I can’t say that planning for the JEA mentor academy is the reason that I haven’t been keeping up my blog for the last couple of weeks — but that would be one reason.

Next week is the mentor academy, being held at UC/Berkeley with 11 new mentors joining the program. The mentors represent California, Illinois, North Carolina and Oregon. 

With the addition of the 11 new mentors, the program will have 21 mentors next year. Amazing that the program started July 2007 — just a little more than a year ago. For all of us who have been involved in educational institutions, we know that implementing new programs (and getting those programs funded) can take months and years. So having the program approved by the JEA board and immediately funded and started was very exciting.

Another exciting dimension — the program has received outside funding, which has helped expand the program and has provided stipends at the state level for the mentors.

The academy starts Monday night with a group dinner. Tuesday we begin the day-long training sessions. 

My bag is packed. My handouts are ready. I’ve uploaded music and podcasts onto my iPhone for the flights. I’ll keep you posted.