Mentoring at YLA
Are you consiering becoming a Mentor for YLA? Great mentoring takes place when someone is passionate, inspired, and dedicated to the growth of each of their students. YLA mentors provide projects or classes based on their own passion, experience, and skills.
The heart of YLA are our Scholar Days, and the heart of our Scholar Days are our Mentors. We cannot even begin to help our youth develop needed knowledge and skills to perform their life mission without quality Mentors, so thank you for considering becoming a mentor! Being a mentor also fulfills the 10 hour per semester volunteer requirement for our YLA member families. Below you will find details about mentoring at YLA.
Mentors Own Their Classes
As a mentor at YLA, you own your class, just as if you were offering a class out of your home or through a community program. Mentors determine the specifics of their classes, including but not limited to, materials, fees, class size, appropriate age and/or scholar phase.
Mentors submit class proposals to the leadership team. Classes will be selected based upon current interest, space, and time availability. As we receive class proposals, we will contact each mentor for an interview as needed. You do not need to know all of the details for your class to submit this form, we just need enough information to be able to put a schedule together. If your class is added to our final class schedule, we will send you a more detailed information form for your class page on the website. All of the information you include on THIS form can be adjusted before classes are final.
Responsible and mature youth are welcome to submit class proposals. Youth lead classes must have an adult assistant in the class. The YLA leadership team is here to support you and help in any way needed.
Two Types of Mentors: Volunteer & Compensated
Volunteer Mentors offer a class, volunteering their time without compensation (which fulfills their volunteer hours if they are members). These class fees are often lower, as they charge only for supplies and needs for the class.
Compensated Mentors are offering their professional services through YLA at their regular or discounted tuition costs. They are paid through class fees by those attending their classes.
Mentor Standards
Mentors may teach as many classes as they feel they are able to commit to and provide a quality experience for. Be mindful of your time, family circumstances, and personal needs when committing to mentor.
Mentors are responsible to find their own child care during their class time teaching at YLA. We encourage them to reach out to other members and for members to support each other as much as possible. However, if a young child (or children) must come with their parent during the time they are teaching, they may attend class with their parent.
As a positive example and crucial influence over the youth at YLA, mentors are expected to be on time, be present each week, set a positive example and do their best work. If sick or otherwise unavoidably absent, the mentor is responsible to find a sub and prepare a lesson plan for a substitute. Parents and YLA Leadership members are usually willing to step in and help. In an emergency situation, the class may be canceled and students will sit in study hall that week.
Co-mentors are often available as needed. Co-mentors are YLA member parents who need to fill volunteer hours. Co-mentors can help teach the class, sub as needed, help with behavior, and/or help with younger children. Mentors should indicate on the proposal form whether or not they would like a co-mentor for their class. Mentors should communicate concerns or other support they may need with the YLA Mentor Rep.
Depth vs Enrichment Classes
There are two main types of classes at YLA, Depth & Enrichment, and both are important and fill a need for our Youth.
Depth Classes
These classes are intense, focused, and require outside homework by the student. Projects may integrate several topics exposing students to a broad body of knowledge, or be thematic unit studies that take students to a deeper level of understanding. These typically require a good amount of work outside of class (typically 4-6 hours weekly per class hour), sometimes more depending on the Scholar Phase the class is intended for. These classes integrate core academic skills of reading, writing, presenting, thinking, discussing, and developing an argument/opinion. They often fill a credit for a core school subject, such as English, History, Science, etc.
Enrichment Classes
Some classes at YLA Scholar Schools are enrichment type classes that are based around a very specific topic and skill set (i.e. band, karate, watercolor, ballroom). This does not mean that it cannot also incorporate scholar skills or integrated subjects, but it is less focused on academic skills and more focused on a specific topic. The main purposes of enrichment classes are to help develop relationships and social skills among the youth, and expose youth to a wide variety of topcis to help them learn their talents and interests. These classes enrich the students' learning and do not require much, if any, work outside of class.