The Flip Side!

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” 
-Charles Dickens

This week I got to be on the flip side of recitation when Katie and I led our very first seminar! I must say that once we got there, I was not nearly as nervous as I thought I might be! It was really nice to have had the lesson plans figured out in advance and to have feedback from Chelsee and Allie! For those of you still planning--definitely take full advantage of their advice because it is super helpful!!

So, this week's topic was helping relationships and interpersonal communication. The text, Students Helping Students, names some characteristics of a helping relationship that are very insightful. I think the list does a really good job of highlighting skills in a way that helped me understand the skills I already have and those I need to further develop I think that the characteristics that stick out to me as ones I have the most experience with are communication and interaction, feelings, and collaborative effort. These are the most familiar to me because of activities that I have been involved in (or am currently involved in). I have have a lot of communication experience (as a journalism major, that's shocking, I know) and I feel that being empathetic of other's feelings comes pretty naturally to me. As a tutor, I know that the best way to make progress in many situations is to have every individual making an effort, so collaboration is key for helping relationships to take place. It's all about the give and take!

Skills that I feel I need to pay more attention to are making sure I'm approachable and secure, showing a clear structure, and helping produce change. For me, these are the most difficult aspects of a helping relationship. I find that I sometimes get sidetracked by my own problems, and that's not an option in a helping relationship. I know I said in class that I won't talk to someone who I feel is struggling with personal problems because I don't want to compound their stress by adding my problems to theirs. This being said, I want to make sure that I keep and problems I may have completely separate from those helping relationships. A clear structure is also a little difficult for me to follow, but that is mostly because I tend to find tangents in conversation and get off topic. This can be avoided if I make a conscious effort to focus on the problem at hand, an that will help my efforts more effectively produce change as well!

I had a lot of fun at the retreat today! See you all in class on Wednesday!