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.