Diversity Event " A Thin Line"

Diversity Event "A Thin Line"

The diversity event I attended on Thursday, 28 Feb 2013 at 7:00 pm was an event called “A Thin Line.” The Thin Line is a story of one girl's struggle with her eating disorder and the struggles of those close to her in their efforts to understand and to help. This performance provides the audience with compassion, understanding, and the means to seek action against the deadly disease of eating disorders. During the skit or play, there are four characters the actress portrays. One character she portrays is a girl who is struggling with the illness. The other three characters are her internal negative voice, her mother, and a close friend. These character all help explore the realities of eating disorders.

First off I had no idea that there was such a coalition in Iowa. I also never really thought that eating disorders were so prevalent in today’s society. Looking through a couple of websites, I found out there is actually a week that is dedicated for spreading awareness about this disorder. It’s called the Body Image and National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. One question I had during the performance was how bad or common is this disorder. So after reading some information on different websites I found out that an eating disorder is a mental illness. I also found out that it has the highest fatality rate in this country. The research funds from 2011 that went towards eating disorder research were around 28 million. They continue to receive inadequate research funding.

              The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) is the leading non-profit organization in the United States advocating on behalf of and supporting individuals and families affected by eating disorders. Source: http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/get-facts-eating-disorders

Hixson Blog Post #11

Hixson Blog Post #11

Wow already the end of the semester!

Today’s blog post will include a reading we had to do for Chelsee. The title of the article was, "Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership" by Daniel Goleman and Richard Boyatzis. empathy, attunement, organizational awareness, influence, developing others, inspiration, and teamwork, were the 7 qualities that were pointed out in the paper. Our question was to describe two of those qualities we were good at and one quality we were can improve on.

Two qualities of social intelligence that I feel I am good at are teamwork and attunement. I work well with people. I almost prefer to work in a group of people than by myself. I feel like most of college you will be required to work in groups. There are also many opportunities that you are able to be a team leader throughout your college career.  Another quality that I feel that I have is attunement. I am aware of how people are feeling most of the time and I can adjust to help them when possible. I am able to listen to them and provide them with a reply that will make them feel good.

One characteristic of social intelligence that I feel I can improve is influence.  Being able to influence others would be one of the more challenging characteristics. You have to teach yourself to influence in a way you are not being in power. The answer is being able to use influence and being persuasive, without the use of power or control. I want to influence the peer men-tees in a positive way so that they can enjoy their first year at Iowa State. I want to be able to affect them in a positive way rather than trying to persuade of push them. 

Hixson Blog Post #10

Hixson Blog Post #10

Hello all! Happy Spring...well sort of

As a peer mentor, you may come across different types of contact with students. So being a peer mentor, what are some examples of good ethics that you should use?

                                                         

In chapter 10, there 12 principles for good practice that should be demonstrated by peer educators in the 

classroom.

1. Respond within the limits of your training and skill.

2. Acknowledge your limits openly by saying that you do not know rather than providing false expertise.

3. When in doubt-consult!

4. Maintain student privacy and confidentiality, as long as privacy protects the person being helped.

5. Show respect and dignity for others.

6. Understand your own personal bias and avoid imposing bias on others.

7. Continue to deal appropriately when working with persons for whom you might feel conflict with.

8. Act appropriately when working with persons for whom you feel attraction.

9. Knowing and managing your emotional response, while helping another, is crucial to your own well-being 

and to your ability to help.

10. Take responsible action if you learn about illegal behavior.

11. Remember that as a peer educator, you are a role model!

12. Maintain integrity and do not promote hearsay in commenting on professional relationships with others.  

All of these are very important when being a peer mentor. Different situations you will run into, so you have

to  be aware and know how to handle them properly. It is extremely important to understand the problem 

and take appropriate action.

Thanks and have a great week

Cole Schlitzer

Hixson Blog Post #9

Hixson Blog Post #9

Today I am just going to go through some academic resources and strategies for academic success here at Iowa State

The main acedemic resource that is available here at Iowa State is the Academic Success Center (ASC) The ASC is a collection of services and programs designed to help you reach your academic goals.

One resource that you are able to use is the Academic Coaching, which provides one-on-one meetings with students seeking help in evaluating and correcting academic challenges. Students are encouraged to seek academic coaching to develop skills that can improve areas of their lives such as time management, note taking, study skills and test taking. The coaches are trained in teaching effective college success skills and can also assist students with test anxiety or motivational challenges. For example you can meet with them to go over  productive use of study time, goal-setting for improved academic success,  reading and note taking strategies, and overcoming test-taking challenges. Pretty much any other academic skill you want to develop or improve! The best part about this service is that here is NO cost!

Another helpful tool for academic success is taking the class Psychology 131 It is designed to facilitate students' development of academic skills, behaviors, and attitudes. Content in this course helps students immediately, but also prepares students for academic success throughout their college career. Psych 131 is one credit, graded satisfactory/fail.

I’m sure many of you have had or are currently taking a class that has a Supplemental Instruction (SI) This is also a free program that have regularly scheduled study sessions for difficult courses. SI sessions are facilitated by SI Leaders, who are undergraduate students who have previously taken the course and demonstrated academic competency in the subject area. Each SI Leader facilitates at least three 50-minute sessions per week using collaborative learning methods. Attend once or attend every session.. data suggests that the more you attend, the higher your final grade will be in the course.

And of course there is tutoring, which is free for all of us Hixsons. As you can see there are numerous resources on campus to help you succeed academically. So in conclusion if you haven’t taken advantage of these resources you defiantly should, almost all are free and very useful.

Cole Schlitzer

Hixson Blog Post #8

Hixson Blog Post #8

What sort of descriptive words come to mind when describing a leader? Enthusiastic, well educated, good communication, or consistent? These are just a few of many characteristics of a leader.

Leading groups effectively was the topic of discussion for this week. There are many effective ways in working with groups, but leading one requires a little more skill. An effective leader will provide the members of the group incentive to engage, create, and assume responsibility for them to achieve goals. We also talked about the physical environment that can influence the group's nature of activity and level of performance. One way of effectively leading a group in the physical environment. This is usually not considered enough. It will include factors such as temperature, lighting, seating, distractions, and seating arrangements appropriate for the tasks of the group. When leading our session next fall it will be important for me to be sure to be aware of such factors, for they will only help with cooperation with the students. When a leader acts in these ways group members will truly engage and own results as their own and will be able say "we did it ourselves."        (Newton:Students helping students)

Question: Are leaders born or developed into one?

ISCORE

ISCORE

On Friday March 1st, 2013 i attended my first ever ISCORE. ISCORE is a conference on race and ethnicity. The first event I went to was the keynote speaker, Nancy Barcelo. She talked about equity and diversity in the higher education. She mentioned that Iowa State is doing a great job at this. She also talked about the challenges growing up with diversity in New Mexico. Diversity is your reality, she would say. Being activity involved with diversity will allow you to have a clear understanding of it and the positives that come out of it. She also said not to have tunnel vision and have inclusion. I learned a lot of new things and from different viewpoints. The only negative I got from this event was sometimes it was hard to understand what she who she referring to when she said "we". Other than that it was a great learning experience and I had a good time spending it with Easton, Ally, and Debra.

Expand your dialogue and do something new.

Cole Schlitzer
 

Hixson Blog Post #7

Hixson Blog Post #7

Already March and you know what that means? Spring Break, Midterms, March Madness, just to name a few exciting activities!

This past week we talked about understanding group process. A good majority of your life you will spend time interacting with groups of people. The types of groups that you interact with will vary, from the levels of effectiveness, to satisfaction of members. How well people work together to accomplish their purposes and how much cohesiveness develops to motivate a commitment to be involved with group activity. You need communication, formation, member roles, motivation, cohesion, decision-making strategies, task accomplishment, and maturation level to have a productive group.

As being a peer mentor it is my job to provide the students with different group processes and appropriate diagnosis as too how a group should function. One of my strengths is how well I am in working with others in a group setting. This experience will benefit me in showing the section how a healthy group works. A healthy group becomes a resource from providing information, sharing knowledge, accomplishing tasks, and enhancing personal learning. These resources are advantages over individual work or methods. In class we also did some ice breakers, which we will use a lot in the fall to better know each other. Being able to effectively carry out an ice breaker in a group setting will be key in showing your students how groups work.

That game vs Kansas though...we all know the refs hosed us the whole game. Such a heart breaker. It would be nice to play them in the Big 12 tournament and beat them though! We still are looking like we will be playing in the NCAA tournament, although may be a bubble team. Just need to finish with a win in 2 of the 3 games we play, Oklahoma tomorrow, Oklahoma State, and @West Virginia.
Real question... Who's ready for March Madness!? This and football season are by far my favorite times of the year in regards to sports. That;s all I have this week. Tomorrow or Sunday I will be writing a post about attending ISCORE.

Stay Warm and Have a Great Week Ahead!

Cole Schlitzer