Year 2, Lesson 2.2 - Mentors and Anti-Mentors

Unit Learning Goal

Students will become familiar with the qualities of role models and the influence of role models on decision-making. 

Lesson Goal

Students will be able to identify the mentors and “anti-mentors” who inspire them and describe their qualities.

Assessment

  • Monitor participation during pair and class discussions for understanding of mentors and anti-mentors.

  • Analyze Exit Tickets for identification of a suitable mentor relevant to an important issue to each student.

CASEL Alignment

Social Awareness

portfolio documentation

Resources

Prerequisites

Year 2, Lesson 2.1

Total TIME

45 minutes

    1. Remind students that last class they designed skits that examined the similarities and differences between role models, mentors, “anti-mentors” or “tor-mentors,” and frag-mentors. Remind students these three terms mean: 

      1. A role model: “A person who serves as an example by influencing others” (link), often considered a standard of excellence worth imitating. Individuals often, but not always, admire role models who are similar in identity to themselves, as well as individuals who they feel do things in life that they could also achieve. 

      2. A mentor: “"an individual with whom a youth shares a 'close, trusting relationship in which the mentor provides guidance and encouragement’” (link). There is the sense with mentors that the individual and the mentor have met in person (or online) and do so fairly regularly. 

      3. An anti-mentor or tor-mentor: Terms we use at The Good Project to indicate someone we would not wish to idolize or emulate. Someone with bad character or who serves as a bad example. 

      4. Frag-mentors: Term we use at The Good Project to indicate that we can learn different things and different values from multiple mentors and/or role models in our lives; one person does not have to embody everything. For example, maybe we learn curiosity from our mother, and tenacity from our teacher, and creativity from a TV star we watch. 

    2. This class will be focusing on the idea of mentors and anti-mentors more specifically.

Instructions

 1. Opener: Learning about the 3 Ms [10 minutes].

  • Watch the “3 Ms” video.

  • Remind students that last year they explored the “Mirror Test” and dove more deeply into their own personal missions and class missions. This year they’ll be exploring mentors and anti-mentors more deeply. 

2. Identifying Models [15 Minutes].

  • Lead a class discussion about role models, explaining that even if we don’t have particularly deep connections to a “mentor” per se, we can still learn from people who inspire us. 

  • Model thinking through a particular mentor or role model yourself and what you have learned from that individual (e.g., “My mother taught me to never go to bed angry”; “My soccer coach taught me to be selfless and think about other players”). [5 minutes]

  • Ask students to think about at least one person they know personally who inspires them (coaches, teachers, family members, friends). If a student can’t think of one person in particular, they can think of a composite of positive traits from different individuals (e.g., “my older sibling takes everyone’s opinion into account”; “my teacher is a strong leader, our principal brings compassion to each student”; etc.). Ask them to write down the important messages they’ve learned from each person, or from the set of traits they have. Alternatively, they can create an artistic representation of these messages. [10 minutes]

  • Come back together and share as a group. [5 minutes]

  • Keep students’ written reflections or artistic representations to their Good Work portfolios (artistic representations can be images/copies of their original work along with a description of how their art relates to these messages).

  • “I added a thinking routine (3, 2, 1, bridge) so that students could focus on the video, and it was easier for them to identify the 3 key words, 2 important ideas and a question, and at the end of the lesson, how does the lesson connected to the ideas of Good Work we had been exploring.”

    -An Educator From The Good Project Community of Practice

  • “We ask students to bring pictures of their mentors so that at the time of classroom reflection they can be involved in depth with the activity and so excellency in the objective can be obtained.”

    -An Educator From The Good Project Community of Practice

3. Identifying Anti-Mentors [15 minutes].

  • Divide students into pairs. 

  • Ask them to think of someone (fictional or otherwise) who they don’t admire (or “anti-mentors”). Then in pairs, ask them to discuss why they don’t admire this individual. Caution students to be thoughtful and not to mention anyone in the school (teachers or students). Also, emphasize that this is a serious exercise and not a time to be unkind. Use the following questions as prompts:

    • Who is this individual, and what is their work?

    • Why don’t you admire him or her? Describe his or her qualities.

    • What would you guess are their top values? Are they the same or different from yours? How might their top values influence their approach to work? 

    • Can you offer an example of how you might do things differently?

  • Bring the class together, and ask students to share out the results of their discussions.

  • “In the anti-mentor section, I invited the students to talk about ACTIONS they didn't appreciate in specific people rather than identifying people they didn't look up to.”

    -An Educator From The Good Project Community of Practice

4. Closing and Exit Ticket [5 minutes].

  • Ask students to complete to Year 2, Lesson 2.2 Exit Ticket

  • Students will respond to the following prompt:

    • Think about something you care deeply about (this could be something that is happening in your school, your community, in current events, etc). With respect to the issue you have in mind, who is a mentor who would help you achieve what you see as the best possible solution? Why?

Possible Enrichments

  • Expand on your exit ticket from this class. What values would you expect a mentor to bring to the solution? Conversely, what values would you expect an anti-mentor to bring to their own choice or action?

Lesson Walkthrough

Watch this short video guide for lesson specific advice from The Good Project Research Team.