As educators, we know why it’s important to center Black greatness in all our students’ learning, all year. But I’ve also learned that how we center Black greatness matters just as much. Our students need to connect with Black icons and innovators in every subject, throughout history – but they also need to connect with Black role models in their communities and experience Black excellence in their daily lives. That’s why my fellow teachers and I created a schoolwide mentorship program to support our students.

At my middle school, close to 70% of our students are African American, and roughly 95% of our students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Throughout our years in classrooms, my fellow Black male educators and I have seen many of our Black students gravitate toward us for honest dialogue about the futures they aspire to and challenges they face. Those experiences inspired this program: My colleagues and I want to provide a structured environment of shared support to empower each of our African American students individually, and all of them collectively. 

After only two years, our program has become incredibly popular with our participants, 90% of whom are African American students – and it’s making a real difference to their success in our school. I want to share 3 strategies that make mentorship so effective and exciting for our students:

+We collaborate to provide the relationships and supports our students need.

My colleagues and I want to make sure we’re inviting in all the kids who could benefit from some extra support, so we hold monthly Whole-Child meetings to discuss both our current mentees and any students who might benefit from becoming mentees. Each meeting brings together the teachers, counselors, SEL specialists, and our administrators from each grade level to discuss current and future interventions, preventions, and supports for each current mentee to continue their success in our school. We’re intentional about making sure we’re supporting the whole student, whether that’s with academic concerns, behavioral challenges, attendance issues or troubles at home – anything that suggests a student could use some extra motivation to keep coming to school and engaging in class. 

For a student, joining our program might mean meeting with a teacher on a daily or weekly basis for support with academic goals. It might mean connecting with another educator once or twice a week to talk through behavioral challenges and invest in a plan that incentivizes positive behavior in class. It might mean joining a pull-out group to work on SEL strategies with fellow students, or simply checking in with a teacher for a quick welcome each morning. We also involve our mentees in a structured Social Skills course where our teachers promote positive interactions, modeling, and role play for our mentees to better understand how to navigate social interactions with peers and adults. To support our students’ hard work, we plan fun field trips – and we look for ways to show them how valuable they are to our surrounding community, too, like planning a visit to residents in our local nursing home. We recently attended a parade to showcase their achievements, and I loved seeing how proud they were to be celebrated by our whole community.

+We invite community leaders to promote college and career plans.

To make this mentorship program really effective for our students, we knew we needed to connect their hard work in school to their goals for the world beyond school. That’s why, as we build in time for academic progress and SEL growth, we also build in time for African American guest speakers who can promote college and career readiness. This brings us a great chance to give students a seat at the table, too: When we’re lining up speakers, we always ask “Who do you respect in the community? What roles or jobs are you curious about?” Students know that we use their replies to guide our plans, and that keeps them feeling invested in the program. 

That means one week, an African American professor from our local university might come to speak about their path. Maybe they’ll talk about the classes that first sparked their interest in their field, recommend the study habits that got them through academic challenges or share advice on exploring subjects and finding mentors in college. Another week, we’ll bring in an African American manager from a store our students like, and they’ll share some insights on their hiring process, including tips on how students can make the most of their strengths on an application or present themselves well in an interview. From there, they might explain their path to management, share their professional plans for the future and give students a glimpse of how a retail career can be built. It’s so powerful for our students to hear directly from Black scientists and historians, Black entrepreneurs and creators, Black business owners and community leaders. Every speaker adds meaning to the skills students are working on – because every speaker encourages students to imagine themselves using those skills to open doors.

+We invite high school and college students to promote academic achievement.

When we ask students to share their input on guest speakers, we’re trying to make sure that every visitor feels relevant to the futures they’re envisioning and the skills they’re building. But because our kids are middle schoolers, we’re aware that college and career can feel far away – so they also need to hear from Black role models closer to their age. That’s why we invite former students who are now in high school or college to come back and speak to our mentees. Because these graduates walked our halls as middle schoolers, they can speak to the ups and downs of middle school life in a way that feels deeply authentic to our current students. It means a lot for our African American students to hear how an older student who looks like them tackled challenges and achieved academic success at their age – and it’s empowering for them to hear how that student is drawing on those middle school experiences to build a successful path through high school or college. Now that our mentorship program has been running for a couple of years, we sometimes get the chance to invite former students to visit us. Last week, National Football League player Justin Houston of the Baltimore Ravens, who grew up and attended school in our community, visited our mentees to show them what they can be if they continue to work towards their goals. I love seeing our middle schoolers get inspired by the achievements of former students who were once sitting in the same seats, walking the same educational path.

When my fellow teachers and I started this mentorship program, we didn’t expect it to explode like it has – and that’s exciting not just because it’s impactful for our students, but also because it’s informative for us educators. Seeing the program resonate so deeply with our African American students has told us so much about the culture of schoolwide support they need from us – not just in each classroom, but throughout our building. We teachers and educators work hard to build affirming relationships with our students in class, and we know those connections contribute to a schoolwide culture of growth. But sometimes, a student may need to hear some extra motivation beyond the classroom, and it’s not always possible for a teacher to be there at just the right moment. By pooling our expertise and energies in our mentorship program, my colleagues and I can provide that motivation for our students – not just from moment to moment, but all year long. And by centering our program on Black greatness, we can empower our Black students to pursue greatness for themselves – not just during Black History Month, but all year long.