In the modern world, such an aspect as caring for all people is crucial. One of the effective and efficient ways to perform this action is the provision of various services. For the best performance of this action, a training course for students has been developed, under the name Academic Service-Learning. It helps to understand better and identify the needs and desires of the community and provide them with operations depending on these indicators. Thus, this work considers the implementation of such a project as mentoring students. This work will help students to go through the process of socialization easier and realize themselves in society.
Particular attention should be focused on the fact that the main target audience for which assistance will be provided are young groups at risk at the local school district and the Boys and Girls Club. This project is presented as a way to develop a plan of action and its application to Academic Service-Learning. The plan is divided into several critical stages that require close consideration and systematization. Service training is an educational process during which theoretical information is presented to students in a school setting and voluntary work is carried out to help society. An important aspect is also the presence of reflexive activity, which contributes to a better memorization of information and coming to constructive conclusions. Among the advantages of Service-Learning, one can highlight an increased number of learning opportunities, the development of personal and social skills, and the acquisition of deeper knowledge.
Before discussing the proposed plan, it is necessary to determine the essence of the mentoring activity. Thus, the mentor is primarily a thinking partner for students, especially those at risk (Hamilton et al., 2019). This person should help the younger generation to become more independent and able to implement their initiatives for change. Moreover, mentoring is necessary to support students and advocate for their interests. Mentors encourage and contribute to the professional or personal development of the younger generation. To achieve these goals, work was carried out to develop a mentoring plan for at-risk students.
As already mentioned, this program is being developed to work with children at risk in school institutions. The recipients are underage schoolchildren who are in particularly unfavorable living conditions. The project’s primary goal is to support this segment of society in the fight against the prevailing circumstances. Thus, it is essential to provide non-psychological assistance and strengthen the emotional state of adolescents. This is because, in this way, politics can make a significant contribution to society, helping to form balanced members of society who can make sound decisions.
As for the project description, candidates for teachers are engaged in the development of a short plan for the provision of mentoring services to young people at risk for one week. These actions imply the development of two classroom hours with school students and conducting mentoring activities throughout the entire project time. In addition, an event such as a summing up evening can be held, where students can share their results from the last week of participation in such a company. It is worth noting that each student taking part can receive a handout with the necessary information.
The first component of developing a program for mentoring children at risk in a school institution is mindfulness. The problem of the community, which can be taken as a basis, can be bullying. This is because this issue is particularly acute in modern society and especially among the younger generation. More and more teenagers are being bullied both physically and psychologically in the school environment. The consequences of bullying can vary greatly and cause terrible serious situations that can endanger a person.
Thus, bullying and psychological and physical violence against the younger generation is a serious problem in children’s modern generation. It is widespread in school institutions, which leads to the formation of mentoring programs that can help and support teenagers. It is necessary to spread awareness about the root causes of this problem and what are the effective ways that will help it, if not avoided, then minimize the consequences. Perhaps carrying out such work will help not only victims but also directly rapists to realize the negative impact of certain actions and also get rid of this problem as much as possible. The agents performing these actions will be employees of the educational institution, such as teachers.
In the case of the application of the academic service approach, it is necessary to actively engage schoolchildren in the plan being implemented. This exchange is characterized by benefits for both the recipient agency and the community or effort. At the same time, the necessary personal, academic and professional goals of the student are achieved. The rationale for increasing the level of student engagement is that young people who show more enthusiasm and concentration on the tasks assigned to them bring more benefits to the study. Therefore, if the future participants of the project are correctly interested, its results should show positive dynamics, which is the ultimate goal of the Academic Service-Learning plan (Furco & Norvell, 2019). When success is achieved in mentoring activities to reduce the impact of bullying at school, a more satisfactory atmosphere will be created in the educational institution.
The central aspect of school students’ engagement is a complete detailed analysis of their interests and experiences immediately before the start of the work. Moreover, when working with schoolchildren, it is necessary to take into account such aspects as establishing ground rules, establishing trust relationships, giving children the opportunity to become a leader, and reporting on the progress of the project. Thus, the more students can be involved, the more effective and efficient the implemented activity will be.
The next important stage is to implement the activities of the participants and the drivers of the Academic Service-Learning plan. The importance of this aspect is that before proceeding to the implementation of the strategy, specialist leaders should be sure that they have sufficient experience to perform this work. Interaction with children, and especially mentoring, has certain difficulties that require preparation. Feedback is also of particular importance, which will help to reflect on the measures being implemented. In mentoring, one of the critical aspects is psychological preparation since bullying is a complex issue.
At the activation stage, it is necessary to consider the main objectives of the classroom hours, which were mentioned earlier. It is vital to determine their course of action and desired results. Hence, in the first lesson, tasks can be set to define the problem of bullying, distinguish its types and what consequences this issue may have, and discuss the experience of participants. Also, students can be introduced to the concept of mentoring, and they can be shown the positive contribution of this activity. In the second lesson, students are already assigned to mentors and a personal discussion in groups of problems and ways of conducting activities. An aspect that should not be forgotten is the maintenance of a report, which will be needed at the stage of reflection.
When activating mentoring practice, it is necessary to keep in mind the critical components of this activity. Therefore, first of all, a valuable aspect is the construction of a constructive dialogue between participants and performers, which contributes to the formation of a trusting and friendly atmosphere. Moreover, it is necessary to take into account the principles of confidentiality of personal information, ethical considerations, and principles of humanism. These concepts also imply compliance with the boundaries between the mentor and the participant, which are based on pre-negotiated rules.
The penultimate stage of the implementation of the Academic Service-Learning plan is reflection. This phenomenon is based on the analysis of professional experience and coming to certain conclusions. This stage provides an opportunity for both participants and performers to learn valuable lessons and the plan carried out (Chang, 2019). Moreover, this type of activity can be further transformed by taking into account the individual reflection of the participants. Reflection should be carried out by all involved parties to achieve the best result, which can fruitfully affect the further activities of researchers.
It is necessary to start reflection activities from the short sides of the project. This can be achieved by conducting interviews or filling out a special questionnaire for schoolchildren. An effective reflection tool kit might include learning journals during the project. They can be presented as a full diary in the form of bullet points, tables, or audiovisual recordings. Then, it is already possible to consider those moments where the plan was not as strong as we would like and where finding alternative assumptions is required. Thus, reflexive practice allows adapting the action plan following the experience and opinion of participants and performers.
The last stage of the implementation of the developed plan for monitoring children at risk is the integration and transformation of the plan. This stage is of considerable importance, as it will have a much more significant impact when implemented in the future. Moreover, the developed plan will be more extensive and will take much more time and resources. That is why it is necessary to initially analyze it in detail and carefully consider all the most minor steps.
Therefore, this work considered the application of the Academic Service-Learning plan. The primary purpose of this innovation was mentoring schoolchildren who were at risk. Thus, the problem of bullying in school institutions, to which almost all students are exposed, has become a risk for young people. Bullying, both physical and moral, can have short-term and long-term consequences and can have a strong impact on how a person will socialize in the future. That is why it is necessary to develop a five-step plan that will help provide the necessary assistance and support to the younger generation in solving this issue.
References
Chang, B. (2019). Reflection in learning. Online Learning, 23(1), 95-110. Web.
Furco, A., & Norvell, K. (2019). What is service learning. Embedding Service Learning in European Higher Education: Developing a Culture of Civic Engagement, 13.
Hamilton, L. K., Boman, J., Rubin, H., & Sahota, B. K. (2019). Examining the impact of a university mentorship program on student outcomes. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, 8(1), 19-36. Web.