Learning Community Peer Leader Reflection

1) What academic theories, readings, or concepts can you relate to your PL experience?

During the discussion of understanding paradigms, the situation example when students walk
into class that does not have a definite syllabus and are wary of this shift since the professor is
asking what they want to learn and get out of this class instead. I believe this related to my peer
leader experience because learning communities are designed to address common needs
among students and requires student feedback to make the most of the experience. To
facilitate learning communities effectively and efficiently, a peer leader needs to understand
and listen to the first-year students to see what they are most worried about with navigating
their college journey. Furthermore, not one syllabus can be applied to different groups of
students. Some students learn more through presentations and some learn more through
activities. This reflects the concept of paradigms shifting especially since an LC is more of an
individual development experience rather than an academic course. A peer leader needs to be
able to change with these constantly changing values.

2) Describe your leadership role during the experience. What goals did you set for
yourself in this role? Did you achieve those goals? If yes, how do you know? If not,
why?

Before becoming a peer leader, I had little to no leadership experience. I was typically an
excellent contributor in group projects and the like, but rarely was the visual leader of a group.
After listening and reading the testimonials of current and previous peer leaders, I thought this
experience would be a great opportunity to develop and strengthen my leadership skills while
helping first-year students through aspects that I have struggled with during my first-year at the
University of Cincinnati. Given this, the goals I set for myself in this role was to explore my
leadership style and recognize my potential as a leader. While these goals were not easily
measureable, the First Year Experience and Learning Communities program have a great
method of constantly providing feedback to peer leaders from their students and from
seasoned peer leaders on what areas to improve upon. A main form of this was constructive
criticism which has helped me reach and exceed my goals and expectations. I was completely
nervous about leading a group of students and was constantly worried about whether I would
be a good mentor as well as a peer to each student. During this peer leader experience,
students have reflected that I was very helpful and that they would be more than happy to
have me as their peer leader again. This gave me a confidence boost in my ability to lead and I
am more confident in excelling in other leadership opportunities.

3) What are your Top 5 strengths? What have you learned about yourself in terms of
your strengths? Think about how you have (or haven’t) utilized them throughout this
experience. What have you learned about others?
My Top 5 strengths are Restorative, Intellection, Responsibility, Learner, and Developer. For all
of these traits, I believe that I knew I had these certain qualities, but the strengths report
solidified this. With my strength in the Restorative theme, I am good at dealing with problems
and working them out. As an Intellection, I am introspective and appreciate intellectual
discussions. With a Responsibility theme strength, I am committed to stable values and take
ownership of what I say. With Learner and Developer theme strengths, I enjoy the process of
learning and recognize and cultivate the potential in others, respectively. The most surprising
strength for me was the Developer theme strength. Even though I enjoy helping others, I did
not realize that I am naturally inclined to do so. I think this works well in my role as a peer
leader, especially when students talked about difficult courses and low grades. I typically
discussed with them that one low grade does not lower their value as a person since everyone
makes mistakes and guided them towards campus resources that could help them.

I believed that I have utilized most, if not all, of these strengths throughout this experience.
Each LC was a learning opportunity for me to see what I can do better since this was my first
time being a peer leader, and I enjoyed the journey of learning since I made meaningful
mentorships with students. Not only does this this apply with students, but it also applied with
the other peer leaders I interacted with. As stated in the reading, “all of us is smarter than one
of us.” Each peer leader has their own strengths and this is essential in developing an efficient
team that works well together.

4) What have you learned about being a facilitator, co-worker, mentor, learning coach,
connector, leader?

I have learned that either one of the six roles of being a peer leader is earning respect and a
repertoire with students. It doesn’t matter if you are older or try to have authority over
students, they will only listen and participate in lessons if they are in a comfortable and
welcoming environment. This is based on the common ideal that treat others like you want to
be treated. To create a safe zone in LC, I treated students as my peers, valued what they
wanted to do for upcoming lessons, and asked about how they are connecting on campus. I also
learned that there is faculty that are dedicated to helping students succeed in all aspects of life
and have utilized these resources to help students understand that there are many facilities
available on campus that they can reach out to when needed. The skills I have learned from
being a facilitator, co-worker, mentor, learning coach, and connector all contribute to learning
the skills of a good leader. A leader is not just a person with authority, but is a person that
forges relationships with all contributors involved, and I applied this concept as a peer leader
this semester.

5) How has your leadership philosophy changed as a result of this experience?

I do not believe that my leadership philosophy has changed much as a result of this experience.
I always thought that a good leader needs to understand each person in a group rather than try
to force them to participate. This leads to a better environment of thoughtfulness and
partnership among the group. A leader should guide members of a group and help them grow
rather than force them to do things they do not care for.

6) How are you integrating what you learned from this experience into your life? What
connection have you drawn between this experience and other experiences both
within the classroom and beyond?

I have been applying a leadership concept that is shaped by collaboration and empathy to my
everyday life. The same qualities of a good team member apply to a good leader and I have
focused on strengthening these qualities as well as developing my Top 5 strengths to become a
better leader. Peer leading has showed me that there is always room for improvement
especially when helping a diverse group of individuals. This will help in the classroom and
beyond since I will constantly see what I can improve in work, volunteering, and classwork with
any feedback I receive on my performance. Before becoming a peer leader, I lacked
communication skills and was extremely nervous about talking in front of a group of people.
Through this memorable experience, I have learned how to strengthen my weaknesses by
viewing them as strengths and improving on them. I have grown as a person and leader
through this position and would recommend peer leading to my peers at the University of
Cincinnati.