Engaging students in learning

We'll be hosting another Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference at Northwestern University on November 19 and 20. It's goal is to connect people involved, or interested, in volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring with each other, and with ideas they can use in their own programs, or to strategically support such programs in different places, or different cities.

Nicole White of the T/MC is conference organizer, and is writing about speakers on her blob.

We have links to more than 200 Chicago area youth serving programs on the T/MC web site. The goal is that leaders, volunteers and donors browse these sites to build their own opinion of best practices, and to borrow ideas that can be implemented in more places if donors provide the resources of time, talent and dollars.

One of these is the Cabrini Connections program that I've led since 1993 (and before that the Cabrini Green Tutoring Program, that I led since 1975).

We're trying to engage our teens and volunteers in learning, through a variety of tactics. One is that we have blogs that focus on each of our special learning activities. The blogs have become much more active this fall, and I encourage you to read them to see how kids are becoming engaged.

Art Club
Writing Club
Tech Club
Video Club
PIP Blog - Student/Volunteer Profiles
Cabrini Blog

Together these show a wide range of volunteers mentoring kids in a wide variety of learning and enrichment activities. I hope you'll visit these at least monthly and follow the growth of our students and the Cabrini Connections program. If you see ideas you'd like to adopt for your own tutor/mentor program, feel free to borrow and improve upon them.

If you are blogging your own work, why not share the link with us, so we can point people to your blog, as well as the Cabrini Connections blog.