Getting Started

Check out our pre-season checklist for a detailed list of things to do and helpful documents to get ready for a successful season.

• Complete your mentor profile
• Review the resources on this page, along with the mentor frequently asked questions (FAQ)
• Understand the program and timeline
• Find a team: Once you have completed your mentor onboarding on the platform, you’ll be able to connect with a team. Your mentor training includes details on how to find a team.
• Once you find a team, email the team members, and have them complete the communications consent form.
• Connect with other mentors - join our Volunteer Slack workspace (details in the mentor training) and use our Slack Guide to learn more
• Review the student and mentor curriculum, to start preparing for your first team meeting

Time commitment

Our four month program recommends 40+ hours to complete. We recommend working with a co-Mentor for more support during the season. You can recruit a colleague, or reach out to other Mentors in our Slack workspace to find a co-Mentor.

It is up to you to determine how much time you can commit to while supporting students through the curriculum and building their projects.. Simply make sure to set this expectation with your team from the beginning.

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More getting started resources: 

Mentor Curriculum - Each week of the student curriculum has a companion guide for mentors to help you feel more confident and prepared to support your team.

Submission Guidelines - Review these guidelines with your team at the beginning, middle, and end of your project to make sure you are on track and ready to submit everything in April.

Key Dates - Use these dates to help you create a schedule with the team from the start of the season to submission time!

Mentor Flyer - Share this with colleagues or friends who would make great Mentors or co-Mentors for your team!

Advice for Mentors - First-time mentor? Read our blog on how to be a better mentor for girls in tech!

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Safety

Keep student safety top-of-mind:

• Mentors should never be alone with only one student nor message a student privately via social media or texting.
• A teacher or guardian must accompany the team on field trips or workshops along with the Mentor.

Please review the following items to ensure the safety of yourself and students. 

• Safety Training - Please review our internet safety resources and communications policies
• Volunteer Code of Conduct - All volunteers are expected to adhere to our code of conduct

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FAQ

• Please explore our FAQ for all participants before reaching out with questions

Entrepreneurship Submission Material Learn more about how your team will submit their entrepreneurial plans. Beginner teams have no entrepreneurship material to submit. User Adoption Plan (junior teams only) Business Plan (senior teams only) View all the submission guidelines here.

 

Pitch Submission Material Your team will submit two videos as part of their project. Learn more about the requirements below: The videos must be uploaded as unlisted or publicly viewable. We cannot guarantee videos without these credentials will be judged. If you are not speaking English in your videos, you must include English subtitles. And we highly recommend that videos have English subtitles even if English is spoken in the video. Pitch Video Technical Video View all the submission guidelines here.

 

Discussing a Crisis with Students

Increasingly, global strife is affecting students everywhere— and students are aware of the difficulties befalling them and their peers. Many of us may not feel prepared to start or facilitate difficult conversations surrounding current events. We hope these resources can be a starting point.

We have found these resources helpful when preparing to talk to students — and our own children. If there are other resources you have found useful (generally, or for a specific situation in your region) please share them on our slack channel and be sure to tag us so we can review and add to this list over time.

General Resources

• “How to talk to kids when scary things are happening in our everyday lives?” (NPR, audio)
• "Helping Kids Navigate Scary News Stories" (PBS Kids)
• Guidelines for discussing difficult or high-stakes topics (University of Michigan)

Looking for additional reading you can share with your students? Check out these books. 

Antiracist children book list (Rise Up Against Racism)

2024 Newsletter Archive

The Technovation team sends out newsletters via email to keep mentor informed about updates or upcoming program milestones. We know sometimes emails get tricky to find in your inbox, so here's an easy to access archive for when the search function just isn't getting you there.

• Complete your mentor onboarding (sent October 25, 2023)
• Discover update mentor resources & find a team (sent November 1, 2023)
• Mentor Office Hours, Ideation, and More! (sent November 22, 2023)
• Set up your team for success (sent December 15, 2023)
• Getting Started by January 31 (sent January 12, 2024)
• All About Resources: Start Your Season Strong (sent January 26, 2024)
• Register your Team by March 13  (sent February 20, 2024)
• Last Week to Register Your Team (sent March 6, 2024)
• Take Action: Submissions Due in One Week  (sent April 17, 2024)

Coaches can feel free to browse the other resources on this page as well.

Coach Resources

Session Notes Template

Coaches can use these templates to prepare their notes and ideas for meeting with teams. Coaches should share this document with the team at the beginning of the session so they can make notes throughout the session. 

*using the templates is optional, it’s just another tool available to you. All links will prompt you to make a copy for personal use.

General Session Notes Template

Ideation Session Notes Template

Coding Session Notes Template

Business Session Notes Template

Pitch Session Notes Template