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!