STUDENT

MENTOR
Rafael Carballo
University of St. Thomas

HOW IT ALL STARTED

Mrs. Garcia, one of the assistant principals,

asked if I could be a mentor for a second grade

student who I could help her with. She stated
nothing had worked in regards to his use of
profanity against others at school and on the
bus. They have given the student in and out of
school suspensions, excluded him from
classroom parties and fieldtrips, and meets with
the counselor on a regular basis.

WHY I WAS CHOSEN TO

MENTOR
Mrs. Garcia was looking for an adult who the student

can build a strong and caring relationship with and

who can encourage him (student) to do the right
thing. Administrators and his teacher do that, but the
effect is different since he sees them as
disciplinarians.

This person needs to be someone who is not directly

affected by the things he does. A person who can

counsel and believe in the student.

That person sounded like me!

MENTORING
I tried to meet with the student at least twice a week.

The fist time we met I went to his classroom and

introduced myself. He stated he had seen me before
and knew I taught 3rd grade.

For our fist couple visits we met in vacant office next

to Mrs. Garcias office. I asked him about his

interests, classroom activities, and behavior. I would
usually get notified whenever he got into trouble. I
would ask him to tell me why he got in trouble and we
discussed different ways he could have handled the
situation differently.

CONCLUSION
I wanted to observe the student in his own element. I wanted to observe

him interact with other students and I wanted him to observe me interact
with others as well. I wanted to model proper behavior in a natural setting.

I met the student in the cafeteria for lunch and sat with him and his class.

Doing this provided insight on his abrupt misbehavior. As time went on, he
and his classmates were expecting to have lunch with me twice a week and
the students behavior slowly began to improve.

The student did not visit Mrs. Garcia as much and his teacher reported him

having more good days than bad days.

I have continued to meet with the student and mentor him. I promised I

would have lunch with him until the end of the school year.