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Lesson 8: Mentoring and Volunteering

Dear Family,

As we work together to prepare your teen for transition and reflect upon the skills he needs to learn, a popular quote by Helen Keller comes to mind: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” What if we tap into additional resources beyond ourselves? Working together we can accomplish a great number of things, but by enlisting the help of more people, we can help your teen accomplish so much more. Two of the most important things we can do for your teen are:

  1. Connect him with an older adult who is visually impaired for mentoring.
  2. Expect him to do volunteer work in his community.

A mentor can assist your teen in developing new skills and to have confidence in his abilities as a person with a visual impairment preparing to be a contributing member of society. Nothing will better prepare your teen more for work than being a volunteer. Time is of the essence, so let’s get started with creating a plan to locate a mentor for your teen as well as an opportunity for him to do volunteer work.

Sincerely,
(Teacher Name/Contact information)

Activities

Directions

Complete the activities and return your responses to your teen’s professional to review and respond to.

Activity 1: Finding a Mentor

Read Role Models and Mentors and answer the following questions:

  1. Would you like your teen to have a mentor?
  2. What would you like the mentor to spend his time teaching or discussing with your teen?
  3. Would you support your teen in connecting with a mentor on CareerConnect to learn more about jobs he is interested in pursuing?Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā 
  4. What will you do to support your teen in having a mentor?

Activity 2: Finding a Volunteer Position

Read Importance of Volunteering and answer the following questions:

  1. What could your teen learn from volunteering his time?
  2. Could he include a volunteer experience to build his resume’?
  3. How often would you support your teen in volunteering in his community? Once a month? Once a week?
  4. What local volunteer opportunities (library, school, church, etc.) will you have your teen inquire about?
  5. What local volunteer opportunities would you like your teen’s professional to inquire about?
  6. By what date would you like your teen to have a volunteer position in place?

Reflection

From completing this activity, I learnedā€¦.
I would like more information onā€¦.
I have the following questions for my teen’s professionalā€¦.
I am going to do the following things to prepare my teen for transitionā€¦.