Week 10!

I really enjoyed the activity that we did as a class over being a facilitator. I have really started to realize that I really enjoy being a facilitator and I hope my career involves it in some way. I will actually get to be a facilitator this summer when I do my internship at Reiman Gardens. I will be education intern and I will be working with groups as they tour the garden. I think I will really be able to use the skills I have learned through Hixson to really help me be successful this summer. Then I plan to use my skills from the summer to help make the students' experience next year the best it can be.
I realized during the activity how much my own learning style in the past year. I am becoming a very visual and verbal. I learn very well by watching something happen and then discussing why the event happened. I also have used my visual skills to help me in my plant ID classes. I have to know a lot of traits about plants and it is very important to be able to see the differences between two plants that look very similar. I will use my knowledge of my own learning styles to help my students realize theirs and be understanding that some students learn in different ways. Some students may not realize their style right away because of the change in atmosphere of college. It is important ask them questions and help them understand what works best of them so they can gain an understanding of their own style.
It is really important to grasp the role of being a facilitator. It is an important role of a peer mentor because students need to self discover college but many of them need a little guidance. It will be very important in the fall to help your students but not give them all the answers. Students sometimes need a boost their self esteem on a subject but then discover the answers on their own. I can already tell that our group of peer mentors are going to be great facilitator because we all really care about the Hixson program.