Mentors

As an accredited program through the Commission on Collegiate Interpreter Education we ask that potential mentors provide us with evidence of their certification(s), credentials, and qualifications.  Once screened and approved by our practicum coordinator mentors have the following responsibilities:

• Familiarize yourself with our BSI program and Practicum Program

• Provide a minimum of 2 hours per week of mentoring/supervision session for a total of 30 hours in a semester.  

• Support students in finding ways to satisfy their other hour requirements (interpreting and observation hours)

• Support our students in networking opportunities

• Fill out a mid-semester evaluation and final semester evaluation on your student by the due date assigned.

Thank you for everything you do in supporting our BSI students. We are grateful to you for sharing your experience, knowledge, and professionalism for the benefit of your mentee. An honorarium of $600 per student/mentee will be processed at the completion of the Practicum program. 

All of the documents, forms, and mentor resources can be found on this website.

The BSI program supports students’ satisfaction of hours (observation, interpreting, etc.) through a spreadsheet (managed by our Senior Staff Assistant) and pro bono requests coordinated by the Practicum Coordinator. We encourage students to discuss with you accepting pro bono assignments that are approved by the department.

The first week of classes, students are assigned to identify their goals for the semester. Students are required to use a worksheet for their meeting with mentors (only required the first three sessions). The worksheet and evaluations you complete are aligned to support students’ progress toward their goals in the three content areas assessed–Interpreting skills, professional demeanor, and ethics--as outlined in the syllabus. Practicum instructors are responsible for grading, and the mentor evaluations are an important component of the course. 

The mentor evaluation of students is done via google forms twice during the semester and are due mid-semester and finals week. 

You are welcome to join a workshop, Think Again: How Can Mentoring Support Lifelong Learning, as well as monthly consultation groups. In addition, feel free to schedule a meeting with the Practicum Coordinator as needed.

In addition to managing the spreadsheet, the Senior Staff Assistant addresses any questions related to the honorarium. If you have never mentored with us, or not mentored within the past year, you will need to submit a completed W9 form https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf to the Senior Staff Assistant. (DAS interpreters are exempt from this requirement.) For those who have mentored in the past, please ensure that we have your current address. 

As a way of showing our gratitude toward mentors we will periodically host workshops relating to mentoring that we will invite you to in order to earn CEU's for free.  In addition as a mentor you are able to earn up to 2.0 (20 hours) CEU's with an Independent Study.  Our department will cover the costs to process those CEU's.  This Independent Study form must be completed prior to the mentorship beginning and sent to both Kim Burns from Interpretek at: kburns@interpretek.com and the Practicum Coordinator at practicumcoordinator@rit.edu.

• Take a moment to review this recorded orientation video to mentoring our students conducted in ASL.  This video is in ASL and may need to be viewed on a computer.  The "view" must be changed to Gallery View in order to access the content.  Please see this image for where to find that view.  

• Become familiar with the expectations for students by reviewing the appropriate course syllabus and outline.

• Inform supervisor, classroom instructors, deaf students, and other key individuals that you will be working with an interpreting student for the semester.

• Explain the presence of the practicum student to key individuals.

• Schedule the weekly Supervision meetings with your mentee. 

Students and mentors must meet for Supervision a minimum of 30 hours over the course of the semester (an average of two hours per week). The weekly Supervision meeting can occur at one sitting or over several shorter meetings.

• Review the Tips for the Weekly Supervision Meetings.

• Review the links to a variety of skill-building activities on the Resources page.

• The textbook required for the course is The Professional Sign Language Interpreter's Handbook by Dr. Linda Humphreys

• Introduce the practicum student to all key individuals at practicum site location and/or on assignment:  instructors, deaf students, secretaries, etc.

• Give the student a tour of the department and/or building (if applicable).

• Review departmental/school/site policies and procedures with the student.

• Discuss your expectations regarding attire and professional demeanor.

• Determine protocol for the following situations:

1. How should you contact the student if you will be absent?

2. What should the student do if the mentor is absent and a replacement interpreter is sent to the practicum site?

3. What should the student do if the mentor is absent and no replacement interpreter arrives?  

4. If asked, how should the student respond to a request to interpret the assignment?

5. How should the student contact you if they will be absent?

• When possible, arrange for the student to attend department meetings.

• Discuss in general the approach you take to interpreting in this setting.

• Obtain invitations for the student to observe other interpreters in your area.

• Assist the student in making arrangements to observe other interpreters.

• Review the student's practicum goals (these are developed in Seminar with instructor).

• Assist the student in determining which of your assignments would be best to observe and/or team. Have the student refer to Protocol for Successful Observations on the Resource page of this website.

• Observe the student interpreting ASL-English and English-ASL as often as possible and provide feedback. Upon request, the BSI program can provide prerecorded interpreting stimuli comprising spoken English and/or ASL stories and lectures.

• Inform the interpreting student of Deaf culture or interpreted events that may be of interest.

• Periodically check to be sure the student is appropriately working toward their practicum goals.

• On a weekly basis, have the student discuss activities listed on their Practicum Time Sheet and ensure they are progressing toward meeting their hour requirements.

• Inform the Practicum Seminar Instructor and/or Practicum Coordinator of any concerns. We want to ensure that our support and RIT resources are available to support students' development.

The Practicum Weekly Checklist serves as a guide that you can use throughout the semester as your work with your mentee. 

Mentors

1. Mentors are required during both Week 7 and again in Week 14 to complete an evaluation of their mentee. 

• Please review and discuss the evaluations with your mentee. 

• Once both forms have been received, the BSI program will process payment for the mentor honorarium.  

A sample of the evaluation forms can be found here.  

2. At the completion of the mentoring experience, we ask mentors to fill out a survey regarding their experience.  

Mentor Practicum Experience Feedback survey:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1jzRu-fynGW22VjQHSftizfgZgF-8yp_l6duyiYhDoTg/edit?usp=sharing 

Students

• 1. Students are required to complete a BSI Student Evaluation of Mentor form at the end of the semester. 

  2. Students are required to complete a BSI Student Practicum Experience Feedback form at the end of the semester.

A maximum of 2.0 RID independent study CEU's can be awarded for mentoring our students.  If you are interested in pursuing the process of completing an independent study through the approved CEU sponsor (Interpretek); ASLIE will cover the costs of the process.  Please contact the practicum coordinator directly for additional information at practicumcoordinator@rit.edu.  

For more information on independent studies through RID please visit: https://rid.org/continuing-education/earning-rid-ceus/independent-study-2/