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.

Learn about yourself

So last week we did Myers-Briggs. This was my 4th time doing it so I'm pretty positive about my type now. It was kind of interesting because this is the first time this many people were the same type as me. Also, I found it kind of funny that Taylor and I had the same type, coincidence? I think not. No wonder we got along so good as kids. We have a lot of introverts in our group this year too so I guess I'm going to have to work on being quiet so other people have a chance to talk. I feel I've been doing a good job at this so far because I want to allow the first-timers a chance to input and learn.

I'm still working on getting everyone together outside of class but I've been so busy with classes and such that it's been hard. I dropped a class last week however though so I will hopefully find some time to work on planning something.

Relationships

Hi All,

Building relationships with the students is what I would have to say the first step in our mentoring process. This can be really easy with most of the students you will have and be a big challenge with some of the other ones. Of course it is easiest to build a relationship with students that have common interests and situations, especially ones with similar majors because they will come to you asking about classes. Right now I still talk to on a daily basis four of my students, a couple of them because I help them with classes, and the other two because I just built a good friendship with them.

Because of a few situations that I have seen from last year I feel I need to address a few things. First, that it is not okay to have a personal(in a boyfriend/girlfriend sense) with a student while they are part of the seminar class. For my sake I will say this wasn't me but I did see that this creates a ton of problems and extra baggage that is not necessary. Just avoid it. Second, students might happen to ask you to buy alcohol for them if you are of age. This is obviously very wrong, the best way to approach the situation would be to remind them of your position and why you are around.

These situations can make most people very uncomfortable and many people tend to go a little overboard when dealing with such things. My best advice would be to handle it in a way that is discrete and makes sense, try not to blow things out of proportion just because your uncomfortable and your emotions get involved.

By now I'm sure everyone can see that my writing can be a bit sporadic and hard to understand. I do my best and feel that if I just type what I think I don't sensor anything. Let me know if this becomes a problem.


Thanks,
Kris