What do teachers serving as mentors need to know?

The honors project is not designed to be another “class” that a project mentor teaches (i.e., developing and implementing a curriculum and its associated lesson plans).

It may be helpful for mentors to review past projects for inspiration about how best to support students in inquiry that can result in deep learning and high quality work.

The project mentor is a guide who assists the student as they engage in largely self-directed inquiry. This assistance should at a minimum take the form of:

• identifying relevant resources and materials to support the inquiry
• supporting the student in designing project goals that while ambitious are achievable within the scope of time allowed for the project, the student’s overall schedule, and complexity of the inquiry subject
• helping the student to plan a course of action that will allow the student to meet the project goals
• assisting the student if the project goals need to be revised
• monitoring student progress relative to the agreed upon plan
• offering supportive critique on student work throughout the project
• guiding students in the reflection process related to learnings specific to the scope of the project and more generally to the life of the student as a learner
• providing guidance to the student related to the shape/form of any final products
• reviewing and approving the final products of the work and the required deliverables (blog updates and display, poster or performance)

Project mentors are expected to meet with their mentee(s) as least once each week. During these meetings, mentors and mentee(s) should address the above items and:

• identify discrete goals/plans for the coming week
• make sure that these goals/plans are documented (the blog commenting feature can be used for this although other forms are fine – the main goal is for students to have clarity on what they need to do next)
• review and discussion of any work/process/reflection that the student has posted to the blog (especially for the three required updates) or elsewhere (this might include posing a question to the student in advance of the meeting that can help to frame the meeting conversation)
• ensure that the ongoing review and revision of goals against actual progress will allow the student to complete the project and its associated deliverables on time

Project mentors are also expected to review and approve the final products of the project. This includes the:

• final blog update (This update should tell the full story of the project. It should include a clear description of what the student set out to do, what they actually did and learned, evidence of what they accomplished/produced (this can include images, moves, embedded documents, etc.), and some thoughtful reflection on the experience as a whole.)
• digital poster or other forward facing “product” connected to the project

Project mentors are expected to sign-off on the various sections of the Honors Project Pathway document that students must submit in order for the project to receive credit.

While there is not a specific limit set on the number of projects that a faculty member can support. It is essential that each project be given the time it deserves so that students can be supported in their inquiry and that the work produced is high quality.

When approving a project, mentors/advisors should consider the following:

• Approval is contingent on the project plan outlining a clear timeline and set of accompanying benchmarks. The project should also indicate how the final product of the project will be shared. If you believe any revisions to the project are required, communicate these to the student and make sure that they have been added to the plan prior to signing off on the application form.
• If the application is for a continuation of a project undertaken during the previous trimester, are there any issues that need to be resolved/addressed in approving this iteration of the project?
• While some projects might extend beyond a single trimester, it is important that project approval be made on the basis of the work that is to be done for this trimester. Have explicit goals about what is to be accomplished in this trimester been articulated?
• Student’s are generally limited to working on one project per trimester. If the student has submitted another proposal for a project, please review this submission with the two submissions in mind. You may want to check in with the student’s advisor and the other project mentor. Does each project reflect the depth of study and proposed outcome that is consistent with the criteria outlined here? If yes, do you believe that the student can meet the requirements of both projects and their other academic responsibilities? If no, what changes need to be made to one or both proposals? Can the student meet the expectations of the the two revised projects or should the student focus their effort on only one of the projects?