It's the eleventh week of the semester; this week in University Studies 311, we learned about resources on the Iowa State campus, as well as different methods of informing our mentees on all the on-campus ISU resources that they can take advantage of once they come here as freshmen.
Megan and Jessica led the discussion this week, and I thought that their activities were very relevant to how we'll have to act as recitation leaders in the fall. Their "resource recall" activity was a great way to refresh our memories on the numerous resources at Iowa State that we have at our disposal; I even learned about several more, including an all-hours on-call nurse for non-emergency medical situations! This was an especially important exercise, because as peer mentors we are going to be something of a resource ourselves; leaders who can point out the experts to help our mentees (with any of their problems including health, academics, registration, etc.).
Their ending activity was a variation of Jeopardy to test our knowledge of ISU's on-campus resources, including a couple I had never even heard of! I love incorporating this game into lessons; I added it to my own "ISU History and Traditions" lesson plan for the fall, because it is a great way to increase the students' interest while still allowing them to learn something relevant to their experiences as an Iowa State student. I wish we would have had more time to finish the game, but it was nevertheless a nice change of pace to just have fun and unwind in the middle of class!
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Week 9: March 17
Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody!
It's the ninth week in my experiences as a Hixson Peer Mentor (Nine weeks?! Wow!), which means another week in University Studies 311A has come and gone. This week we continued with student-led lessons, and this week we heard from Shelby and Stephanie about academic success and how it relates to peer educators and their mentees.
I thought that the icebreaker and activity were very well-executed; either of these activities could be used in any club or organization in order to evaluate the strengths of the members. The first activity we did was an icebreaker in which we were given three cards (each having a trait or interest on it), the object being finding other people and trading cards so that you have the three cards that most suit you. My three cards fit me to a tee: teaching (my passion and my planned future career), social (I'm a huge people person, and I love meeting new people), and organized (if you saw my planner, you would understand this trait completely; hint: lots of labels).
The second activity involved a personality assessment that evaluated our individual learning preferences. The four types were visual, kinesthetic, reading and writing, and audio. I've known I'm a visual learner ever since learning about Gardner's Multiple Intelligences theory, so it wasn't a surprise that the same rang true with this quiz (although hands-on learning/kinesthetic was a near second).
I loved the fact that these two interactive activities were something that could be carried on to our mentees in the fall, as well as in other organizations or even in my teaching career (knowing my students' learning styles just might be helpful!).
That's all for this week! On to Selection Sunday and the rest of my spring break! I can't wait to see my Cyclones in the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and to fill out March Madness brackets!
It's the ninth week in my experiences as a Hixson Peer Mentor (Nine weeks?! Wow!), which means another week in University Studies 311A has come and gone. This week we continued with student-led lessons, and this week we heard from Shelby and Stephanie about academic success and how it relates to peer educators and their mentees.
I thought that the icebreaker and activity were very well-executed; either of these activities could be used in any club or organization in order to evaluate the strengths of the members. The first activity we did was an icebreaker in which we were given three cards (each having a trait or interest on it), the object being finding other people and trading cards so that you have the three cards that most suit you. My three cards fit me to a tee: teaching (my passion and my planned future career), social (I'm a huge people person, and I love meeting new people), and organized (if you saw my planner, you would understand this trait completely; hint: lots of labels).
The second activity involved a personality assessment that evaluated our individual learning preferences. The four types were visual, kinesthetic, reading and writing, and audio. I've known I'm a visual learner ever since learning about Gardner's Multiple Intelligences theory, so it wasn't a surprise that the same rang true with this quiz (although hands-on learning/kinesthetic was a near second).
I loved the fact that these two interactive activities were something that could be carried on to our mentees in the fall, as well as in other organizations or even in my teaching career (knowing my students' learning styles just might be helpful!).
That's all for this week! On to Selection Sunday and the rest of my spring break! I can't wait to see my Cyclones in the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and to fill out March Madness brackets!
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Week 8: March 10
Another week in University Studies 311A, and this week was even more eventful than normal (and it's ALWAYS eventful) because this was the week that Josh and I facilitated the lecture discussion. I thought it went very smoothly, and I actually was not nervous at all - surprising!
This week's topic was leadership and how to effectively lead a group. I hope everyone enjoyed our "question of the day" -- I certainly was cracking up when I first read the idea on the Internet! If you were a contestant in the Miss America pageant, what would your talent be?
Me and Josh's takeaway thought that I've decided to blog about was "in your opinion, is a leader born or made." For me, I definitely think that a leader can be made, and is not born with the ability to lead a group. It's takes a lot of training and experience to be able to stand in front of a group comfortably and facilitate a discussion or lead a group, and even the most seasoned leaders need improvement with their communication and presentation skills. For me, I also look to my personal experiences; when I was a freshman in high school, I was as shy as it gets. But I became involved in FFA and student government as the freshman class president, and slowly became more of a leader. By the time I ran for and successfully became the FFA secretary in November of my freshman year, I had learned what it takes to be a leader and learned that talking in front of a group can be scary but can also be rewarding. I owe all of my leadership abilities to what I experienced from FFA!
Today (Sunday) was also our March retreat, which featured some more fun icebreakers. The first icebreaker especially was a great way for us to get to know each other more fully, and the second was almost like a cross between the trust exercise and telephone! We also got to explore our coloring and creativity skills with making a group logo. It was definitely a great time (until we saw the monstrous snowflakes falling outside.) On a more depressing note, I found out a little more than I wanted to about my personal college debt. Hopefully I can figure out my finances so that I can be confident and secure come graduation time!
This week's topic was leadership and how to effectively lead a group. I hope everyone enjoyed our "question of the day" -- I certainly was cracking up when I first read the idea on the Internet! If you were a contestant in the Miss America pageant, what would your talent be?
Me and Josh's takeaway thought that I've decided to blog about was "in your opinion, is a leader born or made." For me, I definitely think that a leader can be made, and is not born with the ability to lead a group. It's takes a lot of training and experience to be able to stand in front of a group comfortably and facilitate a discussion or lead a group, and even the most seasoned leaders need improvement with their communication and presentation skills. For me, I also look to my personal experiences; when I was a freshman in high school, I was as shy as it gets. But I became involved in FFA and student government as the freshman class president, and slowly became more of a leader. By the time I ran for and successfully became the FFA secretary in November of my freshman year, I had learned what it takes to be a leader and learned that talking in front of a group can be scary but can also be rewarding. I owe all of my leadership abilities to what I experienced from FFA!
Today (Sunday) was also our March retreat, which featured some more fun icebreakers. The first icebreaker especially was a great way for us to get to know each other more fully, and the second was almost like a cross between the trust exercise and telephone! We also got to explore our coloring and creativity skills with making a group logo. It was definitely a great time (until we saw the monstrous snowflakes falling outside.) On a more depressing note, I found out a little more than I wanted to about my personal college debt. Hopefully I can figure out my finances so that I can be confident and secure come graduation time!
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Week 7: March 3 (2 of 2)
Now I am going to move on to the second half of this week's reflection: my experiences at this year's Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity (abbreviated as ISCORE). This conference is in my opinion a great way to open the eyes of college students to the differences around them and allow them to be more aware and tolerant of diversity on the Iowa State campus.
I attended the session entitled, "Dumb Things We Need to Stop Saying and Other Practical Steps to Increase Our Effectiveness Around Diversity." I thought it was a very eye-opening experience about some of the things we say that may be offensive or suggestive to those of different ethnic backgrounds, which usually was never the intent of the speaker. I know I'm guilty of that a lot of times, since my level of diversity tolerance could definitely be higher.
The presenter used four main concepts as tips for dealing with the "oops" things that come out of our mouths when it relates to diversity. First, she told us about the "intent v. impact" concept; just because we may not intend to harm another person with our words does not mean we still don't end up harming that person. A tip to handle this was apologizing without becoming defensive. The second concept was P.O.P. (pile on principle), which basically meant that people of different backgrounds may already deal with intolerance during their daily routines, and what you just said to offend them could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. A tip to handle this is to show empathy for that person. The thrird concept was to remember our priveleges (a head start in life; every group has it and doesn't have to ask for it). A great metaphor the presenter used was "some people are born on third base and think they've hit a triple." Tips for handling priveleges include reminding ourselves that we've been given a head start in life, not everyone is as fortunate as us, and what matters most is what you do with the advantages you've been given. The final concept was called "raising the BAR." BAR stands for breathe, acknowledge, respond. To me, this is similar to "think before you speak." We spent the rest of the session going over examples of derogatory comments that are sometimes said, and whether the speaker meant it to be offensive or not.
Overall, I thought it was a very enjoyable workshop, though I did have a feeling that some of the derogatory comments that they were using as examples didn't really apply to the whole group. Some people don't have to deal with the horrible or racist comments that other ethnic groups do. It was definitely something to think about, though!
I attended the session entitled, "Dumb Things We Need to Stop Saying and Other Practical Steps to Increase Our Effectiveness Around Diversity." I thought it was a very eye-opening experience about some of the things we say that may be offensive or suggestive to those of different ethnic backgrounds, which usually was never the intent of the speaker. I know I'm guilty of that a lot of times, since my level of diversity tolerance could definitely be higher.
The presenter used four main concepts as tips for dealing with the "oops" things that come out of our mouths when it relates to diversity. First, she told us about the "intent v. impact" concept; just because we may not intend to harm another person with our words does not mean we still don't end up harming that person. A tip to handle this was apologizing without becoming defensive. The second concept was P.O.P. (pile on principle), which basically meant that people of different backgrounds may already deal with intolerance during their daily routines, and what you just said to offend them could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. A tip to handle this is to show empathy for that person. The thrird concept was to remember our priveleges (a head start in life; every group has it and doesn't have to ask for it). A great metaphor the presenter used was "some people are born on third base and think they've hit a triple." Tips for handling priveleges include reminding ourselves that we've been given a head start in life, not everyone is as fortunate as us, and what matters most is what you do with the advantages you've been given. The final concept was called "raising the BAR." BAR stands for breathe, acknowledge, respond. To me, this is similar to "think before you speak." We spent the rest of the session going over examples of derogatory comments that are sometimes said, and whether the speaker meant it to be offensive or not.
Overall, I thought it was a very enjoyable workshop, though I did have a feeling that some of the derogatory comments that they were using as examples didn't really apply to the whole group. Some people don't have to deal with the horrible or racist comments that other ethnic groups do. It was definitely something to think about, though!
Week 7: March 3 (1 of 2)
It's another double-blog week in UST 311A! The first blog post (the one you're currently reading) will cover the lecture from Wednesday night, and what we learned about working in a group. The second blog post (yet to come) will cover my experiences and observations from the 2013 Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity (ISCORE). Let's get to it.
This week in University Studies 311A, we learned about the importances of working as a group when you are a peer educator. Tyler and Kat lead this week's discussion and activities, and they kept the tradition of great presentations alive. I especially enjoyed the interactive icebreakers that we did as a group.
The "question of the day" was a much deeper and reflective question that I think I have had with my Hixson introduction: if you were a piece of clothing, what would you be? I decided to go with my classic FFA pullover, because that signifies my passion for FFA and agriculture and also alludes to my future career as an agricultural education teacher and FFA advisor.
We also participated in an activity involving wooden dowels, that definitely tested our balance and hand-eye coordination skills! It involved us peer mentors working as a group to pass off our batons using only our right hands.
A group dynamic is definitely important to any organization or business, especially the Hixson learning community. We peer mentors will be responsible for working together to ensure the successes of the freshman Hixson Scholars coming in in the fall semester. Also, it will be our duty to ensure that the freshman are able to work with each other and make themselves better college students and better people.
This week in University Studies 311A, we learned about the importances of working as a group when you are a peer educator. Tyler and Kat lead this week's discussion and activities, and they kept the tradition of great presentations alive. I especially enjoyed the interactive icebreakers that we did as a group.
The "question of the day" was a much deeper and reflective question that I think I have had with my Hixson introduction: if you were a piece of clothing, what would you be? I decided to go with my classic FFA pullover, because that signifies my passion for FFA and agriculture and also alludes to my future career as an agricultural education teacher and FFA advisor.
We also participated in an activity involving wooden dowels, that definitely tested our balance and hand-eye coordination skills! It involved us peer mentors working as a group to pass off our batons using only our right hands.
A group dynamic is definitely important to any organization or business, especially the Hixson learning community. We peer mentors will be responsible for working together to ensure the successes of the freshman Hixson Scholars coming in in the fall semester. Also, it will be our duty to ensure that the freshman are able to work with each other and make themselves better college students and better people.
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