System or Group?

Kat and Tyler led the class on “Understanding Group Process”. They opened up with an interesting activity that related well to the lesson. One part of their lesson that really stuck with me was the video they showed of the fish. How the whole group of fish worked together so well as to survive and avoid predators. Not that we have predators to be avoiding as peer mentors, but that by working together in a cohesive group we are better off.

Our book describes a group as a system that description really appealed to the engineer in me. When I think of a system I think of heat transfer, mass flow rate and work being done. It is defined as a set of connected things or parts forming a complex whole. Our book defines it as a complex set of interactive variables. I think all of these are accurate. Take any group, lets use a group a mentors as an example. (Completely random I know, but go with it J)  Imagine all of us bringing different ideas and viewpoints into the group. This is like our mass flow, but it’s not always constant and is most certainly not equal among all inputs. There are many variables that determine the amount of information, time, and energy we can all bring to the group/system. With this combination of variables, the system is changing and often work is being done. (Totally an awesome metaphor if you’re an engineer). Something is being produced and it is often to the benefit of those involved. We could get real crazy and have some mass flow out of the system when things are going very smoothly. Or increase the pressure within the system when the group is under a quickly approaching deadline.

No matter how you look at it, having an understanding of group processes is an important key in being successful. Everything from group dynamics to basic communication plays on role within groups of all shapes and sizes. It is important that we continue to engage with the group and share common goals while bringing our own experiences and views to the table. 

#ISCORE2013

Just last Friday I had the opportunity to attend the Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity (ISCORE). Although I wasn’t able to attend the morning address, I heard wonderful things about the speaker. Throughout the day I attended a variety of sessions.

The first session I attended, “The Changing Faces of Iowa”, educated us on the history and impact of immigration in Iowa. I found the presenter to be very personable but was not very impressed with the presentation overall. He presented accurate and informative data about the trends of immigration in Iowa and addressed a few common misconceptions. Although I agreed with most of his presentation, I couldn’t help but notice the gaps in information. I would agree that the Latino community is an important part of Iowa, but in my opinion, he failed to show the whole picture. Immigrants in Iowa are stimulating the economy and are doing a lot of goods things. The situation overall isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. I want to see the good with the bad. I want to see how much money our government is wasting on successful programs or how see how this is changing our public school systems.

At one point during his presentation he posed the question, “Who thinks farming is Iowa biggest industry?”, and then corrected the audience by informing us that manufacturing was in fact the largest industry. He did this in an attempt to dispel the stereotype of immigrant workers on farms. I am curious as to what his definition of “farming” is, and how much of modern agriculture in actually encompasses. Does his definition of “farming” include crop and milk producers? Does this include the men and women working on these “farms” providing other services than what he sees as “farming”? A man that grows crops and raises livestock is a farmer, but what about the man he pays to milk his cows or repairs the equipment? I would be curious to know the scope of his statistics. Immigrants of all types play a role in American and Iowa agriculture and to brush it off as insignificant is a mistake. (I promise I’m finished with my ranting.)

Next I attended “Nine Digits of Freedom: Analyzing Inherent Privileges that Come From Being a U.S. Citizen”. It was eye opening to see how difficult things like attending college can be for undocumented students. It was especially surprising to find out that the states of Alabama and Georgia do not all undocumented students to attend any of their public university.

I cannot finish a blog about ISCORE without a shout out to Cassie Glidden, a fellow Hixson, for her great job co-presenting a session. Their session, “What Are You?”, challenged its participants to evaluate how they view identity. It was definitely on of my favorite sessions of the day.

Problem Solving Like A Warrior

Every day we are constantly solving problems. Problems that vary is scope and context. Little things like deciding what to wear when we leave the house, or which route we will take on our trip. But also the bigger problems like what classes to take or what type of car to purchase. All problems we face throughout the day require us to identify what the problem is and then we can begin to analysis and judge options until we act. In some ways problem solving is an art. How we approach problems everyday can make or break our success.

In our reading for this past week I enjoyed Roger von Oech four roles for implementing the creative problem-solving process. 

The first role is as an explorer. We seek out information and discover options. Identifying the problem and its variables is the first step in problem solving. What are the potential outcomes? Who is affected/involved? What is the problem in its entirety?

Second, we become artist. We begin the creative process by taking what we have explored and start brainstorming solutions and potential outcomes. We have our information, now we must make something out of it. This is where being creative comes in handy. Changing our perspective and trying new strategies is an important part of the process.

Third, we are judges. We evaluate our ideas and determine if they are valid and realistic solutions. A creative solution means nothing if it cannot be implemented. We can take our options and compare them side-by-side to see which path is the most likely to provide the desired outcome.

Lastly (and my favorite), we are warriors. We have done all the thinking and strategizing up to this point. We have evaluated which options we will follow through on and now we must act. It can sometimes be the most difficult of the roles and other times the simplest. It is in this role that we must be bold and courageous throughout this role.

This chapter focuses around problem solving with individuals. If we can always be more conscious of the way in which we solve problems, then we can do so more effectively. Deciding whether to wear white socks or black, boxers or briefs is a smaller problem in our lives. The bigger problems like deciding where to live or picking a career are ones that require additional thought. No matter the size or scope of our problems just remember that you are an explorer, artist, judge and warrior. 

Communication & Advice

This week in class we discussed interpersonal communication. Coreen and Katie did a fantastic job with their lesson. It was obvious from the beginning that their lesson was well thought out and then executed.  I enjoyed this chapter in Students Helping Students because it focuses on communication.

Communication is key when working with students. We are constantly communicating information, assignments, ideas, and advice to our peers. This chapter and the lesson identified some key communication skills that enable us to give more than advice.

It reminded me of one situation with a peer that was thinking about switching schools to be closer to their family. I was able to rely on knowledge gained through this book and our course when providing advice. A interesting line from the book, “your job is to help the student solve the problem, not to solve it for her (or him)”. I think most accurately sums up the way in which we should be providing to advice and its not limited to our peers. Whenever we are attempting to help others through interpersonal communication it should be our goal to help others help themselves.

We are able to do this most simply by asking questions. By looking for more information and hopefully guiding others to solve problems themselves.  We will often have the benefit of bringing in an alternate perspective and perhaps open their eyes to more options before them.

Another point that I found especially important was the characteristic of being “Approachable and Secure as a Person”. It is important that we behave in a manner that encourages others to seek out help when they need it. Things like anxiety, uncertainty and unreasonable fear stand in the way of being approachable and secure. I believe this to be an important chapter in our text and have referred back to it on past occasions.

Developing interpersonal communications skills is a process we can always be developing and it is key skill in any profession.

Back in The Game

This week in class I had the opportunity to lead the lesson on cultural proficiency. I was excited and anxious to be back in front of a group. Although it was not my favorite topic to facilitate, it was a good lesson anyway. By the end there were several parts of the lesson that went well and some things I would like to improve on in the future.

Teaching is my passion. Down the road I see myself teaching college students about agricultural engineering topics. I love working with students and peers, especially when I enjoy the topic. Cultural proficiency is not a topic I normally enjoy from the presenters standpoint. The lesson was outside of my comfort zone and challenged me with something different. I was careful to take extra time preparing the lesson so that I would be more familiar with the information.

If you have ever been in a workshop, class, meeting or any type of gathering with me before… you will know that I am all about doing things differently. I am not a fan of sitting at a table or in a desk for long periods of time. I do my best to get people up and moving around to get them awake and also to get them thinking. I wanted to do a really fun icebreaker for new groups, but decided to do one that fit the subject more closely. I am not a big fan of lecturing so a discussion style lesson is my preference.

One thing I did struggle with was allowing the groups to do some off their own processing. In my feedback comments I was advised to work on silence. As I look back I am kicking myself for talking when I didn’t need to say a thing. I believe the reason I was continuing to speak was because the group seemed lost when they were more likely thinking.

I am looking forward to the next time so I can improve on some of my presenting strategies. 

MBTI Round 4!

I have officially attended Meyers Briggs Type Indicator lectures for a total of four hours as of last week. And surprisingly I am not complaining, each time I have learned more and more about my personality type and more importantly others. I want to touch on a few of the points made in my interpretive report as it relates to communication.

Being an ENFJ is just the surface. I could also say that I am an IEAEAQACATME, if we’re going to keep up with the acronyms. What that breaks down to is my facet results. Initiating- I start interactions amongst the people around me and try to create harmony. I am expressive and will often say what is on my mind, especially if somebody wants to listen. Very well fitting is my active personality; my desire to communicate with others – preferably face to face. These first three go to together well and I think they are incredibly accurate.

Enthusiasm is an important part of everything I do and I show it in my work daily. I use my abstract thought process to infer data and ideas. One of the facets we went over in class was questioning-accommodating. I discovered that I only like to ask some questions and only if it will not impede the group. Now we’re back to my personality preference for harmony… huh. The report hits the nail on the head when it tells me that I will critique or accept depending on the importance of the issue. My tendency to try and win people over to my point of view is defined by my tender facet. And lastly I fell into the methodical-emergent midzone and it tells me that I may or may not give others detailed procedures for a task depending on the circumstances. I guess MBTI can be a little vague every now and again.

All of these facets make up my personality type as it relates to communicating. Because we communicate with others every day we all need to be aware of how we do it.

Thinking Differently

Last week I had the opportunity to attend not one, but two events on campus. On Friday I attended the Mid-Year Learning Community Institute and the Iowa State Leadership Experience (I.S.L.E.) on Saturday. Both events took place in the Memorial Union. Both of these events provided valuable information relevant to peer mentors and all Iowa State Students.

The first session I attended was presented by the Elementary Education Learning Community Advisor and it’s the five peer mentors that make up the team. They basically provided an overview of what their program does and how they prepare students to be successful in elementary education. They do a great job of connecting with their student’s mid-summer before classes and maintaining that contact into the first week. One aspect of their learning community that I was impressed by was their grouping method. Students were assigned learning community groups by their location on campus. They also had a CyRide rep come into their class during the first few weeks and gave a presentation on how to read schedules and bus riding etiquette.

Next was a presentation focusing on how to facilitate one-on-one meetings with students. The Women in Science and Engineering are an impressive group. Each one of their students takes the Strengths Quest test and is discussed in their class. They also have a one-on-one with each of their students monthly. One thing that came to mind was potentially using blackboard for scheduling outside of class meetings. Another interesting idea that was brought up was an “office hours” of sorts, but less formal. A peer mentor would just have a set time and location somewhere on campus that they will be during the week for when students would like to meet. This is something I would love to implement with other Hixson students.

The first session I attended on Saturday was titled “Thinking Within the Circle”. The thought being that if everyone is thinking outside of the box, then we are all thinking the same. They then showed one of my favorite TED Talks – How Leaders Inspire Action by Simon Sinek . The general idea being: “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” As part of the presentation we were instructed to come up with a personal mission statement using a Why?>How?>What? thought process. I came up with the following: “I want others to be successful. I do this by using my experiences and talents to provide support, encouragement, and constructively criticize those around me. I am able to do this through my role as a mentor, facilitator, friend and brother."

The last session I was able to attend was by far the most interesting. We got a swift overview of Group Dynamics. I am looking forward to using some of the information in my lesson later this week. They used demonstrations and called people out in the room to give real life and real time examples of group dynamics. It became very obvious how important this topic was to being a peer mentor.

Overall it was a busy weekend filled with tons of valuable information that I am excited to bring back to my roles as a peer mentor.