As a learning organization that prioritizes a growth mindset for its students and faculty, Yakima Music en Acción (YAMA), a daily after-school music program, explores ways to integrate mentorship into multiple layers of its program design. YAMA implements a multi-leveled mentorship model that utilizes cycles of collaborative design, practice and experimentation, and reflection to support students at all levels and Teaching Artists with varying levels of teaching experience. In this session, YAMA Assistant Teachers (older and more advanced students) will share their experiences and insights as students and as coaches to younger students at YAMA. The Assistant Teachers (grades 7-9) will pair up with YAMA's professional Teaching Artists to lead break-out discussion groups on the benefits and challenges of meaningful mentorship in the learning and teaching process at YAMA, with the ultimate goal of creating a musical community centered on transformational learning, empathetic leadership, and an ethic of social responsibility.
