Students, mentors help raise grades, awareness........

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone, I wanted to share this article with all of you because my

son, Tony has been involved in a program similar to this one for the past

four years and it has been a godsend. Val

Students, mentors help raise grades, awareness

Interaction is key to Huron Valley special education program

By Janet Sugameli / Special to The Detroit News

" I had pretty sorry grades on my first report card, but now I have better

than a 3.0, " said Youngquist, a junior at Lakeland.

What mentors do

Students in the Teaching, Interacting, Encouraging Students (TIES) program

help their classmates by:

* Teaching them proper classroom behavior.

* Helping them with their homework.

* Monitoring their progress.

WHITE LAKE TOWNSHIP -- It took a few friendly and helpful fellow students

to boost Dave Youngquist's grades from failing to passing.

The Lakeland High School junior is among the school's special education

students who take part in the Teaching, Interacting, Encouraging Students

(TIES) program, which trains general education students to help their special

classmates in mainstream courses.

" I had pretty sorry grades on my first report card, but now I have better

than a 3.0, " Youngquist said. He has participated in the program since the

second semester of his freshman year.

The Huron Valley School District student mentors help special education

students organize class work, learn proper behavior and build healthy

relationships. The special education students have a variety of disabilities

from autism to visual impairments and learning disabilities.

" The program not only promotes awareness and understanding of individuals

with special needs, it also enhances community involvement, strengthens

positive role relationships, supports group collaboration and critical

thinking, and gives insight into careers in psychology, sociology, education

and other human services, " special education para-educator Melynda Penny

said.

Mentor Kirk Haminger isn't quite sure what route to take in college. But

he knows being a mentor has been a good and helpful experience.

" I like being a role model to them, " said Haminger, who is a mentor for

the second time. " I like helping them out and making sure they stay on task. "

He also admits it can be a challenge.

" You kind of get a handle on what teachers go through with so many

personalities in a classroom, " he said. " It's definitely a learning

experience. "

For 17-year-old Theut, mentoring dovetails with his career goals. " I

want to go into teaching and this gives me the opportunity to job shadow, " he

said.

Theut helps Youngquist in his study-skills course.

" I enjoy being able to help him, and he's become a friend to me, " Theut

said. " It also helps me realize the difficulties some people go through. "

Social Studies teacher Stormont has seen a difference, too. He had

one special education student who could not make it through his course, prior

to the program.

" I had him again the subsequent semester with a TIES mentor, and the

difference was amazing, " Stormont said. " He learned better, and I could teach

better. "

Frantz, a special education resource room instructor and

coordinator of the program, said the arrival of two new students three years

ago sparked the idea for the program.

" We realized that academically they were very capable of managing in

general education classes. But socially, they were having difficulty, " Frantz

said. " We realized that placing peer mentors would allow them to model

appropriate behavior and thereby get by as much academically as they can. "

The first semester, the program started with seven mentors and two special

education students.

" In one semester, we went from seven students to 29 working as TIES, " she

added. " We currently have 73 mentors. "

Mentors, who receive an elective credit for their work, help their

partners by reading aloud in a separate location during a silent reading

session or taking notes. It all depends on the class demand and the type of

disability.

" Sometimes, it's just a matter of a student needing to stay focused, "

Penny said. The TIES students undergo two, two-hour training sessions on how

to handle situations that range from behavioral problems to how to prompt and

cue students.

Each mentor must keep a daily journal, monitoring the partner's progress.

" They are getting an out-of-the-box learning experience, " Frantz said of

the mentors. " They're getting a chance to problem solve and learn how to work

with others, even in difficult situations. They're learning how to build

human relationships, too. "

Now, most of the special education students spend at least a portion of

their school day in mainstream classes, Franz said. The TIES program is the

process of expanding to the elementary and middle school levels.

To find a suitable mentor, teachers suggest possible candidates to Franz.

She meets the students, and has them fill out an application and go through

an interview process, where the expectations are laid out.

The mentors are matched with students according to their academic

strengths, as well as their personality types.

" The ability (the mentors) have to draw in students, who were ostracized

before, is phenomenal, " Frantz said. " It has changed the makeup of our

school. "

Haminger, one of the mentors, said he tries to " guide them in the right

direction of what kind of behavior they should have. "

" They are watching you, so if you do good things, it'll rub off on them, "

Haminger said.