The Futures Initiative Mentoring Workshop continued on August 19, 2015 at the Graduate Center, CUNY. Undergraduate students continued to work with graduate students and the FI team to think through mentoring and higher education.
FI Director Cathy Davidson sets the tone for the second workshop day by discussing meta-cognition with the FI Mentors
Mentors move around. Throughout the day they will think about embodiment in the classroom.
Hilarie Ashton leads the Mentors in exploding the text, where each person voices their response to the poem “The Rose That Grew From Concrete”
Mentors respond to the poem first on paper then as part of a live reading, which blew away everyone who was present!
Mentors watch a short excerpt of “The PolyMath,” about Samuel Delany, and discuss the dynamics of the classroom
Following the segment, in which Delany explains that he asks all his students to raise their hands, the Mentors are encouraged to raise their hands, but are a little reluctant at first.
The Mentors raise their hands higher…
…and higher!
Cathy Davidson and Jade Davis contribute to the discussion about classroom dynamics and the significance of every participant having a voice.
Allison Guess leads the Mentors in imagining and drawing a “Mentoring Tool”
Mentors begin to sketch out their prototypes for their mentoring tools.
Mentors share their mentoring tool designs with the rest of the group.
Danica Savonick maps out CUNY resources and guides mentors through a history of student activism in CUNY.
Mentors get into campus-based groups to present what resources they want added to their individual campuses.
Mentors share their ideas for campus resources.
During lunch, one of the Mentors played the White Stripes’ “We’re Going To Be Friends” on a ukulele.
Mike Rifino leads the group in discussing superpowers and how they can be used in mentoring others.
Following this discussion, the FI Fellows left to allow the Mentors to develop their own strategy for the coming 2015-2016 academic year.
When we returned, the room was buzzing with activity!
The Mentors excitedly shared their goals and strategies with us.
Mentors walked us through the test site that they had developed, to stay connected with each other and with their future mentees.
We are looking forward to a great year working with the Future Initiative Mentors!
