MBTI

Well this past week has been an extremely busy one. Between Christina visiting and having multiple exams, the weekend was a much needed break. However, it's always exciting when Christina does visit us. I think a lot of the first year students really enjoyed getting to know the lady that has made their stay here at ISU possible.

MBTI was also this week. Even though I've heard the information many times, it's always interesting to see what else you can learn about yourself. I think it's very interesting to see how I've changed since freshman. Some of my preferences, like E, have increased, while others have shifted more towards the middle ground. For example, I would say I am a pressure prompted worker. This probably started in high school when the course work was easy and I only spent about an hour doing all of my homework. However, now that college has kicked my butt a few semesters, I tend to try and start big projects early. I still end up finishing things the night before it's due, but unlike before, I usually have a decent start it.

Overall, I think doing the MBTI surveys is a great idea. I don't think some of the freshman realize how much of a tool it can be, but I'm hopeful that at most took something away from it :)

Summer Orientation

My name is Anthony Simon, and I am a 08’ Hixson from Delaware County. I am a senior in Aerospace Engineering, with a minor in Nondestructive Evaluation. I live outside a small town in eastern Iowa called Worthington. When I was younger my dad was in the military, and that made us travel all over the world. Before I was five years old, I had already lived in two different states and another country. I also have six younger siblings, the youngest of which just turned two.

Shortly after coming to Iowa State I started getting involved in various activities. I was the house president in my dorm hall, I joined the ISU Ski & Snowboard Club, and I played multiple intramural sports. Over winter break I went with about 200 other students to Winter Park, Colorado, with the Ski & Snowboard Club. Since my freshman year I have joined other clubs and participated in other activities, one of which was becoming a Hixson Peer Mentor.

This fall will be my second year as a peer mentor. As a peer mentor, I will be helping out with the large lecture on Tuesday nights. I will also be leading two recitation sections, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with one of the other peer mentors. The Hixson retreat is Friday, August 26th. All 100 students (your class of scholars), peer mentors, graduate assistants, and Debra will be going on the retreat. It gives you the opportunity to meet and make connections within your section, as well as with other Hixsons. You better be ready for an exciting day!

I also work in the Hixson Office. Our office is upstairs from where you check-in for orientation, so please stop in and introduce yourself. The office is also home for the National Student Exchange (NSE) program. This gives you the opportunity to study at another university within the US while still maintaining your Iowa State student status. We have a booth setup at the Resource Fair, so we hope to see everyone there. The photo to the right is me at the resource fair-- so stop and say hello!

I can’t wait to meet everyone. Have a great summer!
- Anthony

Goals

Hey everyone!! VEISHEA 2011 is upon us. If only, like Chelsee, I did not have homework and quizzes all week long. Zach and Karen did a wonderful job leading class last week. It is amazing how quickly the semester is flying by. In a few short weeks we will be finished with 311, and expected to be excellent mentors!

The goal I came up with for next year relating to being a Hixson Peer Mentor was: Learn every 2011 Hixson by first name by the end of the semester. Last year I felt like I knew a lot of them by name, and could at least recognize the rest. However, this year I want to know them all by name. I feel like this task, despite sounding difficult, should be very achievable. With me leading two sections next year, I will directly interact on a regular basis, with a quarter of the students. Then another quarter will be in my sister sections. So, I should have very little problem learning about half of the students names. The last half will be the difficult part. I plan on attending almost all of the Monday night lectures. So, while I am there, I need go out and make a point of talking to all the students I don’t already know.

I have two more goals for next year’s class. I want to increase the interaction between my sections and our sister sections. Last year we had a couple of classes together, but they were all towards the end of the semester. I want to start the interactions between sections much earlier in the semester. The semester goes by VERY fast, and if you do not plan ahead you will miss those kinds of opportunities. I think increasing sister section activities will open up even more friendships between students. If they are ‘forced’ to interact with more people, they are more likely to find someone with similar interests.

I also want to increase how much time my section spends together outside of class. I know my freshman year, at the very end, we all went over to one of our mentor’s apartments and had supper and played rock band. I thought it was really fun, and our section bonded a lot through that experience. Last year, we really did not have a good spot to get together. So, we just decided to go out to eat at Hickory Park. Ideally I want to try and have at least three get-togethers outside of class. I feel like the students will enjoy it, and they will all get that much closer to each other. One positive about this is, next year I will have a decent size apartment, and could very easily have my entire section over.

This semester is going by very fast. However, I am really enjoying the time we are all spending together. I really like getting to know everyone and what experiences they have been through that make them who they are today.

Facilitate This Fixed

Sorry there is something wrong with the text, for some reason it is not formatting correctly. I don't know what it was about this post, but it didn't like it.

Hixson Peer Mentors we are facilitators, but what does that really mean? We are here to help the students make the transition to college successfully. Some might have some problems, while others will not. We never know what to expect. Going into the fall semester last year, I could have never predicted what leading the class would be like. There were questions or response that I would have never expected no matter how long we prepared in 311.

We made a huge list of reasons why students might struggle while at ISU. I’m sure we could have spent the entire hour listing off other reasons. There is no way to know what each student will struggle with. Some might know all about financial aid, while others know how to budget their money. The way we can help our students the most is by being adaptable. We need to be able to change the way we do things, or change our daily schedules and spend some time outside of class with certain students. Some of them might just need that little extra help to be successful in college.

What I found effective last year is to leave open time during or at the end of class for questions about whatever. This is really important during the financial aid week. Last year we spent almost the entire class going over question that the students had, and you would be surprised at some of the questions they had.

Overall we are just here to help guide them. Show them a few things and let them do everything themselves, and when they have questions being able to help.

Facilitate This

Well the storm turned out to be not too bad, for us at least. So, we just got a free 15 minutes J

As Hixson Peer Mentors we are facilitators, but what does that really mean? We are here to help the students make the transition to college successfully. Some might have some problems, while others will not. We never know what to expect. Going into the fall semester last year, I could have never predicted what leading the class would be like. There were questions or response that I would have never expected no matter how long we prepared in 311.

We made a huge list of reasons why students might struggle while at ISU. I’m sure we could have spent the entire hour listing off other reasons. There is no way to know what each student will struggle with. Some might know all about financial aid, while others know how to budget their money. The way we can help our students the most is by being adaptable. We need to be able to change the way we do things, or change our daily schedules and spend some time outside of class with certain students. Some of them might just need that little extra help to be successful in college.

What I found effective last year is to leave open time during or at the end of class for questions about whatever. This is really important during the financial aid week. Last year we spent almost the entire class going over question that the students had, and you would be surprised at some of the questions they had.

Overall we are just here to help guide them. Show them a few things and let them do everything themselves, and when they have questions being able to help.

Can you hear me now?

· What is your favorite way to communicate? What is a common communication tool that you don't like to use?

· How has your communication style or mediums in which you communicate changed since coming to college?

· Do you communicate with different people in different ways (ie professors, friends, family/e-mail, facebook, face-to-face)? What has been most effective for you?

· How did you honestly feel about the Twitter activity or just Twitter in general?

· How do you plan on communicating and keeping tabs on your students in the fall?

· What are some ways to use Twitter with your students, or get them excited about their week of Twitter this fall

Hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend. I just noticed that I forgot to blog on the week Chelsee and Brandon lead the class. So, I will be doing 2 posts this week. This semester is already flying by, and pretty soon we will be getting paired up for next year. I cannot wait to see who I will be co-teaching with! I’m going to run through some of the blogging prompts from Brandon and Chelsee.

I usually find myself communicating a lot online through emails. Most of the organizations I’m involved with communicate through emails. They let everyone know when/where we are meeting very easily. I also communicate with friends and family through email quiet often as well. If people are working and cannot answer their phone or go on Facebook, they can usually check their emails throughout the day. I’m still not sold on twitter. I have it and use it sometimes. I read a lot more tweets than I contribute. I really don’t update my Facebook status that often, and I feel like tweeting is very similar to a Facebook status.

My communication style has changed drastically since coming to college. Before college I was not big into Facebook. I would go on maybe once a week just to look at a few things. Now I am on Facebook all the time. I will leave it open just in case someone needs to talk to me. I am the same way with emails. I only used to use emails to send very important things or talk to people on campus like the Financial Aid Office. Now I send emails like they are text messages to some people. I also keep Google Talk open on my computer so I can communicate with close friends very easily. This might sound lazy, but my roommate and I usually keep our doors shut if we are working on things, while also listening to music. So instead of going to bother the other with something trivial, we will send messages or emails to each other. Then if we are not busy we will come out and talk.

No matter how easy and useful online communication is, I still like either talking face-to-face with someone, or at the very least over the phone. There is simply no replacing the connection you get while talking to someone in person. This is often not needed, but I still like to do it. Next fall I plan on sending emails, text messages, and Facebook messages to my students as the basic form of communication. If it is something more important I will talk to them, in person outside of class. Last year I told my students that they should be able to get a hold of Jenna or me at any time of the day. I’m was, and still am, up all night, and she was up in the mornings. I also have a smart phone, and get all my emails sent directly to my phone. So, if they ever needed anything, as long as I was not super busy, I would get back to them almost instantly.

Well that’s enough for this post. On to the next one!

Being Diverse

Well here we are another week into the semester. They keep going by faster and faster, and pretty soon it will be summer. Jenna and Cory did a great job last week covering diversity. I really liked the activity. I like how we couldn’t just ask questions about what our sticker said. You had to interact with one another and in conversation slip hints to the person you’re talking to. The point of the activity was to bring up stereotypes we might have about certain things, and we need to discuss them. There is no point hiding from these things. Last semester I went to a diversity event called Niger, Wetback, Chink. It was all about the stereotypes people have of African Americans, Mexicans, and Asians. Some of the stuff they did made some people uncomfortable, but I think it opened their eyes to some of the things people go through on a daily basis. Our jobs as mentors, is to open the eyes of our students next fall. Most of them are going to be from a small town where they weren’t exposed to any cultural diversity. ISU is a very diverse place and some of them might have trouble adjusting to this.

I attended ISCORE on Friday, and the only session I could make it to was about the single story. It was an interesting topic. It talked about how only knowing one side or very little about something can really influence how you look at people. You need to postpone judgment until you actually know who they are and what they went/are going through. I thought the way they presented things was a little slow. All we did was watch a 15 minute video, which was very good, and then work by ourselves for almost the rest of the time on a worksheet. Again, the worksheet was pretty neat, but they way they did their presentation wasn’t the best.

I look forward to Brandon and Chelsee leading the class this week. I will see everyone on Tuesday!

Role Model

Well I have been really sick the past 5 days, and sadly I’m just writing my blog post for last week. This is the first homework I have really done since I’ve gotten sick though, and it actually feels to good to be doing something besides sleeping all the time.

Amy and Rachel did a fantastic job last week leading our class. I really liked the activity you two chose for us to do. It was interactive with everyone, and we got to get out of our seats and move around. It also made people make hard decisions about themselves. We had to choose, of the three on the board at the time, our strength and our weakness. You know people were taking the time to think, and try to make thought out decisions, because there were numerous times when people wanted to stand in the middle between two choices. I really like activities that make people do that short of thinking. You don’t allow them to stand in the middle; they have to make a definite choice about themselves.

I also really enjoyed listening to everyone share about who their role model is and why. I think it reflects on who they want to be themselves. I know for me, my mom is my role model. She had me when she was 18 years old and still in high school. She later was divorced with two kids, decided to go back to school while still working to supports us. She didn’t let anything get in her way, and she never sacrificed my sister’s or my well being to do it. I look up to her and when I think of all she went through, I feel like nothing should ever stand in my way.

Sorry again this post is a few days late. I look forward to seeing everyone again next week!

The concept of Self

Well, I hoped everyone enjoyed our class last week. I would like to thank each one of you for really opening up and sharing during both of our go arounds. I really think it was very beneficial. It let us all know more about who we all are, and where we come from. Asking those types of questions next year will hopefully have the same effect inside your own classes.

Next fall the incoming freshman are going to be going through a lot of changes in their lives. They are no longer living at home, some of them will know almost nobody at ISU, and their classes are structured differently than in high school. They will be meeting new people and will have to establish who they are. Some of the students will have never taken the time to stop and think about whom they are, and what has made them into that person. It is our responsibility to, at the very least, make them aware of the concept of self-awareness. We can ask all the questions we want, but in the end it is up to them to stop and reflect upon their lives.

The best way I found last year to inspire thought on this subject is to talk about our own lives, and the things that have made us who we are. This will hopefully open their eyes, and they will take time to evaluate who they are and where they want to go. The best advice I can give as a returning mentor is, just be there for your students. I have had a couple of students who have come to me with concerns about things, some school related and other non-school related. This is where our jobs are most important. We are roughly 2-3 year older than them, and have experienced some of the things they will be going through. They may turn to you for advice, and you need to be there for them when they do.

Another activity I did last year was for them to make goals for what they want to do their freshman year, as well as during their time at ISU. I feel like this really helped some students. Most of them took time to really think about what they wanted to get out of college. However, be ready for anything. This goes for the entire semester. I had one student who said something to the extent of, I am doing fine in my life right now, and I feel like I don’t need to change anything until things are not fine. Therefore he didn’t need goals. So, like I said be ready for anything. You never know what will happen over the course of a semester.

I will see everyone tomorrow at class!

Happy Valentines Day

Well, it’s a little after 4am and it’s still 40⁰ outside, which is pretty awesome. I am really looking forward to this week of warm weather. I’m just sitting in Howe trying to finish a homework assignment with a couple of people, and I thought I would take a break and blog J This past week both groups did a nice job leading the class. Bethany and I will be leading it this week, so watch out!

Most of the topics covered in this chapter can relate to things outside this class. The book asks six questions to identify what stage you are in the mentoring relationship: Who are you, why are we here, where are we going, how are you doing, what is working, what is not working, and are we there yet? These kinds of question can be used during any type of project or activity. They make you stop and evaluate your goals and how you plan on achieving them. This is important for next year too. Right now we should be asking ourselves all these questions before we lead our own classes next year. This is one of the purposes of 311, to define who we are as people, and why we want to help the freshman next year. Next fall we need to start over and evaluate our classes as the semester progresses.

Later on in the chapter the book talks about honesty, commitment, boundaries, confidentiality, and expectations. We need to keep all these in mind next year. We need to be honesty to our students. We are their peers and fellow classmates here at ISU. Don’t be afraid to tell them that a certain class will be hard, or that finals week is going to suck. Also, if you don’t know something, tell them you’re not sure and you will check into it. Don’t give them wrong information just because you don’t want them to think you don’t know something. When you’re honest to your students, and they know you are being honest, you build up a lot of trust with them.

Commitment goes both ways next year. If you say you will get something done or bring something to class, make sure you follow through with it. The same goes with the students. If they tell you they will have something done by the next class, they should. The students will follow by example here. If you show them that you are committed to the class and what we are doing for them, they are more likely to respond positively to it.

Boundaries need to be set up early on in the semester. You need to let them know that while we are their peers, we are still in charge. Also, boundaries need to be set for what kinds of topics will be discussed in the classroom. We are not there to talk about partying on the weekends, and they should know that it shouldn’t be discussed during class. They also need to understand that mentors and mentees can NOT date. If you separated yourself from them in that kind of social situation, this really shouldn’t be an issue.

Confidentiality is very important. If a student is having some personal problems, they should be able to come to you without the fear of everyone else finding out. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t confide in Allie or Silas though. If it is a serious enough issue, Allie and Silas will probably be able to help. Also, if a student comes to you with concerns, you should let your co-mentor know. They also should be aware of any issues going on.

Expectation need to be set up in the beginning of the semester, to ensure that the semester will go by smoothly. Let them know that you care how they are doing in their classes, and encourage them to strive for that A. We, as mentors, should always be keeping their best interest in mind. If you’re not sure what to do with a certain situation, GO ASK FOR HELP. You don’t need to solve all the problems by yourself.

I’m sorry if some of this seems a little incoherent, or it seems to jump. I am a little tired right now, and my brain is starting to slow down. I hope you all enjoy the weather, and I will see you on Tuesday.

Happy Valentines Day!!

Defining Roles

Well, during this week off we read about defining roles. I think this is one of the more important chapters in this book. Knowing what your relationship is/should be with your students is very important. The book list five roles of being a peer mentor, and I think they are pretty spot on. During my previous year as a mentor, I know I was all of these at some point in time. You might even be one of these to certain students while being something different to other ones. Not all the students are the same, and not all of them need the same things. Some will need more guidance, while others just need someone to talk to every once in a while.

The first role they talk in the book is about being a trusted friend. This is a hard thing to be during the beginning of the year. The students really don’t know who we are, and they haven’t had time to build up trust with us yet. Part of the reason we started going on the retreat earlier in the semester is for that reason. We noticed that the students are building closer bonds with each other and with the mentors on the retreat, even if it is earlier in the semester. This helps out with the flow of your class for the rest of the class. You will notice a difference in the class dynamics after the retreat, I know I did. However, after you build up trust with your students and they feel they can come to you asking advice or asking help with some problems. Personally, last semester I had a student who was in a relationship but their significant other (or SO for short) was still in high school. They were worried about their relationship lasting and trying to convince their SO to come to Iowa State. I just so happened to have a similar experience during my freshman year, so I was able to give them advice and reassurance. It was only later in the semester, after there was a great deal of trust, that the student approached me about their worries. I think I helped with the situation, and we grew as friends. Also, it just so happens that the student and I still talk on a regular basis.

The next topic the book talks about is being a connecting link. By default we should all, as mentors, be a connecting link. Within the class, the students are supposed to attend activities such as Club Fest. Also, some of the topics we will cover in our classes’ next semester deal directly with other organizations. So, inadvertently we are being a connecting link as long as we are doing what we are supposed to do. However, we still need to be available for students if they are ever in need of assistance with anything. We, as mentors, do not have to solve all their problems. Many of the organizations on campus deal specifically with some of the problems the students could have. We just need to be there to guide them where they need to go.

Being a learning coach is the next thing the book talks about. It just so happens that we will also cover topics that relate directly to this next semester. We will talk to the students about time management, study skills, note taking, learning styles, and everything else it takes to transitions successfully from a high school student to a college student. What I found to be the most effective, along with making them aware of the material, is to share your own experiences. Tell them how you study best for an exam. Tell them when and where you usually work on homework. Tell them how much their lives are going to suck when they can’t get any sleep. I felt that the students were more receptive of what we were talking about when we were sharing our own experiences. Also, be honest. The students will trust you more when they know that you are being truthful, and not just saying what they want to hear. My students knew when I only got 2 hours of sleep, or no sleep at all, the night before our class. I didn’t try to paint a pretty picture of college. College is hard work, and if you want to succeed, it isn’t going to be easy.

I sort of feel that being a student advocate is similar to being a connecting link. You need to be aware of what the student’s options are, and where to send them for help. When in doubt about what to do, just ask Silas, Allie, or Debra. They are all willing to help with any situation. Last semester I had a student who was regularly skipping class, and not getting his work done. My co-mentor and I tried several times to contact them about the issues they were having, but to no avail. So, we went to Allie and Silas. They assessed the situation, and took matters into their own hands. We, my co-mentor and I, were kept in the loop on the student’s current status, and were able to give some help during our own class time. So, the moral here is: Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

The last topic the book covers is on being a peer leader. It talks about leading by example. You are older and hopefully wiser than the students, and they know that. They should look to for advice on certain situations. We already went through the transition to college, and we survived. To disagree with the book a little, I don’t think it should always be about leading by example. Sometimes we make mistakes, and what is important is that we, and the students, learn from them. So basically, do as a say and not as I do (but only on some situations). Also, in order to be a leader, you need to set a good example on certain subjects. One in particular is drinking. We will be talking about this in class sometime, so I’m going to skip it for now.

Overall, you really need to be all five of these things with your students. Some might take a while to establish, and others might come just by leading the class. It all depends on the students. The best thing you can do is to be adaptable, and be ready for the unexpected. You never know who is going to walk through those classroom doors.

UST 311 Peer Mentor retreat!

UST 311 Peer Mentor retreat!

MBTI

Well here we are another week into the semester, and things don’t seem to be slowing down. This past week in 311 we discussed, with Debra, our Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBIT) results. However, this year was the first year that the peer mentors were able to take the second form of the test, which goes a little more in depth than the first. It breaks the standard eight traits down further into five more categories each. Therefore, instead of just having four letters to define ourselves, we now have twenty traits that define who we are.

This dives so much deeper into who we are and why we do the things we do. Understanding this is the key to success here at college and in life. The only way to improve upon ourselves is to analyze our mistakes and learn from them. It would be quite hard to learn from a mistake if you don’t know why you made, or simple that you made one at all. You will hear numerous times in this class that you learn from thinking. This might sound very logical and easy to do. However, when you get into a routine and do the same things week in and week out, you never stop and take time to think about what you are doing and why you are doing it. The purpose of these blogs is for that very reason, to give us a time to reflect on what we are doing and learn from it.

Personally, I got a lot out of the blogs last year. I had never really done anything like this prior to Hixson. My freshman year we didn’t have to write a blog, so it was all new to me. I never used to take time out of my day and think though what I was doing, I would simply do. After awhile I noticed that I was taking more and more time to reflect on my daily routine and the way I did a lot of things. I made a lot of changes in my life last year, and almost all were for the better. I know this class will open your eyes to a lot of things, as it did for me last year. I cannot wait to see what changes are in store for me this time around!

P.S. Despite what it might have sounded like in a previous post, I will really miss Allie when she is off in the “real world” after she graduates J

Second Meeting

Well we are officially getting in full swing with the semester. Classes are getting harder and assigning homework. Meetings are filling my schedule along with the extra time spent on projects. Oh the joys of school.

This past week we went through chapter two in the book. The topic of this chapter is helping students transition from high school to college. The one thing that stood out to me was the list of things that are different from high school to college. It really is important to bring up all of these things with our classes next semester. Even though you might not have had troubles with certain things, doesn't mean that won't either. You have to assume that between all of your students that at least one will have problems somewhere along the line. You never know what to expect, so being prepared for anything is the biggest thing to do.

Greg and Josh lead the session last night, and I think they both did a wonderful job. I really liked the Skittle activity. It got everyone involved while eating candy, which is never a bad thing. It was nice to hear what everyone had to say, and how they felt on certain issues. I already feel that new friendships are forming, and can't wait to for the end of the semester to see how they will grow.

The Start of a New Year

After reading chapter 1, there are a few things that I think are important to remember for the Fall. One of the biggest is knowing what we are here to do. In the chapter they contrast the role of a tutor and a peer mentor in a nice list of bullet points. After my experience of being both a tutor and peer mentor last semester, I have to agree with all of the points. We are not here to lecture the students about actual course material, we are here to guide them through the transition to college while answering question they might have along the way. Also, at the end of the chapter there is a list of responsibilities of a mentor. They are all important, but the two that I think are most important are: be optimistic and reflect often. Just like in the fish movie, you need to choose to be upbeat and happy and "be there" for the students everyday. Another key element is to reflect often. What worked best last semester, for me and my co-mentor, was to have a talk about the previous class. What went well, what kept the students engaged, what didn't go the way we thought, and how can we improve upon what we did. This is important if you are going to have a successful semester within your section.

I am very excited to get to know all of the fellow mentors! It's weird thinking back to a year ago and trying to imagine when all of the past mentors hardly knew each other. Then thinking about the end of last semester and how much our relationships have grown over that year. I'm excited to start over with new people and build new relationships this semester and next Fall.