School’s student mentoring program is a winner

Seventh–grade students at St. Charles Borromeo School are paired with first–graders in a novel mentoring program that benefits the students and shcool.

Maggie Mayhew, right, a seventh–grade student at St. Charles Borromeo School works with first–grader Luke Helgemo during a recent mentoring session at the Port Charlotte School.

BOB REDDY | FC
Maggie Mayhew, right, a seventh–grade student at St. Charles Borromeo School works with first–grader Luke Helgemo during a recent mentoring session at the Port Charlotte School. “This is a fun and awesome way to learn together and teach them all sorts of things,” seventh-grader Maggie said. “I know I am learning more from this.”

BOB REDDY | FLORIDA CATHOLIC VENICE BUREAU EDITOR

Posted: 10.15.09

PORT CHARLOTTE | Being a role model can be heavy burden for some, but the seventh-graders at St. Charles Borromeo School cherish the opportunity to take an active part in their education as they serve as mentors to the first-graders.

Maggie Mayhew said she “likes being a role model and teacher” to her young counterparts who are so eager to learn and look up to the older students anyway.

First-grade teacher Wendy Lioon came up with the idea of a writing project related to the yearlong theme of “Hiking With Jesus: Exploring God’s World.” So the idea of study about bears was logical, and the desire to take it beyond the traditional textbooks led to the idea of including students from a different grade.

Seventh-grade teacher Amber Palmer had been developing her students’ research skills to use the school’s laptop computers, and a natural match was made. It was decided that the students would learn about bears, a subject both grade levels were likely to be interested in.

Lioon said her class has a teddy bear and learned about bears in general, but by pairing up with the seventh-grade class, and their access to the computers, a whole new world has been opened up.

“They are all learning in a different and exciting way,” Palmer said. “They are teaching basic reading, writing, comprehension and more advanced social skills, while the seventh-grade develops their own skills of vocabulary and analysis and research while seeing the reward of being a mentor and role model.”

The older students navigate through approved Web sites to learn a variety of information about bears. One of the classes included research about “How are we like other animals?”

The students were asked to write down what foods bears eat, what foods people eat, and what food both people and bears eat. This simple task got the students excited and engaged in a learning activity that could otherwise prove to be routine, or even boring, in a more traditional classroom setting.

At the start of the class period, the first-graders come down the hallway carrying their little chairs and get paired up with a seventh-grader. The older students will then switch seats, taking the smaller chair, thus putting the students at the same level and allowing the younger students better access to the computer.

“This is a fun and awesome way to learn together and teach them all sorts of things,” seventh-grader Maggie said. “I know I am learning more from this.”

Her partner for the day was Luke Helgemo, who said he liked being in the “big kids” classroom. “This is fun,” he said with a big grin.

The “Hiking With Jesus: Exploring God’s World” project uses the journey Jesus took throughout his life by bringing it to the level of first-graders, Lioon said. The goal is to teach the students basic learning skills, while also helping them understand the extraordinary life of Jesus and the impact his journey had on the world.

The smiles and excitement are the reward for the students and the teacher, said Principal Michael O’Loughlin.

“These teachers have created an in-depth learning experience that has benefits far beyond the classroom,” O’Loughlin said. “This has grown to something special in our school, bringing an excitement to the classroom for everyone involved. You can’t find that type of creative learning environment in a public school. This is part of what makes St. Charles Borromeo and all Catholic schools unique.”

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