Product Description
The definitive resource for those who work with youth and those who want to work with youth. No matter how knowledgeable you are in the field of youth service, no matter how well you connect with youth or how impressive your credentials, if you don't know how to manage the many areas of youth work, how to avoid attitudes and behaviors that adversely impact youth and how to develop effective professional practices - you'l almost always fall short of being the highly successful youth worker you are capable of being. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), published by Thomson Gale on October 20, 2006. The length of the article is 592 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Ball to unmask power of mentoring.(Entertainment)(Committed Partners for Youth will auction trips, local celebrity events)
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) (Newspaper)
Date: October 20, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: E14

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Book Description
This timely book examines one of the fastest growing social movements of our time. As millions of volunteers worldwide continue to add to the mentoring phenomenon, the need for this authoritative text becomes increasingly evident. It capably traces the history of mentoring, unravelling the many myths that surround it, with a combination of intellectual rigour, insight and lucid discussions. The author draws upon detailed case studies, providing a unique and vivid account of mentoring from the perspective of the participants. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Reclaiming Children and Youth, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2007. The length of the article is 1499 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Mentoring the natural way: Native American approaches to education.(National Indian Youth Leadership Project)
Author: McClellan Hall
Publication: Reclaiming Children and Youth (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 16Issue: 1Page: 14(3)

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Book Description
The "twenty-something" years of young adulthood are increasingly recognized as critical but puzzling. Building on the foundation she established in her classic work, The Critical Years, Sharon Parks urges thoughtful adults to assume responsibility for providing strategic mentorship during this important decade in life.She reveals also, however, the ways young adults are influenced not only by individual mentors but also by mentoring environments.

To read Young Adulthood in a Changing World, an excerpt from this book,click here. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Powerfully Motivating
If it seems vague or overly theoretical, you may not be paying attention; and that's fine, if it's not what you need to be reading.

But to me it is always inspirational and powerfully motivating.It literally moves me to tears with some regularity - I see so many real people in these pages.After a little focused time with this book I consistently feel she is one of the few writers for whom every sentence and every paragraph are seriously written and contentful.Highly recommended.

Doesn't deliver on the expectations
I read this book because it was highly recommended to those who work in Campus Ministry at an Institute I attended.I snatched up the book in anticipation of being able to help those young adults that I work with.But instead of finding helpful and meaninful nuggets of psychology and analysis of the mentoring relationship, I found the book very unhelpful.

Parks uses developmental psychological analysis to try and examine what role a mentor should play while interacting with young adults.She fails to adequately address how to build relationship and how to mentor but rather stays in the "ivory tower" and doesn't come down to the ground to help mentors in the trenches.I highly disagree with another reviewer that she doesn't get caught up in the academic over-psychologizing and prose.It seems that the author was trying to please those in her field rather than those that might need a work of this kind even more.There is little "hands-on" practical advice, but rather developmental theory takes over.

She also likes to only talk about "spirituality" in vague terms and in a way the cements a relativistic approach to God and a world-view.If this sounds like your cup-o-tea, then jump in like I did.If not, don't make the same mistake I did.

A Captivating Read for Mentors
In Big Questions Worthy Dreams, Sharon Parks affirms the purpose, promise and possibility of mentoring for mentor and mentee. She recognizes the critical role of "meaning making" in the mentoring journey. The reader is at once (and always) aware of the awesome responsibility of the mentor in supporting "meaning making"at each stage of the mentee's developmental journey. Parks solidly anchors mentoring in the rich dynamic of developmental theory. At the same time, she challenges the reader to heightened levels of accountability. The examples she offers, documented from her own experience, and those of others, inspire the reader to create stimulating mentoring environments that foster growth and development.This thoughtful and well-crafted book hooks the reader from the very start raising big questions and worthy dreams for mentor and mentee alike. A mentoring must-read!

Inspiring and Thoughtful Advice for Helping Today's Youth
"Big Questions, Worthy Dreams" is a stunning book that delivers even more than it promises. I was expecting another philosophical/psychological tome on the intellectual and emotional development of young adults. I was also expecting yet another alarmist treatise on the lack of morality in today's youth--"and here's what we adults should do about it." Instead, I stumbled upon a wonderfully insightful book that weaves together developmental theory and inspirational stories, but--thankfully!--without the academic gobbledegook jargon that clogs up the prose of so many other books. But what I like best about this book is the hopeful, even inspiring, message of the book. Parks offers a clear picture of the challenges facing those of us who wish to be mentors to young people, and shows us why it's necessary--and rewarding--to take an active interest in the lives of others. This is truly an excellent book! I'm recommending it to all my colleagues. ... Read more

Book Description
Genuine, lasting life-change is the heartbeat of youth ministrybut too few students experience it. Through a simple but revolutionary process of mentoring a few, dramatic transformation can happen in the lives of studentswith benefits that spread throughout the ministry. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Sit With this book
This is a good "how-to" book for anyone wanting to positively impact teens the way Jesus did. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, published by U.S. Government Printing Office on April 4, 2005. The length of the article is 4000 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Remarks on the helping America's youth initiative.(Week Ending Friday, April 1, 2005)(Transcript)
Publication: Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (Newsletter)
Date: April 4, 2005
Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office
Volume: 41Issue: 13Page: 540(6)

Article Type: Transcript

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Book Description
This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Vocational Behavior, published by Elsevier in 2005. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Using an experimental design with a sample of African-American high school students (n=94), this study examines the determinants of students' initial trust beliefs about adult mentors. Consistent with the model of initial trust formation, results indicate that both structural assurance beliefs and youth dispositions toward trust were positive, significant predictors of the belief in an adult mentor's benevolence, honesty, competence, and predictability. Mentor selection procedures were not related to any of the trust beliefs. Ethnic identity of the student was found to moderate the relation between two of these beliefs (competence and predictability) with racial similarity of the mentor and student. Contrary to expectations, African-American students with low ethnic identity believed that a White adult mentor would be more competent and predictable than students with high ethnic identity. Implications for work-based, adult-youth mentoring programs and future research are discussed. ... Read more