Effective Communication and Course Facilitation

Effective communication is key when it comes to instructing a seminar, but also to just everyday life. The beginning of the class was spent discussing times when communication has failed. I only used a recent example in class, but there have been several times in the past where communication has failed for me. Either somebody had taken something the wrong way, not everybody was informed of everything, or people were given false and/or misleading information. If communication fails, oftentimes the given task at hand fails and that is very nonconducive to our purpose. We want the incoming Hixson Scholars to be successful and to benefit from the Hixson Program as much as possible...that can't happen if communication isn't successful so we need to be careful to communicate properly.
We talked about the most effective ways to communicate material in the class. We discussed several different techniques: Think/Pair/Share which was pretty much TTYP, Q-SPACE(otherwise known as Q-Spot according to Cody), and lecture. There was pretty much a mutual agreement that TTYP was the most effective technique, and it is the technique we primarily use in class. TTYP allows for people to make a personal connection with somebody else and to engage in higher-level thinking and deep conversation, as opposed to just passively listening. It also holds people accountable for listening when they have to report back on what their partner has said. Q-SPACE I think will also be effective, since it allows people to discuss their ideas in more of a public forum and listen to the entire group, however it runs the danger of people just passively sitting there as well. Lecture is probably the least effective and will probably be used the least...only for logistics and information the students may not be able to get themselves. Plus lecture is the most boring and I wouldn't feel like standing in front of a room and talking for 50 minutes straight (I also find it hillarious that Chelsee, Heath, and I are all Psychology majors, ENFP, and expressed the most dislike for lecture-based classes.)
There are also some other things about communication that we didn't really talk too much about in class that I think are important, mainly having to do with speaking technique. Articulation and speaking clearly is very important...it's important that the students actually know what you are saying and aren't confused about what you actually said. Projection is very important as well...although it won't really be too much of an issue in the seminars since everybody will be close together, it's still important to make sure everybody can hear you. Eye contact is important as well..it makes everybody feel included and also makes more of a personal connection as opposed to just standing there staring into space talking.
I think I will end the entry here. I look forward to next week's class and attending the ISCORE conference. I hope everybody has a nice week!

Cultural Awareness

Fortunately for everybody my entry this week is probably going to be a bit shorter than my average one, since this is probably the busiest week of the semester for me so far.
Yesterday in class we talked about cultural awareness and cultural diversity primarily. Reading the article Ali and Heath assigned and doing the worksheet at the end of class made something a lot more salient to me...when I looked around the classroom everybody was white, the majority of the other Cyclone Aides this year are white, everybody on my conference bid team is white, and most of the people I know on IRHA is white as well. Although it's very easy to see that the majority of people in leadership positions here are white, it's not really that easy to be consciously aware of it, which I became yesterday. It was actually kind of shocking.
The article also talked about becoming aware of our biases and how it effects the way we interact with other people. It's impossible to deny the fact that one has biases...they will be there, but the important thing is to acknowledge how they effect your interactions with others. There is actually a video I remember watching in Social Psychology last year that still sticks with me. Basically two confederates were trained to act the same, having the exact same professional credentials and pretty much everything the same about their personality...but there was only one difference...one person was attractive, the other person was more average looking. Although professionally they were still the same potential employers almost always hired the more attractive applicant. This just goes to show that biases for attractiveness really do effect big issues such as employment, and that can be translated to race as well. White people are encouraged to seek positions of power more and so they are more likely to be in positions of power, and due to us being a white-priveledged culture, they will most likely get the preference for the position opposed to somebody of a different race. People of other races are oftentimes molded into just trying to fit in with our culture that they won't try to obtain positions of power and thus aren't seen in higher positions as often and make less money. Again, these were all issues I knew about, but it is something that can be difficult to acknowledge when one wants to think of the just-world notion in order to protect your conscience.
Even when I was doing Team Leader interviews for Destination Iowa State before class yesterday, the majority of the applicants were white, with only two other ethnicities being represented, Hispanic and Asian. I was only in one interview room though ofcourse, so maybe there were others there as well, but based just off of my sample room, there wasn't too much cultural diversity represented.
I honestly don't know what we can do as a solution to this, either than just acknowledge that fact and that our biases can effect our interactions. Acknowledging it is probably the first step to finding a solution though.
I think I'll end the entry here. I don't really have much else to say this week. I hope everybody has a good weekend and stay safe!

Awareness Assessment

I just filled out the Awareness Assessment Lisa and Jenna assigned us in class last week. I tried to be as objective as possible and answer about my actual self, as opposed to my ideal self or how I'd like to be. I actually scored pretty high on all of them, my highest score being a 19, and everything else being an 18 or 17. I do believe though that a year or so ago my scores wouldn't have been as high. For intellectual awarenes, last semester was actually when I started using effective studying techniques and trying to apply what I was learning in class, which I found to be one of the most effective studing techniques I've ever used. For resource awareness, I pretty much have always been able to rely on what was available to get the job or task done, and lately I have become better ar resisting impulses and delaying gratification (still working on that though with certain things.) As for physical awareness, that is also something I've taken stock of recently in the past couple years. I pretty much walk/run everywhere, and run sometimes just to blow off steam, and this semester I've been trying my best to eat healthier, so that's something I've become more aware of us as well. Emotional awarness I scored pretty high on too, which makes sense to me. I'm comfortable taking risks and putting myself out there, which is also something I've improved upon in the past year. Social awareness is also something I've developed more on recently. I am pretty comfortable around other people and have been told I put people at ease...and recently I've been recognizing the effects my behavior and actions have on other people, which has altered my behavior to be much more positive and conducive to the social situation. Finally, I also scored high on spiritual awareness. I enjoy helping my community and genuinely gain pleasure from doing altruistic deeds for others (Althogh one could argue that it's not truely altruistic if one derives pleasure from it...but I don't really like philosophy so I won't get into that.) I've recently gained more of an insight in where I want to head in life which has only increased my spiritual awareness.
So overall I didn't really see a particular area I was lacking in, although like I said earlier I can still improve a bit on all of those areas and have also improved significantly in the past couple of years, maybe even this semester as a result of being in this class.
Earlier on today I had an epiphany, similiar to what Chelsee had in class last week. I had a pretty busy day...I had to perform as Cy for EIS this morning (although it's a lot of fun, the costume gets REALLY hot and my advisor kept pulling my tail), did a group visit with some high school Physics students, and had class as usual. I have a Psych 230 exam tomorrow, so I decided earlier on this evening that I'd walk down to Starbucks to get a Vente Double Chocolate Chip Frappucino (they are absolutely amazing, but probably not the healthiest thing for you) and study for a bit. I honestly didn't really study for that long, but the thing was I actually kind of liked just sitting there and thinking. I'm so used to running around all of the time (Clint told me last week that he barely sees me and whenever he does it's like I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off) and constantly being surrounded by people and doing things, that I honestly really haven't had too much personal time or time to myself. It was honestly just nice sitting there, observing other people and just relaxing. I'm making a note to do that more often, and when I'm down in Nebraska this weekend for our conference, I might just spend some time in the hotel room resting up instead of running around the entire weekend. Doing this writing exercise for class has actually helped me gain some insight into myself and has made me a bit more introspective, probably much to the dismay of everybody who has to read the ridiculously long entries I write.
Well, I think I'm going to go off to prepare for my exam tomorrow. I hope everybody has a nice week and I look forward to doing the discussion starter this Wednesday!

Self-Reflection

Today in class we talked extensively about our self-concept and how it's important to truy know ourselves in order to be effective Peer Mentors. Quite a lot recently, probably partially due to being a member of this class, I have been trying to observe myself from other's perspective and engaging in meta-cognition (thanks to Heath for clarifying the term for me.) I have become increasingly aware of my values, motivations, and situational factors that influence me. This semester with as busy as I am (full-time student, working as a Cyclone Aide, volunteering for Office of Admissions as a STAR, planning a conference, being Vice-President of Maple and coordinating this fitness program for all of the residence halls, and Hixson Peer Mentor training.) I have come to terms with who is important to me and what I want from life. I have had limited time to engage in social interactions with friends, and I have noticed I have taken the time to make time for those people who are important to me, and people whom I consider to be more of a negative influence I have put minimal effort towards seeing. I will also try to make time to see some of my other friend's more and get to know some people better, as I've formed a lot of new relationships this semester.
There are other things I am looking to change as well. Lately I have been trying to exercise more and eat healthier, as a part of the physical awareness we discussed in class today. Although I am by no means unhealthy or anything, I do need to take care of myself some more, so I have been out running more often and have cut drastically down on soft drinks/junk food, and have been replacing those with more fruits and vegetables. I'm not 100% there yet, but just in the past couple of weeks I have made significant progress. I also figure as being a member of Health/Wellness Committee for IRHA, I should set a positive example for residents. I will carry this on to my role as a Peer Mentor as well.
I have also come to more of a conclusion of what I want to do later on in life. I love working with people and meeting new people all of the time. I like to teach people new things and help them out whenever I can. Pretty much all of my involvement outside of the classroom has had to do with teaching/helping people. I am really highly considering applying to the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program here at ISU to major in Higher Education. I honestly would love just teaching/helping people for the rest of my life and I like university settings as well. I obviously still have a while to decide but that is the direction I think I'll be heading in. Perhaps my role as a Peer Mentor will reaffirm that decision or allow me to consider going in other directions. Only time can tell.
I am really loving this class. I believe Matt mentioned in his blog how this class was his favorite class...I can honestly say it was my favorite class as well too. Not only do we learn a lot about each other, we also learn a lot about ourselves. I have never really been in a setting where people have been so open about themselves and I feel very comfortable in this group sharing just about anything. I highly look forward to facilitating class discussion next week...I give presentations and stuff all of the time, but it's been a long time since I've really facilitated a discussion. I really do look forward to working with everybody for the next year and hope we can help to make the next class of Hixson Scholars successful!


PS: I apologize for another excessively long post...as I said, I've been engaging in lots of introspection lately and I pretty much have just been typing it all out to bring it more to my conscience mind. If anybody thinks my thoughts are too jumbled or confusing just tell me. I should really stop typing now and study for my two tests later...today, since it's past midnight now that I'm finally finishing. Hope everybody has a nice week!

10 Quotes

"A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves."

"A person who aims at nothing is sure to hit it."

"The task of the leader is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there."

"Evil is knowing better, but willingly doing worse."
-Philip Zimbardo

"Leadership is not choosing sides, it's about bringing sides together."

"Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart."
-Anne Frank

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."
-Anne Frank

"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."
-Dwight Eisenhower

"We must all fear evil men...but there is another kind of evil we must fear most...And that is the indifference of good men."

"We come to college not alone to prepare to make a living, but to learn to live a life."
- M.J. Riggs

Relationships and Excessive Hand Gestures

   Due to recent events in my life and discussion in class today, I did come to a realization about an aspect of myself which I definitely need to actively work on. During small-group discussion today when Amy, Lauren, and I were talking about building relationships I become self-aware of the fact that during discussion I was focusing my attention primarily on Lauren and also oftentimes interrupting Amy or speaking before she had a chance to speak. I apologize for that Amy...I told you I didn't necessarily mean to, but I have noticed consistently across situations I have similar traits. I have a friend who is more introverted than most of my other friends and I oftentimes will dominate conversations with him around and won't take the time to get feedback from him. I also do primarily focus on my more active, extroverted friends and will sometimes neglect the ones who aren't so outspoken, possibly because with everything I'm doing, the less outspoken people I know aren't so salient. I do know however when to turn this off, and have done so in the past when I've been in a leadership position. When I was a Team Leader for Destination Iowa State I actually did focus more on my more introverted students and tried to allow them time to speak and give input. In the past when I've ran projects I would normally try to make sure the quieter people could speak up as well. When I am self-aware of the need to allow introverted/more quiet people time to express themselves, I do so efficiently. However, in non-leadership oriented settings or when I'm not actively thinking about it, I will tend to focus on that which is more salient. Perhaps by actively engaging in allowing others the time to speak and be heard, it will become an unconscious autonomic process.

    On a slightly more humorous note, I will also need to work on keeping my hands still in discussions and introduction. This will be difficult since I'm used to being really expressive with my hands...I've had several people compliment me on hand gestures during presentations, but occasionally somebody will say it's too distracting. It's almost an automatic thing due to being involved in theatre and All-State Speech in high school when I had to be consciously aware of my hand movements, which converted into an autonomic thing as well. Working on keeping my hands still though will still be beneficial since we need to practice that for Cyclone Aide as well.