MenTeach gets e-mails from many men and women who want to contribute to the work the we do.
For example: I’m a 3rd grade teacher at the University of X, a K-12 public institution connected to the university and more specifically its College of Education. I’ve read through the MenTeach site and some of the published material from Bryan Nelson this evening. I am incredibly intrigued, as I have been wondering and hoping to have some involvement to also effect some change on this subject–or at the least do some work/study into these issues.
I suppose right now I am wondering how to ‘get involved’ with the MenTeach organization and its goals/mission…?”
Here’s our reply:
Great to hear from you!
One of the best ways (besides joining MenTeach) is to start a MenTeach group in your state.
The way to do this would be by doing a presentation at a regional professional conference. The number of people (both men AND women) who are interested varies greatly. When we started out years ago, we had 35 men and women attend and that was a great start for us.
The other option if you aren’t comfortable to do a presentation is to do a search for all the men (and supportive women – we can’t do this alone!) in the school district or region and and contact them to meet for pizza or somewhere and as a group decide what actions you want to do.
From our experience if you just meet to talk (which is useful but not always sustainable) the group doesn’t last. You have to have a specific action. You can:
1) Visit a high school to talk about the work to young men and women.
2) Do a local or regional conference presentation.
3) Meet with directors, principals or superintendents to encourage them to hire men and to work to actively recruitment.
4) Connect with local businesses or men’s groups (e.g. Kiwanas, etc.) to request a scholarship program for a man to become a teacher.
5) Connect with local churches to get them to support recruitment of young men.
6) Hold a retreat for men who work with children.
We have many more ideas that have worked. It just takes one person to decide to do it.
Let us know what you think!