to do well in school. “He pushed me to the point where I was putting my all into my work,” Ramirez says, “so he motivated me a lot to get good grades and meet my fullest potential.” This year, Clay has helped Ramirez work toward her goal of interning at a hospital over the upcoming summer. “He actually pointed me to a website and I started looking for summer internships online,” she explains. Even though Clay often helps students like Ramirez, he does not like to think of himself as a mentor, instead reserving that for organized and formalized programs. “I hesitate to use that word. Other teachers have full-blown programs,” Clay says. “I don’t want to take any credit for what they’ve done.” In fourth grade, Sangita Ramaswamy was in the middle of chemotherapy to treat her leukemia. Her relationship with her teacher, Jessica Bain, and her elementary school
Theresa Hiller
yourself. Those who are most in need of a village are least likely to build their own.” According to Chavez, Hiller and Smith built a community around him to achieve their common goal. During freshman year, all of his friends attended Northwood, and he was not close to anyone at Blair. He planned on transferring to Northwood to meet up with his friends, but decided to stay here after Smith discussed the issue with him. “I’m glad I stayed here,” Chavez says. “It’s a better school… being here just gives me a better vibe, and with them here, it makes me want to stay even more.” The combination of Chavez’s motivation and the support he received from Triumph helped put him on the right track. For Ramaswamy, there was a two-way learning relationship between her and her teacher. It was a new experience for Bain but together they worked through a difficult period and have stayed in touch ever since. “I think it’s important that we taught each other because they taught me in the classroom and I taught them how to cope with a student with disabilities.” Barclay also agrees that while grades and academic success are always important, she puts much more value on decision-making and community-building. She believes that if she can help a student focus their life and grades, everything else will come together later. “It’s not just about making sure these students pass and do well in school, it’s also trying to meet the needs of human beings, of children who may not have these types of opportunities at home where there isn’t an adult who may actually give a better world view of decisions they are making now,” she explains. Ngatchou has experienced Barclay’s assistance first-hand and agrees that Barclay’s help has really helped her decision-making. “If I hadn’t met Ms. Barclay, I’d probably be suspended or expelled,” Ngatchou says. “She gets my life straight, to be honest.”