Resources

This week was Christina's and my turn to lead class.  It gave me great insight in how our classroom is going to work next year. It also made me realize how hard it is to wait seven seconds for everybody to think about the question and come up with an answer. The silence is kind of awkward for a while but I think that it will get better and become less awkward. Teaching our lesson plan that we thought would only take 20 minutes was an eye-opener because it took way longer than we had estimated. In reality, our lesson plan was way too long because we were not able to ask more of our discussion questions, but it would be a perfect lesson plan for a 50 minute class period! I think as a peer mentor, we should know most of the resources here at Iowa State because it is important for your students to feel comfortable going to you and knowing you will have the answer (most of the time anyways) or be able to refer them to the right place, but always being willing to sit down with them and look with them is a good option; it will help you bond with your student and also learn something new! I also like Amy's idea about bad versus good experiences with resources. Just because you have a bad experience with a resource doesn't mean it is going to be that way the next time, so just being open and willing to give your resources more than one try will help one stay more open minded and probably be more willing to refer someone to that resource.

ISCORE and Etiquette Dinner

I attended the first-generation students experience session at the ISCORE conference. I thought it was a good session because it had real students sharing their experiences, but I do have one comment against it. They talked a lot about how they did not know how to do anything like sign up or apply for scholarships and how they did not have any friends and they felt like they did not belong at Iowa State. First, I think almost everyone that goes to some new place and feels that way when they first get to Iowa State. My dad went to college but he is not a computer person and he was not able to help me with anything, we were both in the dark. When I got to Iowa State, I had the same feelings and anxieties like the first-generation students experienced. I was shy and did not feel like I was able to connect with the people on my floor. I did not feel like I belonged at Iowa State and some days I still have that feeling. This session made it seem like first-generation students are the only ones that experience that so I am a little unsure about the session.

The etiquette dinner was awesome! I think it was a really good idea because it will come in handy when going on a dinner interview especially because they are becoming more popular. I thought the food was great and so was Ardy Rohr (I hope I spelled her name right). She was very helpful and informative. I also like how she gave us tips about interviews that her daughter has recently experienced. I still don't like that you can't mix your vegetables, rice, and chicken together but I guess I'll have to suck it up for my interview! But until then, I'm still going to mix it all! Yum!!