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Honors 397 A: Spring 2014 Peer Educator Prep Seminar

Go Post 1: Write about your favorite class. Who taught it? What was it
about the course and instructor that made it so great? Did you notice particular
assignments or teaching strategies you thought particularly effective?
My favorite class so far was an Honors science class taught by Bob Pavia called
Disaster Science: Marine Oil Spills. I really enjoyed going to each class, partly
because I was interested in the topic and partly because of the atmosphere that
was established.
I think it is probably the class that best exemplified interdisciplinary to because
we truly took a variety approaches to the topic. Our assignments were varied so
that we had readings, worksheets, group projects, essays, etc. and I felt that Dr.
Pavia had put thought into which type of assignment would be the best to learn the
material.
As students, we also seemed to have a lot of freedom with how we approached
many assignments which I really appreciated. For example, the topic of our final
paper was completely up to us, as long as it was about oil spills. So while some of
my classmates wrote about law and policies regarding oil, I wrote about the
mechanics used to clean up spills. I think it made the idea of a writing a paper a lot
more bearable for all of us since we werent forced to fake an interest in one
specific topic for 8 pages.

Go Post 2: Do you identify yourself as a leader? What does being a leader


mean to you? In what parts of your life do you inhabit that role? What
experiences have you sought out to gain leadership skills? Please answer each
prompt above.
To me, being a leader can take a variety of forms and there isnt one defining set of
characteristics the every leader must have. There are leaders who serve in formal
positions, but there are also leaders who dont. I think what truly makes someone a
leader is that they are striving to make a change for the better and that they follow
through with commitments. This could be by taking responsibility for running an
organization or simply setting a good example for others by demonstrating qualities
like respect and honesty in your day to day life. I would consider myself a leader
according to my definition.

I try to exhibit leadership roles in as many aspects of my life as possible. I take my


duties, such as classes, seriously and always do the best that I know I can. In high
school, I was involved in student government and also served on a youth council for
the local hospital. Both of these activities included planning a big event, graduation
and a dinner auction respectively, so I really learned the importance of working
together and how an important quality of a leader is being able to step back and let
others make decision if necessary. Though I am not the most vocal, I often find
myself taking leading roles in group projects as well, partly due to my drive for
excellence. Keeping a group on track and communicating with each other is
important to keep stress levels down. Finally, I try to look at the leaders in my life
and identify what makes them a strong leader so that I can work on improving
these skills in myself. Just this weekend I attended a conference with other student
from the west coast and we were able to discuss the strengths and struggles at
each school and take what we learned back to our own schools. Even this
assignment, where we can see other perspectives, is a great opportunity to improve
leadership skills based on the qualities that are described by each other.

Go Post 3: What did you learn from the the mini-teach? What worked?
What would you change? What did you see a peer do well that you would
incorporate into your teaching?
I would have to agree with what most of my peers have posted above about the
importance of using multiple approaches to teaching. Since people learn in different
ways it makes sense to teach in different ways. I personally am more of a hands on
learner so being able to try something myself is important, although I recognize
that this isnt going to be an option for a lot of the Honors 100 curriculum. But
having a visual component as well as someone explaining is definitely something to
incorporate for the fall. I think time management is also sometime that I learned
from the mini-teach. I underestimated the time my teach would take because I
based it on my own experiences but your audience could have little to no
background knowledge.

Go Post 4: What techniques have you seen teachers use to draw everyone
into a discussion? How to recognize individual strengths in the classroom and
make sure everyone can contribute? How does this connect to your growing
understanding of your leadership style?

I think the most successful way to get everyone participating in discussion is to use
a combination of techniques. Whole class discussions often result in either the same
few students talking the whole time or everyone just sitting there awkwardly,
avoiding eye contact and hoping they dont get called on. Small group discussion
are better at giving everyone a chance to speak, especially the quiet ones (like
myself) but can get boring if everyone shares the same opinion. As a result, one of
my favorite methods is to use small groups and then move to the whole class. I
think this lets more students feel comfortable participating and can help foster
connections between peers.
Thinking about the four quadrants we used in class last week, it makes sense to
that I personally am quiet during group discussions because Im busy gathering and
analyzing all of the facts before I decide. Each quadrant had their own strengths
and preferences so by combining discussion types, or at least using a variety over
the course of fall quarter, should ensure that everyone is contributing in their own
way.

Go Post 5: How have you created a sense of community for yourself on the
UW campus? Where are the places you've felt most at home? How did you get
involved there?
I created a sense of community by essentially creating multiple communities for
myself. Between living on an Engineering floor my first year and taking classes for
my major, I managed to make a several good friends as well as make connections
with peers who I still have classes with occasionally. As a freshman, I also tried out
a variety of RSOs (literally everything from politics to engineering), but while many
were interesting I didnt really connect to most and eventually settled on primarily
being involved in Phi Sigma Pi, which is a national honors fraternity. I initially was
unsure about joining, but I tried it out anyway and am now even serving as an
officer. Since there are members from all different majors, I met a bunch of people
I never would have come across otherwise and have really enjoyed getting to know
them over the last year.
And of course, the Honors community has played an important role in creating a
sense of community. The classes I have taken were part of that, but the most
significant aspect for me was studying abroad. When you are in a foreign place,
with the same 15 people and limited contact with others (I mean no texting and
only checking Facebook like once a day), five weeks can take you from perfect
strangers to best friends. Since we all had different academic backgrounds, I dont

see them every day or even every month, but its always exciting to run into them
on campus.

Go Post 6: Reflect on your group teaching experience. How did your


teaching session go? What surprised you about the experience? What went well?
What would you do differently if you were to teach the same lesson again?
The mini-teach was definitely a helpful experience for me. Even though I had
planned what I was going to talk about, once I was in front of people a lot of that
left my brain. I think I can address this by making sure my lessons plans are
detailed and that I review them before class a few times. Also having a longer time
period to work with will be nice. Five minutes seemed to fly by and I was worried
about leaving things out.
There were also mixed reactions from the feedback sheets about the teaching tool I
used. Most people liked it but were confused or simply didnt like it. If I were to use
it again I would probably modify the handout, if using it all, because only some
people liked filling it in as we talked but most liked the graphical representation. I
also think it would help to interact more with the class, but again there is only so
much to fit in 10 minutes versus 80. I plan to look through the Go Post and see
what other groups came up for their teaching tool and considering how I can adapt
their activities into my own section for the fall because there were some creative
ideas in my small group and Im sure the others as well.

Go Post 7: What is a campus resource (person, office, service, etc) that we


havent learned about yet that you think all students should know about?
I think CLUE is a good resource that, despite being pretty well known, is underutilized. Besides the nightly hours in MGH, they also have tutors for popular classes
in the residence halls (and apparently the HUB in the mornings!) where you
generally dont have to wait as long to get a question answered. I found this really
helpful as a freshman because I could just walk to the lobby and get help when it
was convenient for me, rather than going to office hours at a predetermined time.
Also, on a more fun note, the Waterfront Activities Center has really good student
prices for canoe/rowboat rentals. Its a little out of the way, but its great for getting
a change of scenery on days with sunny weather.

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