We all know that mentor quality can be the difference between an internship that's just a place to sit and do homework, and a life-changing experience for a student. But how do we coach mentors without putting even more on their plates? Using ImBlaze's adaptive questions section you can subtly train your mentors to make real, lasting impact in students' learning, and even more importantly, their lives. The key is finding questions that you believe are critical, so you can advocate for the importance of their completion. Below you'll find a compilation of highly effective questions for a variety of needs.
Coaching mentors to open doors for students
Who in your professional network have you connected your student to? What professional connections did you help your student make today?
What conversations did you have with your student about their future after high school?
Are there any relevant opportunities outside of your workplace that your student might be interested in?
Coaching mentors to teach new skills
What new learning/experience/skill/resource did you present to your student today?
What did your student do well today?
What do they need to improve on?
How would you describe your student's most recent product when compared to another professional in the field? How would you describe the levels between where your student was at and that professional level?
Coach mentors to help students feel welcome and valued
When did your student seem most comfortable today?
When did your student seem discouraged today?
Facilitating tip
At your next check in with the mentor, reference how important these questions are for you to be able to follow up on and support the student outside their internship, for the student to have that feedback to work on themselves, and for you as coordinator to start to discover a pattern of where the success and obstacles are for each student. It may take a while for mentors to get in the habit of answering the questions. In the meantime, don't be afraid to be understanding, but passionate about asking for this. If you can, talk about this in the setup meeting as one of the most critical parts.
Tech Tip
Remember, while changing an adaptive question changes it for every student, you can toggle different questions active/inactive to create cycles to expose students and mentors to a variety of prompts. For example, you might have 4 questions that you cycle through each month -- one per week by toggling a new one active, and the rest inactive, every Friday. The active/inactive feature also means never losing them or having to re-write them. No matter who moves on, the brilliance remains.