Actions Speak Louder Than Words!!

This past week’s lesson was about how the values you represent make you into the role model others see.  I feel that Amy and Rachel did a great job of making each one of us realize what values we showcase and which ones we are a little weaker at.  To start out we had to tell about one of our role models.  I picked my grandpa because even though I have a lot of people I look up to I feel that he is one of my all round greatest role models.  Throughout his life he always acted in a way that showed people he valued life, people, farming, and making everything around him better when he left.  In my mind he showed all 12 of the values we talked about, however the top four that he represented was purpose, perspective, dependability, and service.  He knew that his purpose was to farm, be a father/grandfather, and be an active community member.  Knowing he had reasonability to each of those areas he worked to make balance time for each of those areas.  Knowing he had a duty to his community made servicing others something he saw as part of life, not something to do just in his free time.  When it came to servicing others he would survey the scene to see where the most help could he used and he jumped in.  With his willingness to just jump right in, being dependable was something that just happened.  People always knew that they could depend on him if they needed help with something, someone to talk something over with, or just a friend to be with.  The value that is the most profound of my grandfather’s is the perspective he took on things.  Whenever there was a problem on the farm or in his life he viewed it as a chance to show growth in him has a person and the life he lived.  Not only did he act this way, but when I would have a problem and we would talk about it, he would always help me find a way to overcome the obstacle.  Even though he is gone now, I always know that if I can live a life like his I will be a role model to others like he was to me. 

          After thinking about my grandfather and doing the activity of picking a value that best describes and least describes you.  I realized once again that, yes all 12 values we talked about are important and we should pay attention to all of them.  However, being a role model is more about finding out who we are as an individual and not being afraid to stand up for what values we believe are important and representing those values through our actions and words.  One of those values I really want to represent is open-mindedness.  Seeing as the mentees along with each of us mentors are in a time in our life where everything is changing I believe that is it important to let go of the past and live in the moment.  We are in or entering into a stage in our life where the past should stick with us as memories, but we need to be willing to change and grow.  We need to be willing to change in grow, so we can get that career, family, and life style we each dream of.  I hope that through my actions I show that moving into a different stage of life is fun and exciting, not horrible or scary.  Through this process we will be coming into contact with many people, so the quote the girls chose from Jesse Jackson, “don’t look down on someone unless you are helping them up,” fits in well.  Each of us could learn something from everybody we come into contact with, so don’t looks down or you might miss the lesson.

Self Awareness!!

          This past week we talked about becoming self aware and helping mentees become self aware in their transition to college.  I would like to give a quick shout out to Anthony and Beth, good presentation and nice job getting everybody to open up.  This week’s readings and lesson was to understand that helping students become self aware comes from being able to ask questions and have lessons that make mentees think about themselves.  I think that the best way to help mentees become more self aware is by having a thought question for them to answer each class.  Also having a question about a different area of life each week for mentees to blog about would be another way to get them thinking.  Lastly, I believe that having lessons about each area of awareness would help students to thinking about themselves and if they are aware of themselves in that way.  I believe that thought questions having to do with how you view yourself in different areas and what things make you act a certain way will make mentees think about themselves.  Before I start helping others become more self aware I plan to develop better awareness of myself by researching resources available to me.  Secondly, I would like become more aware of how I physically present myself when around others.  I plan to do that by watching myself when around others and recognizing what I need to change.   Lastly, I believe an individual can always become more spiritual which I plan to do by becoming more active in my church and in bible studies.  Well it is time to sign off for now so see ya’ll in a couple days.

O Relationships!!

On Tuesday we had two groups and they both did a good job!!  The first group of Nick and Kelley they had the topic defining roles.  The second speaker group was Joey and Deb they discussed establishing and maintaining relationships, which is our topic of the week.  They had us do skits to show the different relationship situations we could get into next year.  They ranged from a student wanting more to a bad assistant mentor and ended with a drinking/mentee that wanted a personal relationship with a mentor.  When thinking about relationships I always just think about the relationship in the classroom and the positive relationship of helping and being there to help with the transition.  Seeing the skit about a assistant mentor that had a problem with time opened my eyes to the fact that being a mentor is a lot of responsibility and since we are put into groups of two it is important to be responsible yourself and also be willing to help your fellow mentor.  If we do this we will be a better team, which will help the mentees to have the best experience possible.  Now for mentees, it is important to be a role model and friend that they can talk to and trust in, however there is a line that we each need to be aware of.  This line is the line that keeps the relationships between us, the mentors, and the mentees working and going in the right direction.  This means we have to be responsible about the way we conduct ourselves in and out of the classroom, and if we get into sticky situations we just remove ourselves from the situation. 

Can’t wait to see everybody Tuesday!!   I hope all the mid-term tests went well and any still coming up good luck!!

2 speakers and a reading

It seems like forever since I have seen everybody!  

            Two Fridays ago I attended the “Underprepared vs. Underperforming” session of the Learning Institute.  During this session we discussed the differences between students underperforming verse underpreparing.  I thought it was very interesting to be in a group with teachers and students because it brought about a different view about students and how they perform in the classroom and what causes the behaviors students show.

            The next day I attended ISLE which I found to be very interesting because the “Date Doctor” was very entertaining to listen to and I had no voice so that was interesting also.  He had some very interesting views on relationships and tips about living life from day to day.  The little activity he had us do in the first session opened my eyes to how we relate with each other without even knowing it. 

            In the readings for this week, we learned about the many different roles we will have to play as we become a peer mentor and how important they are to those that we are mentoring.  One role that peer mentors play that I had never thought about, is being a trusted friend.  I knew it was important to be a friend, however I had never really thought about how important it is to be trusted.  If the mentees do not trust their mentors they will never go to them about anything or ask for help.  Something else I had never thought of as being something that would be important is the habits I have in my everyday life.  My study, work, thinking, and planning habits can have an effect on the relationship between me and my mentees, so I am going to start trying to make good habits now, so I don’t have to worry about it next year.