Resources: The 9th Wonder of the Worldet

Last week, Laura Wentworth and I taught a learning session on strategies for academic success. Overall, I feel the lesson went well. We were able to get our points across, and Laura and I worked well together. One of the issues that people felt we should work on was that our instructions needed to be clearer. This makes sense as I now realize that we might have been vague in what we were looking for. I hope to work on this so that when I teach a recitation next semester, I can help all the students understand what I am trying to say. I feel that this lesson has prepared me for next semester, but I also understand that I have a lot to learn before then.

For this week, we had to read Chapter 9 in Students Helping Students. This chapter was about resources and referring to resources which is what I think a big part of the peer mentor role is about. One important point from the chapter was that today’s world is changing, and our idea of age has to change as well. Instead of using years, we should use days. The book recommended the website http://www.peterrussell.com/odds/worldclock.php. There I found that I could expect to live to about the age of 78, and that I am 7171 days old. One other thing I learned from this chapter is that there are important factors that go into understanding when and how to refer to resources. For example, if you need to know when to refer to someone to a resource, you must first listen to them. You must also understand your own abilities, so that you can understand if you have the ability to help a student. You must also consider that you may not know the student’s needs and that they may need to seek a counselor. I like this point as it helps avoid mistakes. You wouldn’t want to recommend a resource if you cannot clearly define a student’s issue.

I consider providing resources the easiest and best part of being a peer mentor. It will require some work as I still am unacquainted with some parts of this college. A great example of how to fulfill this part of being a peer mentor was provided to me while I was a first year Hixson. My peer mentors did a great job of helping me find the right resources for some of my problems on campus. I hope I can do just as great a job of them when I get the opportunity to do this next fall.