Student Communication Templates¶
You can set these up as Gmail templates or copy-paste the text from here. Please replace the fields marked with {ALL_CAPS}. Feel free to personalize as much as you want to.
These templates are meant to make it quicker for you to get started communicating, but personal communication is priceless for good mentorship results.
If you want to use a Google Form instead e.g. for preparing students for meetings, feel free to use this template. Click on Request Access if you can't yet access it. I'll grant you access, and then you can Make a copy so you get the students' responses linked to your own Google account.
Intro Email¶
Hi `{STUDENT_NAME}`,
Welcome to CodingNomads! I'm excited to be working with you.
I'll send along some scheduling information shortly so that we can set up our first meeting.
If you'd like, we'd love for you to post an introduction about yourself on the Introductions thread on [Discord](https://codingnomads.com/discord)
Looking forward to meeting you :)
Intro Follow-up Email¶
Hi again `{STUDENT_NAME}`,
I sent you a Discord message with this same info, and I want to email it too to make sure it reaches you. Let's try to keep our conversations in Discord moving forward. Discord is designed for conversation, and it's easier to keep our communication in one place. Sorry for the duplicate info if you already saw this on Discord :)
I'm hoping to set up a call with you for this week so that we can get to know each other and touch base on learning methods, priorities, goals, etc., as we'll make sure that you're all set up and ready to get started.
I'm currently in `{MENTOR_LOCATION}`, so my time zone is `{MENTOR_TIMEZONE}`. You're currently in `{STUDENT_LOCATION}`, right?
Let me know which times work best regarding your schedule. I put the times that will work best for me for our first call in this scheduling tool linked below. Please vote on the listed time that works best for you. If you don't see a time that works for you, please write back and we'll figure something else out:
`{SCHEDULING_LINK}`
This meeting time is primarily for our first call, but if it works well, we can use the same time slot for our recurring meeting times moving forward, too.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
`{MENTOR_NAME}`
CodingNomads
Discord Response And Prompt¶
Hi `{STUDENT_NAME}`! Great to hear from you! :)
You're welcome to contact me here on Discord any time, and you can also use the `{COURSE_CHANNEL}` channel for any course and content-related thoughts.
You can also use any other channel here that makes sense to you!
When you get the time, please write a quick intro on [Discor](https://codingnomads.com/discord)
Discord is a great resource for searching for, asking, discussing, and answering questions - talking about code essentially!
Glad to have you on board and let me know if you need anything.
First Call Follow-Up¶
Hi `{STUDENT_NAME}`,
Nice to meet you today! I'll post the recording from our call shortly in the Google Photos album that I shared with you. You'll always be able to re-watch our calls there.
I'll also be sending you an invite for our call for next week at the time we discussed.
As you go through coursework or other programming related projects, I hope you'll find a couple of opportunities to fill out this little questionnaire. Filling this out is primarily for the practice of stepping back when encountering challenging programming tasks.
What you come up with is mostly for you, but if it ends up being helpful and you'd like to go over some results during an upcoming call, please mention it and we can talk about it more.
**Stepping back when a problem feels challenging at first glance**
**Fill out the following 2 questions before attempting the challenge:**
1. What is the assignment or question?
2. What do you feel you don't know about it, or which parts do you predict will be challenging?
**Fill out the next three questions after and during your attempt:**
3. Did you manage to figure it out?
4. Did the things you listed in question num. 2 end up being relevant to the assignment? If so, did they end up being difficult aspects of the assignment?
5. (If any) What resources did you use when working on the assignment? Please take note of ones that were helpful, and feel free to specify if any resources were particularly unhelpful...
Attempt this exercise a couple of times. Copy paste it into a file, and jot down some notes to answer each question. Give this process a fair try, it could turn out to be helpful to have it as a record of your progress.
On another note, here are some social accounts you can check out and follow. It's a great way to get involved into the larger programming community, and that helps with getting and staying excited about it all! :)
`{COURSE_SOCIAL_LINKS}`
That's it! Hope you have a nice week and again, please reach out on Discord if you have any questions.
All the best,
`{MENTOR_NAME}`
Preparation For The Weekly Call¶
Hi `{STUDENT_NAME}`!
Our weekly call is coming up, and I want to make sure that you'll take the most from the time we have together.
It helps to get us both prepared and focused, if you **fill the following questionnaire** each week before our call, and **send it to me**:
- I'm currently in section…
- Questions I want to talk about:
- I'm currently stuck with…
- I've tried to solve this challenge by doing the following (links to code repo, orum posts, relevant StackOverflow resources etc. are very welcome!):
- When will I code during the upcoming week?
- Something interesting or cool I've learned or discovered:
- Other topics I want to talk about:
Thanks,
And looking forward to talking soon!
`{MENTOR_NAME}`
Prompt To Stick With Weekly Meetings¶
Hi `{STUDENT_NAME}`!
Hope it's been going well for you.
You mentioned you'd like to cancel this week's call.
I just wanted to suggest you to try to be as consistent as possible with the calls.
It really helps to think of it as a weekly institution - even if you haven’t made too much progress.
We can always talk over some older piece of code, or ask me to give you some quick thoughts or preview the material together.
Sticking to that routine, that you know you’ll have your call every week, helps with staying on track. It really does! : )
That’s why it helps to find a good time that’ll very likely work for you every week - and then we just keep at it!
Hope that makes sense, let me know if you have any questions.
I'm just trying to make it the most effective for you - and we’ve learned that the regular calls really do help. :)
Twitter Accounts To Suggest¶
One of your tasks as a mentor is to get your students involved in the programming community. If your students use Twitter, you can suggest them to follow some relevant programming accounts:
- @TalkPython
- @realpython
- @PyData
- @ProjectJupyter
- @PythonChat
- @PythonInsider
- @pybites
- @mkennedy
- @fullstackpython
- @laurenleemack
- @erinroseglass
- @pati_gallardo
- @sailorhg
- @samantha_gold
- @mariedm
- @b0rk
- @lisaironcutter
- @moyheen
- @shannonkao
- @tiny_mssn_ctrl
- @computerfact
- @AndreyAzimov
- @IFashionModels
- @iamdevloper
- @o_guest
- @lukew
- @q_dork
- @ChicagoPython
- @SaraJChipps
- @bethahdc3
- @weLearnWeCode
- @gdichicago
- @chihacknight
- @lisajdesignsgib