This week in University Studies 311A, we analyzed the first two chapters of "Students Helping Students," as well as participated in a few icebreaker exercises during class.
It's a busy week coming up for us peer mentors. On Friday, we will be attending two sessions for a workshop over learning communities at the Memorial Union. On Saturday, we will attend two sessions for the Iowa State Leadership Experience (or ISLE), also at the Memorial Union. It should a very rewarding and relevant experience, and I am looking forward to it!
The first two chapters in "Students Helping Students: A Guide for Peer Educators on College Campuses," our textbook for this semester, give a lot of pertinent information to my current experiences as a Hixson peer mentor. One concept that the book outlined that I had not really considered before is the label "peer educator," and all the various ways a college student can be a peer educator to their classmates. I hadn't thought about it, but besides being a Hixson peer mentor, I am also a peer educator with my College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Ambassador role. It's good to learn how to combine the best aspects of these two experiences in order to maximize my peers' success.
We did one fun icebreaker during class, which was throwing a ball that had several personal discussion points written all over it. We threw it to each other and answered the questions or statements that our thumbs landed on, all while attempting to remember twenty different names around us. I am getting better at learning everybody else's names, but it obviously could use some more practice. This activity was a great way to learn a little about our peers, and could be something to incorporate into my future classroom as an introduction activity!
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Week 1: January 20
I felt so honored to be selected as a 2013 Hixson Peer Mentor last November. Now here I am, in the first week of the spring semester, just starting out on my journey as a Hixson Peer Mentor. I am currently enrolled in University Studies 311A, and took part in my first official course discussion last Wednesday night.
The first thing we did in class (as if I was really surprised) was our Hixson introductions, bringing back of lot of memories from when I was a freshman Hixson Scholar at ISU. "My name is Brady Eischeid, and I am a 2010 Hixson Scholar from Guthrie County, majoring in agricultural education." Yep. Same old, same old. In the future, it will be kind of nice to get back in the habit of saying those introductions; for right now, I'm a little rusty.
I thought the "Fish" video that was shown in class was very thought-provoking and relevant to today's society, but I don't think I enjoyed it overall as much as everyone else seemed to. A lot of the group was cracking up at every little bit of dialogue, but I sure didn't. Maybe I just need to watch it a couple more times to understand it more. However, it did give a lot of good tips on how to make a work environment more meaningful and how to interact with a group of people more successfully. I learned a lot!
I am very much looking forward to the rest of the semester course, and getting to know all of my fellow peer mentors. Perusing the syllabus and skimming the textbook, I can see that we will be covering a lot of interesting topics and gaining a lot of valuable information that will not only make us better peer mentors, but better and more-prepared student leaders. I'm very excited for what this experience will bring me!
The first thing we did in class (as if I was really surprised) was our Hixson introductions, bringing back of lot of memories from when I was a freshman Hixson Scholar at ISU. "My name is Brady Eischeid, and I am a 2010 Hixson Scholar from Guthrie County, majoring in agricultural education." Yep. Same old, same old. In the future, it will be kind of nice to get back in the habit of saying those introductions; for right now, I'm a little rusty.
I thought the "Fish" video that was shown in class was very thought-provoking and relevant to today's society, but I don't think I enjoyed it overall as much as everyone else seemed to. A lot of the group was cracking up at every little bit of dialogue, but I sure didn't. Maybe I just need to watch it a couple more times to understand it more. However, it did give a lot of good tips on how to make a work environment more meaningful and how to interact with a group of people more successfully. I learned a lot!
I am very much looking forward to the rest of the semester course, and getting to know all of my fellow peer mentors. Perusing the syllabus and skimming the textbook, I can see that we will be covering a lot of interesting topics and gaining a lot of valuable information that will not only make us better peer mentors, but better and more-prepared student leaders. I'm very excited for what this experience will bring me!
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