Even though we are now done with peer-facilitated lessons in UST 311, this final week of regular classes turned out to be an eventful one as a Hixson Peer Mentor! We gained some valuable knowledge from former/returning Hixson Peer Mentors on their experiences and advice for success, we found out our co-leader pairs and recitation times for the fall semester, and we had our final Hixson Peer Mentor retreat of the semester today! A lot went on in the past week, but now only Dead Week and Finals Week separate me from SUMMER!! Woo!
The past peer mentor panel was definitely a great idea (by whoever came up with it!) to allow us to ask questions that only a former peer mentor would know. They gave us a lot of insight into their experiences last fall, including their most rewarding moments, how much time they realistically spent working on Hixson lessons/etc each week, and how they handled behavior problems in their respective recitation sections. They also each gave their advice on how we should handle our tenure as Hixson Peer Mentors.
I found out that my co-Peer Mentor for the fall will be Jessica! Next semester should be a good time; we'll both be taking around 17 credits (which after our talk with the former peer mentors kind of scares me) but I think we'll be okay and for sure organized enough to help our section become amazing Iowa State students! Also, we had our retreat today (Sunday). It was such a nice day, and a cookout at Allie's along with fun icebreakers was a great way to get outdoors and enjoy each other's company. Looking forward to the summer and next semester!
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Week 14: April 21 (2 of 2)
My super stressful yet eventful week has come to a close, and another (probably even more so on both levels) is coming up starting tomorrow!
This week in 311, we discussed peer mentors in higher learning. Brooke and Tanner lead the discussion; although they did a great job, I thought that it was strange to have that topic at the end and not at the beginning of "Students Helping Students." Also, it was a differently-paced chapter. But, just as Brooke and Tanner correctly mentioned, it was nice to just kind of review all the topics we have discussed this semester (which is what the chapter sort of did in my opinion).
We also discussed social intelligence with our article that we read for Wednesday's class. We learned that the seven characteristics of social intelligence are: empathy, attunement, organizational awareness, influence, developing others, inspiration, and teamwork. For our blogs, we were to give 2 characteristics that we feel we excel in, and one trait that we struggle with or would like to work on. The two traits I chose that I think I excel in are inspiration and attunement; I chose inspiration because I'm generally a positive and optimistic person and I enjoy cheering others up or boosting morale, and I chose attunement because I believe that I am a good listener and I am capable of attentively listening to others' needs. The trait that I probably struggle with most out of the 7 is organizational awareness. With 100 students in the freshman Hixson Seminar, it's going to be challenging trying to combat 100 different personalities and learning styles, and trying to get them to work together to increase their chance of personal and academic success.
I definitely can't wait to see the final product for our digital story-telling project on Wednesday. I hope everyone enjoys it and finds it as funny as we did when we were filming it! I'm also very excited to find out who my co-Hixson peer mentor will be for the fall. No matter who it is, I'm very optimistic that we'll be able to make a positive impact on the 2013 Hixson Scholars and help them become successful Iowa State students and leaders!
This week in 311, we discussed peer mentors in higher learning. Brooke and Tanner lead the discussion; although they did a great job, I thought that it was strange to have that topic at the end and not at the beginning of "Students Helping Students." Also, it was a differently-paced chapter. But, just as Brooke and Tanner correctly mentioned, it was nice to just kind of review all the topics we have discussed this semester (which is what the chapter sort of did in my opinion).
We also discussed social intelligence with our article that we read for Wednesday's class. We learned that the seven characteristics of social intelligence are: empathy, attunement, organizational awareness, influence, developing others, inspiration, and teamwork. For our blogs, we were to give 2 characteristics that we feel we excel in, and one trait that we struggle with or would like to work on. The two traits I chose that I think I excel in are inspiration and attunement; I chose inspiration because I'm generally a positive and optimistic person and I enjoy cheering others up or boosting morale, and I chose attunement because I believe that I am a good listener and I am capable of attentively listening to others' needs. The trait that I probably struggle with most out of the 7 is organizational awareness. With 100 students in the freshman Hixson Seminar, it's going to be challenging trying to combat 100 different personalities and learning styles, and trying to get them to work together to increase their chance of personal and academic success.
I definitely can't wait to see the final product for our digital story-telling project on Wednesday. I hope everyone enjoys it and finds it as funny as we did when we were filming it! I'm also very excited to find out who my co-Hixson peer mentor will be for the fall. No matter who it is, I'm very optimistic that we'll be able to make a positive impact on the 2013 Hixson Scholars and help them become successful Iowa State students and leaders!
Week 14: April 21 (1 of 2)
This is my post about the Diversity Event that I attended for the Hixson Peer Mentor program! The session I attended was on Wednesday, April 18th at 8:00PM in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. Besides having to battle the rain before and after, it was overall a good time! The session was entitled "How to Be Black" and was given by comedian Baratunde Thurston.
This actually wasn't what I was expecting as a diversity event. I looked up the details of the presentation about 45 minutes beforehand ( lectures@iastate.edu ) and realized that this diversity event would not be so much a lecture as it was a comedy show. This presentation took a much more comedic and laidback approach to the topic than I would have previously expected. But there was plenty of heavy stuff (as can be expected when discussing racism and African-American history). The speaker focused more on his up-bringing than African-Americans as a whole, including discussing his family and his prior experiences.
He is also very active with social media, and has an apparently deep hatred of the "Twilight" film series. But seriously, who can fault him for that?
Overall, it was very hilarious AND well-meaning. I learned a couple of important things about diversity while feeling like I was at a show hosted by Comedy Central! That's a success in my book: learning something about diversity in as light-hearted a tone as you can!
This actually wasn't what I was expecting as a diversity event. I looked up the details of the presentation about 45 minutes beforehand ( lectures@iastate.edu ) and realized that this diversity event would not be so much a lecture as it was a comedy show. This presentation took a much more comedic and laidback approach to the topic than I would have previously expected. But there was plenty of heavy stuff (as can be expected when discussing racism and African-American history). The speaker focused more on his up-bringing than African-Americans as a whole, including discussing his family and his prior experiences.
He is also very active with social media, and has an apparently deep hatred of the "Twilight" film series. But seriously, who can fault him for that?
Overall, it was very hilarious AND well-meaning. I learned a couple of important things about diversity while feeling like I was at a show hosted by Comedy Central! That's a success in my book: learning something about diversity in as light-hearted a tone as you can!
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Week 13: April 14
In the thirteenth week of UST 311A, we learned from Haley and Cole about the importance of correct ethics when working with our mentees. This lecture (for me) brought back a lot of what I have learned in my education classes concerning professional ethics and how to handle myself in a teacher-student or a teacher-teacher situation.
The question that Haley and Cole posed to us for blogs that the end of their presentation was "out of the twelve ethical principles that peer educators should use, which five do you think will be most important in the fall and why?" This was interesting, since all are important to the success of a peer educator. The five I have chosen and the reasons why are in the next paragraph.
First, I chose "when in doubt - consult." This is fairly similar to the first principle "know your limits," and I think it is of vital importance to know where to draw the line with your mentee and know when it might be prudent to seek help from another source. For us, this would probably include referring the mentee to Allie and/or Chelsee. Second, I chose "maintain your client's privacy" because as an education major I have learned all about FERPA and other educational privacy laws - and confidentiality is probably the most important thing we will have to use with our mentalities. Obviously, we can't keep secrets that conceal a crime or harm to others, but hopefully a student will be able to come to us peer mentors with a personal issue without fearing that we will betray their confidence - again, assuming that whatever they're telling us isn't something that Allie and Chelsee would need to know. Third, I chose "act appropriately when dealing with persons for whom you feel attraction." As a peer mentor, I would deem any inappropriate mentor-mentee relationship absolutely unprofessional. Not only do we monitor their academic progress throughout the semester, but we are also a bridge between Allie/Chelsee and the students, and unearned bias could blossom from attraction and starting a relationship. Fourth, I chose "show respect and dignity for other individuals" for obvious reasons. And lastly, I chose "remember you are a role model," which accurately sums up everything: as peer mentors, we need to be able to represent the Hixson Program well both in the classroom and in public.
The question that Haley and Cole posed to us for blogs that the end of their presentation was "out of the twelve ethical principles that peer educators should use, which five do you think will be most important in the fall and why?" This was interesting, since all are important to the success of a peer educator. The five I have chosen and the reasons why are in the next paragraph.
First, I chose "when in doubt - consult." This is fairly similar to the first principle "know your limits," and I think it is of vital importance to know where to draw the line with your mentee and know when it might be prudent to seek help from another source. For us, this would probably include referring the mentee to Allie and/or Chelsee. Second, I chose "maintain your client's privacy" because as an education major I have learned all about FERPA and other educational privacy laws - and confidentiality is probably the most important thing we will have to use with our mentalities. Obviously, we can't keep secrets that conceal a crime or harm to others, but hopefully a student will be able to come to us peer mentors with a personal issue without fearing that we will betray their confidence - again, assuming that whatever they're telling us isn't something that Allie and Chelsee would need to know. Third, I chose "act appropriately when dealing with persons for whom you feel attraction." As a peer mentor, I would deem any inappropriate mentor-mentee relationship absolutely unprofessional. Not only do we monitor their academic progress throughout the semester, but we are also a bridge between Allie/Chelsee and the students, and unearned bias could blossom from attraction and starting a relationship. Fourth, I chose "show respect and dignity for other individuals" for obvious reasons. And lastly, I chose "remember you are a role model," which accurately sums up everything: as peer mentors, we need to be able to represent the Hixson Program well both in the classroom and in public.
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