For the record....

HI ALL,

So this last week we talked a lot about campus resources and what to do if something came up in our classes. I think it is good to cover such things in class but I was thinking and was just wondering if we should set a boundary on when we should involve ourselves or when we pass it on to another resource. I know we should use our best judgment given the situation but I know each of us would handle certain situations differently.

For example, with my experiences back home with my family and friends with drug problems I have recently taken a pretty strong stand on this whole against drug thing and not been very sympathetic with that fact that some people do just need help and that they can't control themselves. My girlfriend recently had to yell at me to be quiet because I, as she put it, am a very protective person and when I see friends in a bad position I get myself involved to the point where it becomes a problem. I feel another peer mentor would be able to handle a situation like this a lot better than I would and was trying to think of a way to set a standard on how we should deal with such things.

Any Ideas?


Thanks,
Kris

ISCORE

Why yes! I did forget to post this after I typed it and it has just been sitting dormant for all of about a month.

This was the second year I had gone to ISCORE and yet again I enjoyed every minute of it. I was able to go to two events, Hannah's presentation on Latinos in America and the Minorities in Athletics panel.

Hannah first off I would just like to say that you did a great job and that you were definitely the expert on all the information that was in your presentation. I went to a similar presentation that I co-mentor was presenting on and it was more about illegal immigrants and how the system for immigration is so messed up. The example they used was on the Postville plant Agriproducts which is only about 20 minutes from my house so I found it very interesting. Hannah's presentation which gave a look into the lives of Latinos in America which was a whole different approach to the presentation I went to last year. Instead of talking about how sad it is for the way latinos are treated or talk about how they need to get out of the country, Hannah and her fellow presenters decided to just learn about them and their families. All around this was really interesting and look forward to future sessions like this one.

The second session I went to was on minorities in athletics here at Iowa State. I had already known a decent amount about what athletes had to go through to play sports because I had tutored a few athletes and have friends in the athletic program. The one preconception that I did have though was on how much the football team does for school. I had known a couple football players and based all my ideas of their study habits on them which apparently is not the case. All in all I learned a little bit from this session but this session was more for fun because I knew someone on the panel then for learning.

ISCORE was yet again a very enjoyable experience and in the future I will probably end up attending it even if it is not required. I will definitely recommend this to my students next year.

Thanks,
Kris

Working together

Hey all,



Yet again another fantastic class. Hopefully the weather will be that nice again so we can spend some more time enjoying the weather during class. Chelsee and Matt had a great discussion starter and it was fun watching everyone act out there words. I just have to brag a little bit and say our group was the only one who got the word right, thanks to Josh.

When we did our decision making activity I was a little surprised that I had a pretty high number on avoidant decision making. I think this is just because I wait till the very last minute to make sure I have looked at every possibility. Also it showed that I was a dependant decision maker, I don't like the way this is worded, I usually make decisions by myself but because I always think that I don't look at all the possibilities so I always run my ideas/decisions past my family and friends to see what they think.

Can't wait to see everyone this week. I think our group is getting really close and I am really looking forward to next year.

Peace!
Kris

Awkward Situation

So forever ago we talked about situations that for the majority would be a little challenging for any of us to deal with. These would be where we run into our students at parties, students are attracted to you or the other way around, etc. The only situation I ever had to deal with was one student had asked me to buy alcohol for them the weekend I turned 21 which was pretty easy to deal with because I just said no. I've always thought that if I ever encountered anything that is out of the ordinary between myself and one of the students that I'd be able to handle it well because I don't see the situation ever as awkward.

Lauren brought up the drug issue at the end of class and I thought about it a little afterwards. When I was in high school I had a lot of friends that smoked pot and would always want me to as well. I only ever tried it once and never did it again. This gives me some extra experience that most of us don't have. I've seen the goods and bads of drugs, I have friends that are doing great now that smoke pot and I have friends that are still living off of their parents or are in trouble with the law. I also had a parent that was an addict and this is probably the reason why my family is in poverty now. So if any of you have any questions on this touchy subject I am sure I would be able to help.
Thanks,
Kris

Role Modeling

So the whole role modeling thing is one of those things I just do naturally and really is something everyone, if they do it right, does naturally. This was my mentality with my students last semester, I figured if I felt I was a good enough person that I didn't need to act in a certain way in class, I was just myself. Considering most of the students had added me to Facebook I really couldn't act fake around them because even though I would monitor what I would put on Facebook my friends weren't so nice.

Considering most of us were selected to be peer mentors because we are already good role models kind of makes becoming a role model redundant and we more or less have to maintain being a role model. The one thing that I still do with my students is be real with them and like we talked about earlier this semester, you don't have to tell your students the full truth but give them a taste of what you think will help them.

I've always been considered a role model since I was younger so I guess this stuff comes easy to me. In my hometown it is absolutely impossible to be fake with someone because everyone knows you and your family so the only thing you can do is be you. Being a role model and being a peer mentor go hand in hand with the Hixson program because we get to know the students closer than most programs do, so I consider being a role model is a must.

Kris

ps.....sorry this is late I accidentally just saved it and didn't post it

A few things I have noticed these past weeks

So after reading Chapter 9 in the book I can definitely tell personally how your emotions affect your study habits. These past few weeks my personal life could be said to be less than par and I can tell that this has effected my studying and my grades. This past week however things have begun to turn around and in the past 3 days I have done 2 weeks worth of homework, which is being pretty productive to say the least.

Okay I have to admit I didn't fully read the chapter but did anyone else notice how this chapter seems to go way to far into the science of learning? I'm usually one to want to know the science behind things which is kind of why I am a mechanical engineer but this just seemed to be a little much.

I am really impressed with the way this class is going compared to last year. Everyone seems a lot closer than where we were at last year and I this makes class even that much more fun to go to.

Awareness

Last week we were talking about self-awareness and talked about our values. This I found one of the hardest things to do because it is very hard for me to rank my values. I feel everything is very important to me so I didn't want to put a number to it and when talking to everyone else they felt the same way. Also, I feel that my values change with time, on certain days certain values are more important than others and on some days certain values don't even matter to me or are unaffected.

On my list in class I had put my friends above my family and the only reason I do this is because almost all my friends come to me with their problems and ask for help and my family doesn't. I think the best way I can state how I feel about this is that my friends are an active value and my family is a passive value. I look out for both but one takes a little more work.