How It Works
Pairing Mentees with eMentors
Every mentee is paired with their own eMentor.
Enable 1:1 personalized, sustained support
Help each mentee get excited about the lifelong relevance of learning
Support mentees in advancing their academic skills and knowledge
Provide each mentee with personalized social-emotional support
Serving mentees in grades 3–8, at critical time in each child’s development of:
basic academic skills
self-concept
and self-confidence
The Mentee/eMentor Engagement Cycle
The Heart of CricketTogether
CricketTogether provides a wide variety of standards-aligned, topical units.
Selection of the topic-based unit is completed online by the program coordinator.
Each topic-based unit contains content and prompts that spark correspondence and idea sharing.
The program coordinator sets the calendar to indicate how long mentor/mentee pairs will correspond about the selected topic.
CricketTogether allows mentees to indicate what article or story they would like to read to learn more about the topic.
Allowing the mentee to select the reading enables each child to personalize the learning experience to their reading level and interests.
The platform automatically notifies the eMentor of the mentee’s reading selection so both can read the article or story, delivered digitally.
CricketTogether articles and stories come from Cricket’s award-winning library of children’s magazines, written and designed to spark curiosity!
Each mentee/eMentor pair exchanges online letters about the reading and how it connects to their lives and the world around them.
The platform provides guidance and topic-related prompts to support the letter writing for both mentors and mentees.
All correspondence is moderated for safety by the program administrator.
Included in each Engagement Cycle
Award-Winning
Content
Each mentee selects short stories and articles from Cricket’s library of award-winning content for the mentee and eMentor to read independently.
Hands-On
Activities/Labs
For school programs, the class discusses the topic and does related hands-on activities/labs.
Asynchronous
Correspondence
Each mentee/eMentor corresponds asynchronously via online letters about the articles and stories they’ve read, and about important school and life issues.
Secure
Monitoring
The teacher or program coordinator monitors and approves all correspondences.
The engagement cycle provides:
A reliable routine—eMentors and mentees thrive with a predictable routine with clear expectations around communication.
Asynchronous letter-writing combined with the calendaring of the cycle milestones respects the busy lives of both eMentors and mentees.
Friendly email notifications alert the eMentor if they are off course in the cycle, keeping all pairs engaged with minimal need for program personnel intervention.
Fresh conversation topics—Each cycle presents a new topic that sparks discussion, drives deeper conversation and promotes relationship building.
Mentee Choice—Allowing the mentee to select the reading allows each child to personalize the learning experience to their reading level and interests.
Modeling and Motivation—Having the eMentor write first provides modeling of strong writing, and the eMentor questions motivates the mentee to seek answers and express their own ideas on the topic.
Moderation—The asynchronous model allows for moderation of all communication, keeping both eMentors and mentees safe and secure.
Repeated Practice with Communication Skills—All eMentor/mentee communication is asynchronous and written. The ongoing cycle of written exchanges gives the mentee repeated practice with written communication, a critical skill for academic and career success.
eMentors can participate from anywhere at any time. Participation requires only 15–20 minutes per week.
Safety and Security
- Safe for teachers, students, and mentors, alike. (COPPA compliant—program participants trained in best PII practices)
- The secure platform allows the program lead (teacher or program coordinator) to moderate and approve all correspondences.
Comprehensive Support for All
Educators
CricketTogether provides rich educational resources and activities, with eMentors to support your students academically and social emotionally.
To learn more, visit How to Help: Educators.
Mentoring Organizations
CricketTogether and MENTOR have partnered to create the Virtual Mentoring Portal to support any mentoring organization looking to utilize eMentoring to connect their mentor and mentee matches in a safe and secure online environment.
To learn more, visit How to Help: Mentoring Organizations.
eMentors
eMentors are supported by comprehensive video training and ongoing in-platform guidance enabling all eMentors to interact with their mentees with confidence.
To learn more, visit How to Help: Volunteer eMentors.
Corporate Sponsors
Sponsors are provided with a highly sustainable, turnkey system which supports volunteer recruitment, program administration, and impact analysis through a real-time engagement dashboard.
To learn more, visit How to Help: Corporate Sponsors.
Program Options
Cross-Curricular
Grades 3–5
Begin and build 1:1 eMentor/mentee relationships with curricular options that support literacy and learning skills.
See the cross-curricular program in action.
STEM
Grades 3–8
Established in partnership with IEEE, adult eMentors correspond with students around Cricket’s STEM-based articles and related hands-on activities to support the next generation of STEM professionals.
See the STEM program in action.
See the STEM program in action.
STEM
Grades 3–8
Established in partnership with IEEE, adult eMentors correspond with students around Cricket’s STEM-based articles and related hands-on activities to support the next generation of STEM professionals.
Virtual Mentoring Portal
Grades 3–5
Established in partnership with MENTOR in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this portal supports mentoring organizations seeking to provide an online solution to safely connect mentors and mentees in school or community-based mentoring programs.
Alyssa Anderson, Youth MENTOR Coordinator, The Friends Program shares her experiences with the CricketTogether eMentoring program.
