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!
I can't believe our sophomore year of college is almost over either! It's crazy to think it was about two years ago that we met our own peer mentors! I agree that hearing about the lesson planning was very helpful to hear about. I think getting a head start on these is very important to how well they will turn out. I am counting down until Thursday! I can't wait to find out either! :)
ReplyDeleteNicole,
ReplyDeleteThe semester has flown by as usual. We definitely need to learn to enjoy our time while we are here.
I liked your comment about how you thought your peer mentors were so much older and wiser than yourself when you were a freshman. You may not realize it now, but you are most likely just as organized as they were when they were peer mentors.
I also learned a lot from the panel and I thought each peer mentor had something useful to say, especially in regards to lesson plans. I will definitely be using Google Doc for my lesson plans for the next semester as it seemed to work well when Katie and I wrote our lesson plan this semester. I also thought that Josh and his co-leader found a cool way to hang out and write their lesson plan together.
See you in class,
Shawn