Fin

'I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older; then it dawned on me - they're cramming for their final exam." -George Carlin

Finals week........so we meet again.

Class was bittersweet this week! I'm really glad we all shared our plans for the summer--can't wait to come back in the fall and find out how everything went for everyone! The charades game was fun--thanks for that Chelsee! Also, we may need to work on Allie's charade skills!!

Looking back on the semester, I have definitely learned a lot! I am so glad we got to know each other well and we will have so much fun in the fall putting our skills and training to good use! The book was very helpful and gave some great hints and I'm glad to have a portfolio with some lesson plans ready to go as well! (p.s.-when are we supposed to hand in our books? Did I miss the memo?Should I be expecting a reminder email from Chelsee?...shucks.)

Good luck with finals this week everyone! I have no doubt that as a group we will thoroughly kick some butt! :) Have a happy summer and see you all in the fall!!!

AHHHHH! Pairings!

“It’s only when we can work with something that brings out our strengths that we’re of any real use.”
― Henning Mankell, The Fifth Woman

This week we finally found out our pairings for next fall and.....(drumroll please!) I am paired with Sir Tyler Main! The fall should be awesome and our mentees will for sure get a full perspective on journalism (we may start a newspaper out of our section, no big deal.) The puzzle for the reveal was really clever and cute! I think we're all matched up really well! The discussion on Facebook was also pretty grand!

Wednesday's class also featured the revealing of our final product for DST and it turned out great! Thanks everyone for all the hard work you put in!

The previous peer mentor panel was a really informative discussion. I learned a lot about what to expect (ANYTHING) and how I can prepare myself! It was great to have their perspective! It was great to be able to ask them questions and see how they all still connected with one another!

The retreat yesterday was awesome--thanks again to Allie for hosting all of us! P.s.--you have the most adorable dog ever! It was great to be able to relax outside with everyone in the beautiful weather! It was a really laid back retreat and we all got to relax and bond--that's really important going into the summer....plus, you know, the two truths and a lie game was kind of a bombshell...so yeah. :)
I'm excited for the details of the fall retreat to take shape and for the summer read!

See you all in class Wednesday (or tomorrow night at van training!)

Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership

"A woman has to be intelligent, have charm, a sense of humor, and be kind. It's the same qualities I require from a man."
Catherine Deneuve


Well, here we are! So close to the end of the semester! It's gone by so quickly!

This week we were asked by Chelsee to blog about a paper we read titled, "Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership" by Daniel Goleman and Richard Boyatzis. The paper pointed to 7 qualities that help make a good leader. They are: empathy, attunement, organizational awareness, influence, developing others, inspiration, and teamwork. 

Two qualities of social intelligence that I feel I excel at are attunement and organizational awareness. I feel that I naturally am aware of how people are feeling most of the time and I adjust my demeanor to fit their needs. I often find that the emotions of others influence how I feel so I make an active effort to keep in mind why that person might be feeling that way. Organizational awareness is a skill that I have developed a lot more in college. I have had many experiences working with diverse groups at Iowa State and that has given me a lot of perspective on how to handle different cultures and what their norms or feelings on different topics may be. Living with two Chinese roommates this semester has definitely put those skills to the test in my day-to-day life. 

One characteristic of social intelligence that I feel I can improve is influence. I feel that I have the ability to influence others but most of my training for my career teaches me to remain objective and not try to persuade people to one viewpoint over another. I think I can use influence as a peer mentor, however, as long as I remember that I can influence the first-year Hixsons to begin their experience at Iowa State in a positive way. 

Glad we finished up filming today! Hope everyone had a happy VEISHEA!

Ethics and etiquette!

A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.

-Albert Camus

 

This week were were asked to blog about the five ethics qualities that are most important to us from Students Helping Students. Here are my 5:

1. "When in doubt--consult1"
This principle is very important to me because I know that our Hixson staff has a lot of expertise and if I ever have any questions I can go to them or refer students to them. It's really comforting to me to know that although I am chiefly responsible for helping students, I have a great network of support!

2. "Knowing and managing your emotional response, while helping another, is crucial to your own well-being and to your ability to help."
I think of myself as a very empathetic person and I can imagine that during two-on-ones next fall I could hear some information from students that is very different than what I had imagined based on seeing them in class. Knowing that I need to be able to control my reactions is important both as a peer mentor and as a journalist, so that's a skill that I find really important.

3. "Take responsible action if you learn about illegal behavior."
We talked about this one in class quite a bit, but I think it's really important to remember our role as professionals as well as educators.

4. "Remember that as a peer educator, you are a role model!"
This one is obviously VERY important! I can't imagine trusting or confiding in someone I knew was acting irresponsibly in some aspect of their life, so it's important that the mentees know I am a responsible and respectful person whom they can confide in!

5. "Show respect and dignity for other individuals."
Kind of going back to #4, being respectful and responsible is literally crucial to our role as peer mentors, we have to be role models in our actions as well as our words, and that means treating everyone with dignity and respect, regardless of the situation.

The etiquette dinner was super fun tonight! It was great seeing everyone in a semi-relaxed atmosphere! Plus I picked up tons of useful tips that just might help me land a job someday!

Resources

"What's right about America is that although we have a mess of problems, we have great capacity--intellect and resources--to do something about them."
-Henry Ford

This week Megan and Jess led an awesome lesson on academic resources! Since I just put together a lesson plan for that same topic, it was really great to see their ideas!

I really liked the discussion about academic resources that we all know that are available at ISU! We got quite the list going on the board! I like to think that I know an awful lot about our campus since it is sort of my duty to be able to answer random questions giving tours for the Office of Admissions. But......I have to admit that there were a handful up there that I wasn't so familiar with. That's a great example of how it's hard to know everything about Iowa State. I remember that my peer mentors freshman year were great about letting us know about resources related to our discussion topic each week. I thought that was a great way to educate us about resources on campus because instead of getting information overload we learned a little each week. It was also nice that if we had questions about resources that hadn't been discussed in class yet we could always go to our peer mentors for advice!

I also loved the game that you guys put together! Cute power point, I know you must have put some serious time into that! It was appreciated! Too bad we ran out of time at the end (especially since Cole, Kat, and I were winning!)

I'm looking forward to the etiquette dinner later this month and DST filming THIS WEEK! Whoo! I hope everyone had a very happy Easter and enjoyed the absolutely beautiful weather as much as I did!! See ya'll in class!

Academic Success & the Harlem Shake

"A single conversation across the table with a wise person is worth a month's study of books."
-Chinese proverb

This week we started out seminar with a serious discussion about the Harlem Shake videos that are flooding the web and how people who are actually from Harlem feel about them. I thought this was a very timely and relevant discussion considering ISCORE was just a couple weeks ago and diversity has been a main point of discussion among peer mentors.

After watching the news reports and videos, I can see both sides of the argument regarding the Harlem Shake videos. It is not an easy topic for all of us to come to an agreement on but for that reason I think it serves as a fantastic example of how we have to be able to respect others even though we may not agree with them at all. I really enjoyed that we could have a serious and mature discussion about the video, too!

Now, a huge congrats is in order for Shelby and Stephanie for leading such a great discussion after a serious discussion! I really liked that you guys used the VART test because it allowed each of us to recognize our own learning styles and each other’s. I was really impressed with how you guys included everyone so naturally by asking about their style and whether that was what they had guessed. I know people learn in a lot of different ways and it is definitely useful to learn about fellow peer mentor’s learning styles and a skill or test that would be fantastic for our students next fall! The ice breaker was also really fun! It was a really quick and easy way to learn about each other a little more!

Hope everyone is enjoying their spring break!

Ps-sorry if this posts weird, by internet is super slow! 

Leadership lessons!

"The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been."

— Henry Kissinger

This week's topic in UST 311 was leading groups effectively. Josh and Brady did a great job facilitating the discussion this week! I liked that they linked everything we discussed both to the text and to situations that we will likely encounter next fall! It really helped bring things full circle! I'm loving watching everyone's lesson plans evolve week to week and I can definitely see our group getting stronger and closer!

So the prompt Brady and Josh gave us for this week was to discuss whether we think leaders are born or made. After putting some thought into this topic I think I could go on and on about it, but I think that leaders are at the very least more often made then born. 

Here's my reasoning: I think that many people are born with talents that contribute to their leadership abilities, but that alone does not make you a leader. For example, some people are naturally great at making conversation or organizing their work. It's kind of like our MBTI skills, just a part of who you are. But here's the clincher: all those skills could be useless if you don't know how to properly apply them to real-life leadership situations. Becoming a leader is something that requires experience in my opinion. That's why it's so important that we take UST 311 this semester to refine the skills we all already possess! 

That's just my opinion but I'm interested to see what the rest of you think about this topic! Class this week made me reflect on that list of leadership skills we made in seminar earlier this semester, and I'm convinced that as a group we have all the bases covered! 

I had fun with everyone at the retreat today! I'm excited for the ice breakers that we didn't get to and to get the ball rolling with filming the DST project! And it's almost spring break! Hang in there everyone!