So...once again, I am late with this post. Don't worry. I'm going to make myself do 20 laps around the Hixson building to punish myself, so it's all good.
Our lesson this past Wednesday was on writing effective lesson plans. This area is probably one of my biggest weaknesses because I'm the type of person that doesn't plan ahead and just "wings" it, a technique which I've used successfully in the past and oftentimes with humorous results, but when it comes to facilitating a classroom, it may not be exactly the best method. I'll also have to keep in mind that in order for it to be an effective classroom, the students will be doing more of the talking as opposed to the instructors.
This weekend we had our Peer Mentoring Retreat, where we went all around Ames and ISU and took a bunch of crazy pictures for a scavenger hunt. Our group seemed to have a recurring theme of having me elevated in every picture, so it'll be funny to see all of the pictures Lisa took. I kind of experience some of the Experience Iowa State guests out...I was still in my STARS uniform when we were by Carver Hall taking pictures with the statue and I was kind of...climbing on the statue at the time holding peanut butter. Needless to say the guests were confused and we left kind of quickly. It was pretty hillarious though. We met at Perfect Games to play bowling and I reaffirmed just how HORRIBLE I am at bowling although I did get a spare and imprvoed immensely the second half. (My goal was 50, and I got 71 so that's not too bad.) We played lasertag and I ended up getting 7 out of 9...I probably would have gotten higher if I didn't happen to be Heath's favorite victim! (Allie, if you are reading this, you are now my favorite grad. assistant.)
Hope you all have a nice week and I look forward to Wednesday's class!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Guiding Values and Hard Topics
I thought the way Cody and Lauren did the class discussion was great. Typically we do TTYP, which I still think is pretty effective, but it's good to avoid getting into too much of a pattern and mixing things up a bit. All of the guiding values we talked about are important, and I liked how we were all given the opportunity to elaborate on one of them. The one I had was Positive Thinking, something I believe I try to embody to it's fullest extent. Like I said in class, I try to live in the moment and not let other things that are going on effect my interactions with others or the task at hand. I currently do have a couple of things going on. I'm waiting to hear back about some interviews and applications, I recently was told by a friend of mine whose had emotional problems for a while that she's liked me as more than just a friend the past couple of years and whenever she's been with other guys she's thinking of me, and I recently found out a friend of mine is dropping out this Monday, in addition to having some slight financial problems currently. Nobody really knows about these things going on with me because I choose to ignore it whenever there is stuff to be done and focus on it only when I can do it on my own time and not ruin somebody else's experience.
We also talked about some difficult situations that might come up as Peer Mentors. Although we laughed quite a bit at some of them, they are all serious situations that we may potentially deal with. Personally, I don't see myself being at an underage drinking party next year (I will be of age at the time though.), but if I were and saw one of my mentees there, I would probably leave. I think we also did a good job of trying to set boundaries for the Mentor/Mentee relationship. We don't want to exclude others and we also want to avoid awkward situations. Without getting into details, stuff has happened between others and I in situations where we had to keep things professional, and when that fell through it did make things very awkward. We will have to think more about these situations as we get closer to the fall and as they come up. Luckily we will have a class together where we can discuss them.
We also talked about some difficult situations that might come up as Peer Mentors. Although we laughed quite a bit at some of them, they are all serious situations that we may potentially deal with. Personally, I don't see myself being at an underage drinking party next year (I will be of age at the time though.), but if I were and saw one of my mentees there, I would probably leave. I think we also did a good job of trying to set boundaries for the Mentor/Mentee relationship. We don't want to exclude others and we also want to avoid awkward situations. Without getting into details, stuff has happened between others and I in situations where we had to keep things professional, and when that fell through it did make things very awkward. We will have to think more about these situations as we get closer to the fall and as they come up. Luckily we will have a class together where we can discuss them.
ISCORE
So apparently with Spring Break coming up at the time and me being rushed all of the time....I forgot to actually SAVE and publish my last entry... so feel free to punish me if you want.
ISCORE was actually pretty amazing. I remember the morning of I really wasn't looking forward to attending since I'd be leaving that afternoon for a Cyclone Aide Retreat. It was definitely worth it though. I went to Hannah's session over Hispanics in America. Hannah did an AMAZING job, and I was very impressed. Good job Hannah! It's important to realize that even though we as caucasians might think there is equality in America, there really isn't. We have come a long way but there is still much further to go.
The second session was over Multicultural Athlete's Experience here at Iowa State. This session really opened my eyes. To be honest, I didn't really think athletes here had as many stringent requirements, and I had no idea they had to work equally as hard in the classroom, as hard as they were working in the field. Unfortunately I see lots of student athletes not really taking advantage of there opportunities...many times in the Hixson center I see some of them just sitting around talking and not working. However, there are some I see who are working all of the time and I have great respect for all of their contributions. We shouldn't just assume that all of them are the same and don't do work (that would be outgroup homogeneity bias. Just throwing out some Psych terms for Heath and Chelsea!).
For lunch we had Native American food. It was actually pretty good, and it was good to get to sit with some of the other Hixsons and discuss the sessions...even though I'm lucky I haven't had nightmares yet about Kelly's headless emu story.
Unfortunately I had to leave ISCORE at that time to head to class and head to our overnight Cyclone Aide retreat. Once again, I really wasn't looking forward to the retreat that much, but it was AMAZING. Probably one of the best weekends I've had of this semester. We did lots of team building and get to know you activities, some of which I might try to implement with my mentees for next year. We also did some more in-depth personal activities...it was actually really good to get to hear what other people thought of me in the group, even though it was anonymous and we couldn't identify who said what about us, it was good to hear how I'm perceived by others. It definitely helps knowing how you come off to others so you can be more effective in communicating with them.
Overall, it was a very fun and enlightening weekend. I will definitely encourage my students next year to attend ISCORE. It is a very positive experience.
ISCORE was actually pretty amazing. I remember the morning of I really wasn't looking forward to attending since I'd be leaving that afternoon for a Cyclone Aide Retreat. It was definitely worth it though. I went to Hannah's session over Hispanics in America. Hannah did an AMAZING job, and I was very impressed. Good job Hannah! It's important to realize that even though we as caucasians might think there is equality in America, there really isn't. We have come a long way but there is still much further to go.
The second session was over Multicultural Athlete's Experience here at Iowa State. This session really opened my eyes. To be honest, I didn't really think athletes here had as many stringent requirements, and I had no idea they had to work equally as hard in the classroom, as hard as they were working in the field. Unfortunately I see lots of student athletes not really taking advantage of there opportunities...many times in the Hixson center I see some of them just sitting around talking and not working. However, there are some I see who are working all of the time and I have great respect for all of their contributions. We shouldn't just assume that all of them are the same and don't do work (that would be outgroup homogeneity bias. Just throwing out some Psych terms for Heath and Chelsea!).
For lunch we had Native American food. It was actually pretty good, and it was good to get to sit with some of the other Hixsons and discuss the sessions...even though I'm lucky I haven't had nightmares yet about Kelly's headless emu story.
Unfortunately I had to leave ISCORE at that time to head to class and head to our overnight Cyclone Aide retreat. Once again, I really wasn't looking forward to the retreat that much, but it was AMAZING. Probably one of the best weekends I've had of this semester. We did lots of team building and get to know you activities, some of which I might try to implement with my mentees for next year. We also did some more in-depth personal activities...it was actually really good to get to hear what other people thought of me in the group, even though it was anonymous and we couldn't identify who said what about us, it was good to hear how I'm perceived by others. It definitely helps knowing how you come off to others so you can be more effective in communicating with them.
Overall, it was a very fun and enlightening weekend. I will definitely encourage my students next year to attend ISCORE. It is a very positive experience.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Recent Activities
So it's been a pretty eventful week. Being somewhat indirectly involved with the whole GSB election-scandal thing that the Daily pretty much misconstrued, preparing a Health/Wellness Presentation for IRHA tonight, doing a speaker introduction for Cyclone Aide training, and having pretty much half the class and some Cyclone Aides shadow my tour today only to end up with the guy who was supposed to pick us up at Gerdin forgetting about us, and heading to Madrid, IA tomorrow after ISCORE for a Cyclone Aide retreat. I also found out I'm a Community Advisor for Helser next year, so that's going to be interesting when August comes around with Destination Iowa State/Fall Move-In and training. Overall this week has been like a marathon and I definitely look forward to the Cyclone Aide retreat and getting to have fun.
In class we talked a bit about metacognition. Metacognition is very important when trying to avoid biases and avoiding Fundamental Attribution Error (one of my favorite phrases lately). I think it's something I actually started a bit earlier this semester, and even during Cyclone Aide training today we talked about a similiar idea. It's kind of interesting that a lot of my training actually ends up overlapping, but I guess it goes to show that it's very important when working with students.
I think that's all I have for now. ISCORE is coming up tomorrow so I will probably do a longer entry for that. Thanks to everybody who came on my campus tour today, especially with as chaotic as everything was today!
In class we talked a bit about metacognition. Metacognition is very important when trying to avoid biases and avoiding Fundamental Attribution Error (one of my favorite phrases lately). I think it's something I actually started a bit earlier this semester, and even during Cyclone Aide training today we talked about a similiar idea. It's kind of interesting that a lot of my training actually ends up overlapping, but I guess it goes to show that it's very important when working with students.
I think that's all I have for now. ISCORE is coming up tomorrow so I will probably do a longer entry for that. Thanks to everybody who came on my campus tour today, especially with as chaotic as everything was today!
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