“Help, I need somebody, Help, not just anybody”…. “Help” the Beatles Number 1 (1965) hit that was both the album and movie title song.  It is difficult, if not impossible, to describe for a young person today, the far reaching cultural impact of these four guys from Liverpool.  Schools are in so many ways about help.  School Stuff begins a multi-part offering on help programming.
Question: How can a school involve kids mentoring (helping) kids at school?
Simply put, a school can involve kids in helping situations at school as often as the leaders of the school allow. In truth the educational world can be a bit shy about putting kids in helping situations that have traditionally involved faculty or adult leadership.
I’ve found that if organized and supported properly, a student led mentoring program at school can be a very good thing — kids I know absolutely gobble it up. It requires a fair amount of work, but the payoff in your “school chemistry” can be huge! The influence of good kids helping other kids is nothing new and man can it matter!
Most schools have a number of student clubs, student government, etc.  A student mentoring program takes on a very different and distinct look.  The focus of the group is help and it can come in a lot of flavors (social skills, academic help, conflict resolution, student orientation programs, etc.) The potential scope is limited only by you.
School Stuff offers an example of a student mentor program aimed at helping kids make the transition and become oriented from elementary to middle or junior high school (you could apply the same to the transition from 8th grade to high school).
Who’s helping Who: In this example 8th graders would be helping 5th graders transition to middle school.
How Many: Plan for 4-6 8th grade mentors per Homeroom of incoming 6th graders.
Selection: In the spring, prior to 5th graders entering 6th grade, 7th grade teachers would recommend upcoming 8th grade students, that they feel would make for good helping mentors:
Key: Teachers use a criterion that guides them to select kids that will represent the WHOLE SCHOOL (positive outlook & attitude, willingness to help, good students, average students, popular kids, not so popular kids, that kid that you know would really benefit and do ok with a little help).
Key: You could have the students elected as 8th grade year student council automatically be part of your student mentoring team. Teachers then could select an equal number of students based on the selection criterion. Administration then chooses an equal number of “wild card” student selections where they know the mentoring opportunity could be a difference maker for the kid.  Your final team of kids has no exact number restriction, but will likely not be less than 16 and not more than 32.
Ask any coach and they’ll tell you the critical impact of team chemistry that comes from kid leadership (in high school sports, often from senior leadership).
A school can build similar kinds of positive vibes within their school environment through the efforts of a student mentoring team.
Next time School Stuff will add the “student expectation and commitment letter” idea along with the “how to” for conducting a one morning summer training of your student mentor team-good stuff!  Happy Days….