Kayla and Courtney did a great job presenting the information about academic success and the different factors that go into that. I hadn't thought about the different things that affect how I succeed academically or my study habits. I think that some of the key things that I took away from it is that you can't just judge someone by their academic success because you don't always know what went into their past or circumstances that made them that way. As peer mentors we are going to have to work with different students that have come from different things and surround themselves with different environments. As mentors we are going to have to try to identify those things and how we can help them improve given the things that we can't change. I know that coming in as a freshman I realized that it was hard for me to study, but I didn't recognize why it was so hard for me. It took some people outside of the situation to help me improve my study habits and that is one thing that I can't wait to do for the incoming first year students.
Another thing that I learned is just to look at my past and how that is constantly affecting who I am today. I tend to just forget the past or just not see how it has shaped me. After this week and discussion I had a chance to just sit back and really examine every part about me and what possibly could have affected it. I am going to really emphasize to my first year students how important it is to reflect on their past and more importantly to look at who they are, every aspect of their life, and see what made them that way.
Before reading the chapter I did not realize how the different environmental factors affect our success. I also had a hard time studying my fresshmen year because I did not have to study in high school and there are a lot more fun things to do around campus. As peer mentor, we can use what we learned to help the incoming students.
ReplyDeleteI agree that sometimes it takes friends to help you improve yourself when you are in a situation that you have no choice over. I also think helping the freshmen recognize these problems and figure out a solution early on will help them in the long run of college.
ReplyDeleteYour comment about analyzing your past is very true. I knew that my past would be different from many students' backgrounds coming to Iowa State, but I was not at all prepared for just how diverse my peers would be. A huge part of adjusting to Iowa State was realizing that people face many different situations, and I can't judge them based on one aspect of their lives such as academics. It was also interesting to think about where my motivation comes from and what has shaped me.
ReplyDeleteSam,
ReplyDeleteAwesome post!! I know that in the past I have had a hard time 'not judging a book by it's cover' as you could say, when it comes to meeting people. I definitely think that this stems from coming from a small town where everyone is pretty much the same race, socioeconomic status, etc. Coming to college has helped me to work on this fault since I am exposed to more diversity than I ever have been. I think in the final few years of college I will be exposed to even more different types of people.
See you in class,
Makayla