This week was a great learning experience for Rachel and I. I really enjoyed our lesson and I felt that the other peers thought it was a helpful activity. Our activity really made us dig down deep to realize what our weaknesses really are. It is hard to step back and evaluate ourselves but it is a very important step in becoming a great peer mentor. As I have been reflecting on the different values associated with a role model. I have realized I really need to become stronger in the area of focus. I have a hard time focusing in on tasks when I have a lot of time to complete them. I know that I have plenty of time to do it so it makes it hard for me to focus in on it. Therefore, I am a huge procrastinator. I know that I work best under pressure but it is not the best habit to have as a role model. I really liked how we paired focus into the group with creativity because it made it clear on how people work on things. More creative people often have a harder time focusing because they are thinking of some many other ways to do it. I find myself having this problem because sometimes I cannot apply everything that I am thinking about. It is nice to know that I am not the only person who thinks and works like this, but it is something that we can all work on to make us stronger peer mentors.
The activity went a little longer than Rachel and I had expected to we had to use the value of adaptability to change to fit the need of the class. It is very important to be adaptable when working in front of the classroom. Students can sense when you start to panic so it is always important to keep your cool. I enjoyed teaching the class and working with Rachel! I remembered how much I enjoy being on the teaching side of things.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Chapter 5: Understanding Self Awareness
I thought class this week was excellent. Anthony and Beth did an awesome job of getting us to reflect about self-awareness. I have never really thought about how my past has truly shaped how I am today as a peer mentor. As I discussed in class, two really close friends of my family past away when I was in high school, one of which was one of my best friend’s dad. This had taught me to not take things for granted and to enjoy every day. Another situation that has impacted my life today happened when I was in high school. The truth came out about a member of my close family and we found out that he was not the person he had been portraying for a very long time. I had an extremely hard time with this and it is part of the reason it takes me a while to trust someone. It has had a negative impact on how I form relationships with people, but in recent years I have tried not to let it influence my choices as a person. After class, it really hit home to me that it does impact me more than I realize it does, and I am very thankful that I had the chance to come to the realization that I did.
I want my past to help me to become a better peer mentor, and for it not be a negative thing that I just let hang over my head. I want to honest with my students so that they will be honest with me and most importantly themselves. I want to help them self-reflect as they are making a turning point in their lives so that their choices can be a little clearer to them. I think it is very important to take a step back every once in a while and reflect on yourself and on the path you are choosing to take. I ask myself constantly, is this what I imagined myself doing 2 years ago and if it is not, then am I taking the right alternative path? I think it would be a good exercise to have students self-reflect at the beginning of the semester and then again at the end as a way to see how they have changed over the semester. It would help them to reflect about the decisions they have made and if they like the path they have chosen.
I also took some time to reflect on the twenty words that I wrote down to describe myself. I was just thinking about why I describe myself the way I do and why I am the way I am. I am a very casual person because I do not spend a lot of time on a normal day to doll myself up. I prefer comfort over fashion because I am such a laid back person. I am very easy going and just go with the flow because sometimes I feel like my opinion is not work sharing or may sound dumb. I am usually more self-confident about things I am truly sure on or are fact based. Overall, I am just really glad that I had the opportunity to self-reflect because I have not dug this deep in a long time.
Have a great week everyone!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Defining Roles/Establishing and Maintaining Relationships
I found this week's class to be a lot of fun and a great learning experience. Although, I was battling a cold, I still learned a lot from the other peer mentors. Nick and Kelly's lesson about defining roles was very informational. They did a really great job of giving their own views and experiences with the topic which is very important when being a facilitator. When we broke up into small groups, Cory and I discussed the role of the connecting link. Being a connecting link is very important and can be a very large role of being a peer mentor. Students will come to you and ask questions about situations and being able to guide them to the right place or person will impact them greatly. I found last year in my experience that students truly rely on us to be their connecting link to many things at Iowa State. It is very important that we as peer mentors know as many resources to help the students have the best experience they can at Iowa State. I also enjoyed in this lesson how Nick and Kelly allowed for us all to share our perspective on the different roles so we could gain other ideas about what the roles means.
Deborah and Joey's lesson was also a very good lesson. I really enjoyed how they chose to do role plays. Even though sometimes we look down on the idea of role playing, it is actually a very beneficial activity. We can really sit back and gain a lot of insight about what a situation might actually entail and how different people would handle the situation. Although we cannot even imagine all the situations they may come up next semester, it is important to know what can be done in the situation. I think they did a great job of getting feedback after each role play and discussing what was good and bad. It is crucial that we analyze these things now so we know how to improve on them in the real life situation. I have found that the rule of commitment is very important. If you tell your students you are going to do something, you should follow through with what you have promised. In turn, when your students are supposed to hand in assignments they will be more committed to it because you have shown your level of commitment to them. It is also beneficial to follow up with students, even when you have not formally committed it to them. If they are having a problem, check back in with them in the near future and ask them how it is going and if they need any additional help. Make a commitment to yourself to follow with students and show them that you really do care about how things are going for them. I believe that honesty is definitely another very important rule. You can not expect your students to be honest with you if you are not honest with them. Even if you tell a small lie to your students, and they find out that you did not tell them the truth, they will not trust you with anything in the future. Trust can be lost very easily in new relationships and it is not something that can be easily gained back. It is also important to hold students accountable for what they say as well. If they tell you they will turn something in and they don't, let them know that they have a responsibility as a Hixson scholar to be accountable for their responsibilities as well.
I have already gained many good ideas from the student lessons already this semester. It is really incredible how much we can learn from others ideas and feedback. Next semester it will be very helpful that we can come to each other for feedback and advise when we come along situations of our own. Have a great week everyone!
Deborah and Joey's lesson was also a very good lesson. I really enjoyed how they chose to do role plays. Even though sometimes we look down on the idea of role playing, it is actually a very beneficial activity. We can really sit back and gain a lot of insight about what a situation might actually entail and how different people would handle the situation. Although we cannot even imagine all the situations they may come up next semester, it is important to know what can be done in the situation. I think they did a great job of getting feedback after each role play and discussing what was good and bad. It is crucial that we analyze these things now so we know how to improve on them in the real life situation. I have found that the rule of commitment is very important. If you tell your students you are going to do something, you should follow through with what you have promised. In turn, when your students are supposed to hand in assignments they will be more committed to it because you have shown your level of commitment to them. It is also beneficial to follow up with students, even when you have not formally committed it to them. If they are having a problem, check back in with them in the near future and ask them how it is going and if they need any additional help. Make a commitment to yourself to follow with students and show them that you really do care about how things are going for them. I believe that honesty is definitely another very important rule. You can not expect your students to be honest with you if you are not honest with them. Even if you tell a small lie to your students, and they find out that you did not tell them the truth, they will not trust you with anything in the future. Trust can be lost very easily in new relationships and it is not something that can be easily gained back. It is also important to hold students accountable for what they say as well. If they tell you they will turn something in and they don't, let them know that they have a responsibility as a Hixson scholar to be accountable for their responsibilities as well.
I have already gained many good ideas from the student lessons already this semester. It is really incredible how much we can learn from others ideas and feedback. Next semester it will be very helpful that we can come to each other for feedback and advise when we come along situations of our own. Have a great week everyone!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Chapter Three!!!
While reading through chapter three, the first thing that really stuck out to me was the key term, connecting link. I think this is a very important rule as a peer mentor. As peer mentors, we are supposed to help the transition to college but also connect students with all the resources that are available to them at Iowa State. It is important as peer mentors to be constantly networking with other groups on campus to learn about opportunities for our students. To have the best college experience, it is important to get involved with on campus activities to help build resumes and build new relationships. I also thought back to the Learning Community Workshops and that they are an important step in building our connecting link with our students but with our mentors as well.
The next section that really caught my eye was the How will your habits affect your mentoring. This is something that I think about every day. The question I continue to ask myself as a peer mentor and a role model to my sister is, am I being the person that I am trying to help other people become? I constantly take time to reflect on my morals and keep myself in check with the image that I give to others around me. I try to improve on my faults as a student, and also my faults as a citizen. I want to be a great role model and put forth a good example for my students. I am continually working on my study habits, and by doing so I can help students improve on theirs because I can share some tips that have helped me to continue to become an even more successful student.
I also reflected on the section about what my role is within the Hixson program. I think it is important to stay aware of opportunities that are happening within your program. I love to catch up with Hixson updates through the newsletters and such. As a side note, I really enjoy looking at when people's birthdays are because I love to associate people and memories with certain dates. I have a very good memory for things like that. But anyways, I think that my role within the program has changed this year because now I also need to be a good role model for the new peer mentors, and help them become adapted to their role as a peer mentor. I also found it interesting that it talked about having a knowledge of our own personality. I then looked back again at my MBTI and I am very interested in learning more about my personality type as this semester continues. I am looking forward to having two teaching groups this week in class. It should be a lot of fun!
The next section that really caught my eye was the How will your habits affect your mentoring. This is something that I think about every day. The question I continue to ask myself as a peer mentor and a role model to my sister is, am I being the person that I am trying to help other people become? I constantly take time to reflect on my morals and keep myself in check with the image that I give to others around me. I try to improve on my faults as a student, and also my faults as a citizen. I want to be a great role model and put forth a good example for my students. I am continually working on my study habits, and by doing so I can help students improve on theirs because I can share some tips that have helped me to continue to become an even more successful student.
I also reflected on the section about what my role is within the Hixson program. I think it is important to stay aware of opportunities that are happening within your program. I love to catch up with Hixson updates through the newsletters and such. As a side note, I really enjoy looking at when people's birthdays are because I love to associate people and memories with certain dates. I have a very good memory for things like that. But anyways, I think that my role within the program has changed this year because now I also need to be a good role model for the new peer mentors, and help them become adapted to their role as a peer mentor. I also found it interesting that it talked about having a knowledge of our own personality. I then looked back again at my MBTI and I am very interested in learning more about my personality type as this semester continues. I am looking forward to having two teaching groups this week in class. It should be a lot of fun!
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