Last Blog...WHAT?

          Already Dead Week and I have no idea how we got here so fast.
         Freshman year, which seems like it was just yesterday, I felt like my peer mentors were so much older, wiser, and really had this whole college thing figured out. I also remember thinking, I want to be one of them someday! And while we may not have it all put together all the time, I definitely am feeling like our group as a whole will be great peer mentors this fall; these freshmen are lucky to have us. ;)
              I think hearing from the panel last week made everything a lot more real, but it was good to hear more about Brooke and Josh's experience their first time around as well as Megan's two experience. The biggest thing that I took away from the panel was getting to hear about some of the issues that arise. I was surprised to hear that there were many that dealt with butting heads with their co-leader. I'm definitely like Megan where I avoid conflict and try my best to compromise at any and all costs so I'm hoping my flexibility will help me avoid any problems like that. However, even with some issues, it seemed as though everyone ended up enjoying each of their co-leaders and I'm sure I will be the same. I'd love to work with any of you this fall!
            Another thing that I liked hearing about was how each of them went about planning their lesson plans because they were all so different. I now have three ideas that my co-leader and I can decide to use or maybe collaborate a couple of them together. I really liked the idea of always finishing the lesson plan that was due for the week and coming up with a backbone, at the least, for the week after. I think that will be great for when there are weeks when one, or both, of us are absolutely swamped with other things. I could also see myself using Josh and his partner's system and leaving it more opened ended in terms of time. While there are some things that I can do under pressure, I learned this fall that lesson planning is not one of them! I started mine early on which allowed me to randomly think of activities or new information that I had left out.
       All and all, this semester has been a blast! I definitely got a lot out of it, including lots of new friends! I'm really looking forward to the fall and meeting the students of my group, but right now, all I can think of is finding out who I get to work with! Hurry up Thursday!

Peer Mentor in Higher Education

        How is it already the end of the semester?! Each of us has done a fantastic job of leading a section out of Students Helping Students and last week was no exception. I thought the discussion of chapter 11 was a great way to wrap up the book and provide some final information to think about before hearing from the panel of former Hixson Peer Mentors this week.

      First off, the discussion of our interactions with our former peer mentors, whether it was our CAs, our learning community peer mentors, or our Hixson peer mentors, was insightful in hearing what went well with them and what did not. For the most part, I had great peer mentors my freshman year between my Hixson peer mentors and my learning community peer mentors. My Hixson Peer Mentors were very professional and I always felt like they were a great example to follow and knew a lot about the Iowa State community. One of my learning community peer mentors was particularly good at making herself available to me. We e-mailed often and even had a one-on-one meeting to discuss summer jobs. She even gave me the contact information for one of her bosses, knowing they would be looking to hire that summer. I credit them for helping me survive the big transition between high school and college. It's nice to get to see them on campus every once in awhile and let them know that things are still going good.

       On the other hand, I'm not going to say my CA was a horrible peer mentor, but he definitely didn't establish the most professional relationship with a lot of his residents. I was friends with him and thought of him as just that, a friend, not exactly someone I would go to for help if I had a concern. I think this goes to show how important it is to maintain that professional-level relationship with our students and not just become a part of their circle of friends. 

     My favorite part of the class, however, was going around to each peer mentor and having them mention one thing that we would like to provide for our students or one thing that we would like to get out of our experience as a peer mentor. Some of the things were already mentioned in my mission statement, but there were new ones that I hadn't thought of that I thought were perfect, like the "creation of a small family." My section became very close early on with the help of the retreat during the first weekend. We would often get lunch or dinner together before classes. I still talk to a few of them regularly and see a lot of them on campus! 

        One of the main reasons that I decided to come to be a peer mentor was because I had such a positive experience my freshman year and I was missing the participation and connections to the Hixson Program. As peer mentors, I think we've already began to connect with one another and I foresee that continuing through the fall as we help each other become the best peer mentors for our own students. 

      I'm looking forward to Thursday to see which one of you I get to work with more this fall! 

Ethics for Good Practice

         I really enjoyed last week's discussion and think it might be one of the most important of the whole semester. Each of the 12 principles that the book outlined are critical for our success as peer mentors. I think the most important thing for each of us to remember is that when we signed up to be peer mentors, we signed on to being a positive role model for our students and should always present ourselves in that way, even if this means that a Friday night out needs to be cut short because you spot one of your students at a house party that you're at as well.
        Some of the issues that we talked about seemed a little more out there than others, but it was nice to know in advance that some wild things do happen. I think it would be difficult to work in some of the conditions that we talked about like having a student hit on you or having students within your section begin relationships, but I think they can all be worked through if we as peer mentors establish a level of profession at the beginning of the semester. This includes remaining unbiased, not having favorites, and keeping things confidential.
        My favorite thing that was said during class was, "Up, not Out" in regards to the confidentiality policy. While we were going through some of the situations, I was a little confused on what our job was, but that summed it up great. When I was a freshman I would have been comfortable telling my peer mentors anything knowing that the only people they would talk to, if needed, would be people above them who would only be there to help more.
       Going back to the level of profession that I talked about earlier, I think it's important that we also own up to our own mistakes if a situation should ever arise. It would be really embarrassing and I pray that I am never in a situation where I would need to, but I would talk to my students and first of all, apologize for not portraying myself as a positive role model. Sure, it would be really awkward like we all said in class, but I think it would serve as a learning opportunity for the students as well as for myself. I really don't anticipate this happening, but at least now I've thought about what I would do if it did.
       Finally, I'm really glad we made that pledge for quality service, great activity Liz and Kim! I thought we came up with a great list and it will be a good reminder to have this fall if our ethics are ever tested. As peer mentors, we're not here to tell our students what to do and what not to do; we're not their parents. We just need to do our best to be as ethical and smart as we can because as they say actions speak louder than words!