Class Tuesday was very insightful in many ways. Amy and Rachel started off with a quote from Jesse Jackson that said "don't look down on someone unless you are helping them up." I though that it fit so well, not only with the topic that night of values, but also with what we're doing as peer mentors. It's our duty to help others when they need it and not judge anyone or look down on them. Who's to say that we'll never be or have been in a similar position at some point in our lives? It's just another form of reinforcement to think about how we present ourselves to others in what we do.
The question of who has been a role model in our life and what values they possess was a good one to make us think, well me at least. I chose my mom as one of my biggest role models. She has so many values that she reflects all the time, some being adaptability, service and purpose, but the most notable ones I think would be responsibility, dependability and balance. She's been a single mom to us four kids for the last 11 years now, but she has always and still does make time to go to our events, help us out when we need it, and even take time for herself all while holding a full-time job position an hour drive from home and with us living on a small farm. I honestly think the ability to have that balance in her life is very admirable. I strive to find a good balance between schooling, work and play but it really proves to be difficult at times, especially when it comes time for tests. It's something I need to continually work on so I can help my students to find a balance in their lives as well.
With four children and being a single parent my mom is very responsible and dependable. She knows what's going on when and carries through with her word. Those traits she has also worked to instill in us four kids not only by telling us but by example. It's something I've watched all my life and I try to live mine in the same way. I try to lead by example and make an effort to be responsible with my actions and decisions, and also be dependable by following through with my word when I give it.
The class activity where we went to different corners depending on our weakest or strongest values. It showed a lot about who we were to the rest of our class but I think it also showed a lot about who we were to ourselves. I had to really think about a few of the values to see which was my strongest or weakest and then determine why that was. Some reasons I didn't really want to hear from myself, but it provided an opportunity to see and make improvement in myself. We don't have to be strong in all parts I don't think, because that's where we can help each other out. Where someone is weak, another may be strong, but we should all strive to better ourselves in each values at the same time to provide the best example we can for our students and each other.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
My Mission Statement (spring2011)
To encourage the growth of my students as individuals to aid in their transition to college and the beginnings of a successful college career.
To strive to crate a classroom environment where students are comfortable and bonds can be formed with my caring personality and knowledge gained from my class of students last fall.
I will...
-Listen to concerns and input and work to utilize those recommendations when applicable and if they're in the best interest of the class.
-While in class, put aside my personal issues to put the needs of the class first and form lessons to best suit my students.
-Treat everyone as equals to create a sense of solidarity in the classroom where no one is more important than another.
-Get to know each student as a person and promote their individuality and differences from myself and others.
-Be ready and willing to listen to any concerns or problems and provide input when asked for it as well as other resources where help may be found.
-Utilize the knowledge and experience I gained from last semester not only in my classroom but to assist my fellow peer mentors as well.
-Maintain an open mind and attitude so I might learn from my peers and students as I hope they can learn from me.
I look forward to the next couple semesters of new faces and learning experiences!
To strive to crate a classroom environment where students are comfortable and bonds can be formed with my caring personality and knowledge gained from my class of students last fall.
I will...
-Listen to concerns and input and work to utilize those recommendations when applicable and if they're in the best interest of the class.
-While in class, put aside my personal issues to put the needs of the class first and form lessons to best suit my students.
-Treat everyone as equals to create a sense of solidarity in the classroom where no one is more important than another.
-Get to know each student as a person and promote their individuality and differences from myself and others.
-Be ready and willing to listen to any concerns or problems and provide input when asked for it as well as other resources where help may be found.
-Utilize the knowledge and experience I gained from last semester not only in my classroom but to assist my fellow peer mentors as well.
-Maintain an open mind and attitude so I might learn from my peers and students as I hope they can learn from me.
I look forward to the next couple semesters of new faces and learning experiences!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Personal Assessments
Our opening go-around question was really good I think. It told a lot about each of us, by us sharing a little of some thing that helped to shape who we turned out to be today. Many of our past experiences were similar and I think a lot of us could relate to them. My parents' divorce played a major role in who I am today. I grew u really fast thinking that I had to take care of my three younger siblings all the time. It really reinforced my tendency to want to "mother" others all the time and take control of situations.
It's really important to know what helped to shape who we are today so we can know who we are because if we don't know who we ourselves are, how are we to help our students figure out who they are? the quote by Jesse Jackson said "you can't teach what you don't know and you can't lead where you won't go." We have to be willing to look at ourselves and recognize who we are and what makes us who we are so we can help our students do the same.
The list of words we made about ourselves of descriptive words was a good thing too. It was a way to evaluate how we see ourselves with both strengths and weaknesses. How we see ourselves is important in how we portray ourselves and our students will pick up on that as well. It goes back to leading by example. If we know who we are ourselves and take the time to evaluate ourselves our students will be able to see that as well and be more likely to do the same.
Going through the self awareness assessment was interesting and even enlightening in a way. It made me stop and think about how aware I was of myself in each category. I saw both some obvious strengths and weaknesses based on what I focus on more/ care about more deeply in my life. My three weakest categories were intellectual, physical, and emotional. I tend to not have a certain set way to study and even though I don't, I find it's usually in a fairly similar fashion. I am comfortable with who I am, but I like predictability and routine, so I often refrain from taking taking chances unless I'm fairly certain of what the outcome will be. Change can throw me off, even though it may not be a whole lot. As for my physical awareness, I've never thought too much about what I eat or making an effort to exercise. I've always been active but in the last few years even that's become harder to maintain, but my eating habits have not gotten any better.
In the last couple months I've tried to make a better effort to eat healthier and exercise more. Now I just need to keep that up. I'm going to try harder to better adapt to changes and better understand how I study best and use that to my advantage.
It's really important to know what helped to shape who we are today so we can know who we are because if we don't know who we ourselves are, how are we to help our students figure out who they are? the quote by Jesse Jackson said "you can't teach what you don't know and you can't lead where you won't go." We have to be willing to look at ourselves and recognize who we are and what makes us who we are so we can help our students do the same.
The list of words we made about ourselves of descriptive words was a good thing too. It was a way to evaluate how we see ourselves with both strengths and weaknesses. How we see ourselves is important in how we portray ourselves and our students will pick up on that as well. It goes back to leading by example. If we know who we are ourselves and take the time to evaluate ourselves our students will be able to see that as well and be more likely to do the same.
Going through the self awareness assessment was interesting and even enlightening in a way. It made me stop and think about how aware I was of myself in each category. I saw both some obvious strengths and weaknesses based on what I focus on more/ care about more deeply in my life. My three weakest categories were intellectual, physical, and emotional. I tend to not have a certain set way to study and even though I don't, I find it's usually in a fairly similar fashion. I am comfortable with who I am, but I like predictability and routine, so I often refrain from taking taking chances unless I'm fairly certain of what the outcome will be. Change can throw me off, even though it may not be a whole lot. As for my physical awareness, I've never thought too much about what I eat or making an effort to exercise. I've always been active but in the last few years even that's become harder to maintain, but my eating habits have not gotten any better.
In the last couple months I've tried to make a better effort to eat healthier and exercise more. Now I just need to keep that up. I'm going to try harder to better adapt to changes and better understand how I study best and use that to my advantage.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Reflections
So first of all I want to apologize to everyone for Tuesday night. I wasn't feeling the best but I still should have done better at being excited about Nick's and my presentation of our topic. It's a lesson that I need to take to heart. Our students' attitudes towards the lessons we lead and the class in general most often greatly reflect how we go about the class that day ourselves. It goes back to the FISH philosophy; we need to check ourselves at the door and not bring in our problems or worries. It's about the students for that 50 minutes of the day (at least) and it really does make a difference. Just one of many things I need to work on still.
Deb and Joey did a great job presenting chapter 4. The skits were a great idea and worked really well. I personally don't enjoy doing them, but I really enjoy watching and learning from them, and adding input at the end if wanted as it was. It's a great way to learn, but it's not quite my type preference. ;) Well, the topics they chose to address with the skits I think are really important ones. We need to hold ourselves and each other accountable to what we say and do for our students and the program. Trust and relationships can't be built without a foundation, and that starts with making good by your word. People can really tell the difference if you really care or not, so it's important to constantly reevaluate your motives and how you present yourself.
As for the party scenario, well I still have never been to a party so I don't see that as being a problem, (I know, I'm boring) but I think if it did happen it would be best to acknowledge the student but then remove myself completely from the situation. I'm of age, but our students won't be so it would probably be a good thing to remind them of the possible consequences of their actions. And I think Joey did a good job of putting Greg off in that last skit as well. It's a good thing to keep in mind that all 100 will be our students and it should remain just a student-mentor relationship, at the very least until the end of that first semester. I don't even want to imagine some of the problems that could potentially cause. But it really made for a humorous skit to watch. ;)
The beginning go-around question was good to make me think. By asking how we remembered our leaders our freshman year made me wonder how I'm now remembered by my students from last fall and how I want to be remembered by my incoming students next fall. It makes me think more about what I'm doing now and what I can do to better prepare; how I can work to make a difference in their experience here at ISU. Then later we were questioned as to why we're here. Why did I want to become a peer mentor? It was a great question and an important one. There were a lot of great answers and it's something that I try to think about myself often. Our motives will be reflected by how we present ourselves and the students will really pick up on them.
Once again, great job Deb and Joey and I can't wait for Tuesday for Anthony and Beth to present! :)
Deb and Joey did a great job presenting chapter 4. The skits were a great idea and worked really well. I personally don't enjoy doing them, but I really enjoy watching and learning from them, and adding input at the end if wanted as it was. It's a great way to learn, but it's not quite my type preference. ;) Well, the topics they chose to address with the skits I think are really important ones. We need to hold ourselves and each other accountable to what we say and do for our students and the program. Trust and relationships can't be built without a foundation, and that starts with making good by your word. People can really tell the difference if you really care or not, so it's important to constantly reevaluate your motives and how you present yourself.
As for the party scenario, well I still have never been to a party so I don't see that as being a problem, (I know, I'm boring) but I think if it did happen it would be best to acknowledge the student but then remove myself completely from the situation. I'm of age, but our students won't be so it would probably be a good thing to remind them of the possible consequences of their actions. And I think Joey did a good job of putting Greg off in that last skit as well. It's a good thing to keep in mind that all 100 will be our students and it should remain just a student-mentor relationship, at the very least until the end of that first semester. I don't even want to imagine some of the problems that could potentially cause. But it really made for a humorous skit to watch. ;)
The beginning go-around question was good to make me think. By asking how we remembered our leaders our freshman year made me wonder how I'm now remembered by my students from last fall and how I want to be remembered by my incoming students next fall. It makes me think more about what I'm doing now and what I can do to better prepare; how I can work to make a difference in their experience here at ISU. Then later we were questioned as to why we're here. Why did I want to become a peer mentor? It was a great question and an important one. There were a lot of great answers and it's something that I try to think about myself often. Our motives will be reflected by how we present ourselves and the students will really pick up on them.
Once again, great job Deb and Joey and I can't wait for Tuesday for Anthony and Beth to present! :)
Friday, February 4, 2011
Tying it all Together
Since we didn't have class this week everyone should be experts on chapter 3: Defining Roles. Nick and I are still going to present it on Tuesday but I can't wait to hear more about what you all got out of it! To keep from going too much into what I got out of it I'll just do a brief overview of the material and one of the things that stuck out to me the most.
There are five main defining roles on what it means to be a peer mentor. These include, but aren't limited to, being a trusted friend, connecting link, learning coach, student advocate, and a peer leader. All of these roles are extremely important in building relationships with your students. I think that trust is one of the most important assets to build on though. It doesn't only go one way though; it's a two way street. To be trusted you first need to trust. Hold yourself accountable and don't go back on your word. At the same time you need to keep in mind to maintain boundaries. We aren't there to act as a parent or older sibling, but we are there to help them out if and when it's needed.
As a learning coach we can teach some basic skills for success, which can be crucial. We all know that college is much harder and a whole different ballgame than high school was, so by being there with our own experiences and learning strategies we've found have been useful to us, we can pave a little bit smoother road for their success as well.
At the Learning Community Mini Institute I attended the Underprepared vs. Underperforming Students seminar. I think that it ties in really well with our role as a learning coach. We need to take the time to get to know our students and be able to identify when they could possibly be running into trouble. It's much easier to correct potential problems when they are still small and not overwhelming. But with recognizing that, we need to be able to identify if it is a matter of being underprepared or if the student is underpreforming. Either can be costly to their education, but I think it's easier to help with the unpreparedness. That's where we can come in by relating our experiences and letting them know what works for us. Underperforming students we can talk to but ultimately it's their decision as to what they want to do and their own motivation to succeed.
I think one of the other most important roles is being a peer leader. In chapter 3 an analogy was given about how our own habits can affect our students. We are constantly being watched and our knowledge and experience are like the rail ties for the train of their success. David Coleman had an amazing presentation on this at ISLE too. A lot of it was about how we portray ourselves vs. who we really are. I think it's an excellent idea take a step back every once in a while to reevaluate ourselves and our weaknesses. What we do really can influence our students. We are their role models so we need to be that much more aware of how we want people to see us, but more, who we really want to be. Who we are is picked up on by others sometimes before we're even aware of it ourselves so it's important that we take that extra step to reassess what kind of impact we want to make and have our students, and everyone else we meet and come into contact with, know and remember us by.
I can't wait to see you all Tuesday to go over this more and hear your thoughts on it all! Have a great weekend and enjoy Superbowl Sunday, or at least the commercials. ;)
There are five main defining roles on what it means to be a peer mentor. These include, but aren't limited to, being a trusted friend, connecting link, learning coach, student advocate, and a peer leader. All of these roles are extremely important in building relationships with your students. I think that trust is one of the most important assets to build on though. It doesn't only go one way though; it's a two way street. To be trusted you first need to trust. Hold yourself accountable and don't go back on your word. At the same time you need to keep in mind to maintain boundaries. We aren't there to act as a parent or older sibling, but we are there to help them out if and when it's needed.
As a learning coach we can teach some basic skills for success, which can be crucial. We all know that college is much harder and a whole different ballgame than high school was, so by being there with our own experiences and learning strategies we've found have been useful to us, we can pave a little bit smoother road for their success as well.
At the Learning Community Mini Institute I attended the Underprepared vs. Underperforming Students seminar. I think that it ties in really well with our role as a learning coach. We need to take the time to get to know our students and be able to identify when they could possibly be running into trouble. It's much easier to correct potential problems when they are still small and not overwhelming. But with recognizing that, we need to be able to identify if it is a matter of being underprepared or if the student is underpreforming. Either can be costly to their education, but I think it's easier to help with the unpreparedness. That's where we can come in by relating our experiences and letting them know what works for us. Underperforming students we can talk to but ultimately it's their decision as to what they want to do and their own motivation to succeed.
I think one of the other most important roles is being a peer leader. In chapter 3 an analogy was given about how our own habits can affect our students. We are constantly being watched and our knowledge and experience are like the rail ties for the train of their success. David Coleman had an amazing presentation on this at ISLE too. A lot of it was about how we portray ourselves vs. who we really are. I think it's an excellent idea take a step back every once in a while to reevaluate ourselves and our weaknesses. What we do really can influence our students. We are their role models so we need to be that much more aware of how we want people to see us, but more, who we really want to be. Who we are is picked up on by others sometimes before we're even aware of it ourselves so it's important that we take that extra step to reassess what kind of impact we want to make and have our students, and everyone else we meet and come into contact with, know and remember us by.
I can't wait to see you all Tuesday to go over this more and hear your thoughts on it all! Have a great weekend and enjoy Superbowl Sunday, or at least the commercials. ;)
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