The history of the library fun to sit back in look at. What I find more interesting is how the placement of libraries, play a role in literacy, graduation, and college possibilities by specific communities.
When looking at literacy, graduation rates, and college possibilities in my perspective I would say access is one of the biggest factor in determining an individuals success. Those with less access can be seen in the poverish areas where schools there are no books, internet, libraries are not accessible, and support and resources are limited within the community. On the other hand more access contributes to the fact the when walking into a school all you see is new. New books, new computers, new everything. As you continue your journey you will see accessible libraries in every community which enhances the opportunity that individuals have. Lastly in these communities there are an abundant amount of resources which are equally distribute to those who want it.
Saying this I feel that in future courses offered I think that curriculum should surround all aspects of mentoring, resources, and success.
Trough my book report on "Handbook of research on literacy and diversity" I attempt to focuses a bit on these aspect, with the attempt to better educate myself on these issues.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Mentee Experience Continued
As the quarter goes on I see things getting a little bit more difficult with my mentee. This is due to the fact that its mid-term time and they fell that my support isn't needed at this current time. They already have have professor, faculty, and staff stressing them out and having someone else in their ear is just to much. What my mentees fails to recognize is as a colleague and a friend I'm not there to be they boss, I'm just the intervening factor that holds one of many keys to success. This is guiding them in the right direction with expectation of success and settling for nothing less. As I sit down my mentees and express this to them they begin to understand. A mentor is can be used resource like no one else can. They have been through the class or university and have a students point of view. Now they pass the knowledge right down to you. Though they expect a lot they just want to see you succeed, and not make they same mistakes they did in their past history. By taking this my mentee now understand why attempt to invest so much time and have so much demand.
Monday, November 8, 2010
The Need for a Mentor
When first coming into college I was unaware of what to do, who to talk to, and where to go. I felt as if it was a race with me against every other student at Western Washington to the first. With little resources I did what always did and that was attempted to adapt to my surrounding. It was a little difficult to do that in my cause considering African Americans only represent a minimum percentage on the campus, and when looking for a mentor you tend to look for those who can most relate to you.
This left me unengaged and wanting to leave to a campus where I could be better understood by individuals I could relate to. As I continued on my course of education I found myself slipping and heading in the opposite direction then I wanted to go.
As I continued on I then found the Ethnic Student Center which mission is to be that support system for minority students that I was missing. I suddenly saw myself here because for the first time I felt like I was apart of something on the universities campus. I saw those who have been here for years doing what I planned to do when I first came to this university, and that I success. These individuals then became my mentors. They guide me in the right direct and pick me up when I fall. They formed a model for students like me to follow, which eventually lead to my success. Now I'm where they were and giving back to those who were just like I is best.
Slide and McRenyolds say, "Students are more likely to succeed in university if they are given the opportunity to connect with and commit to the institution, interact with faculty and peers, and actively engage in their learning process." As you can see this is what I did to get to where I am today. Getting involved and finding someone or something to guide me through the struggle and trials I face on my path to a higher education.
Sidle, M. W., & McReynolds, J. (1999). The freshman year experience: Student retention and student success. NASPA Journal, 36 (4), 288–299.
This left me unengaged and wanting to leave to a campus where I could be better understood by individuals I could relate to. As I continued on my course of education I found myself slipping and heading in the opposite direction then I wanted to go.
As I continued on I then found the Ethnic Student Center which mission is to be that support system for minority students that I was missing. I suddenly saw myself here because for the first time I felt like I was apart of something on the universities campus. I saw those who have been here for years doing what I planned to do when I first came to this university, and that I success. These individuals then became my mentors. They guide me in the right direct and pick me up when I fall. They formed a model for students like me to follow, which eventually lead to my success. Now I'm where they were and giving back to those who were just like I is best.
Slide and McRenyolds say, "Students are more likely to succeed in university if they are given the opportunity to connect with and commit to the institution, interact with faculty and peers, and actively engage in their learning process." As you can see this is what I did to get to where I am today. Getting involved and finding someone or something to guide me through the struggle and trials I face on my path to a higher education.
Sidle, M. W., & McReynolds, J. (1999). The freshman year experience: Student retention and student success. NASPA Journal, 36 (4), 288–299.
Service Learning
When looking at the term Service Learning there are many ways to interpret into a definition. Some say it is giving back to the community, others say it’s another way professor put you to work to learn, and many fell that it's an opportunity that take what you learn in the text books and apply it to real life situations.
When I look at service learning I like to incorporate two of the three of the views listed above. The way to engage in service learning you must understanding course concepts. These concepts will be implemented by engaging yourself in required reading, text books, and etc. After understanding the concepts you are ready to engage in community activities. In these community activities you will see the course concepts come to life. By them coming to life a better understanding of the concepts will present itself.
In the words of my colleagues and I service learning is "Throwing away the textbook, while engaging in service to gain more personal experience and better understand of information presented to us”
We say throwing away the textbook because we fell the best way to learn is by engaging in the environment that you are learning in. By involving yourself in this environment there becomes a more fulfillment within yourself because it adds meaning behind what you have learned.
When I look at service learning I like to incorporate two of the three of the views listed above. The way to engage in service learning you must understanding course concepts. These concepts will be implemented by engaging yourself in required reading, text books, and etc. After understanding the concepts you are ready to engage in community activities. In these community activities you will see the course concepts come to life. By them coming to life a better understanding of the concepts will present itself.
In the words of my colleagues and I service learning is "Throwing away the textbook, while engaging in service to gain more personal experience and better understand of information presented to us”
We say throwing away the textbook because we fell the best way to learn is by engaging in the environment that you are learning in. By involving yourself in this environment there becomes a more fulfillment within yourself because it adds meaning behind what you have learned.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Library Tours
It is week two of the quarter and it is now time for the library tour. I figured that this would be pretty easy to do because I've been here for three years, but when it came down to doing it, it was harder then I thought. The first problem that I ran into was gathering my three mentees. Due the the demanding schedules that we do have as college students we weren't available to meet as one group, this lead me to giving three different tours. Though it was time consuming we got through it.
In my mind I thought that my mentees wouldn't see this tour relevant due to the fact that they are upperclassmen which was the case at first. They ask, "so why am I doing this again." This changed my the end of the tours because what they received more then they expected. They left their tours saying, "We never realized that there was these many resources in the library." Little did they know is I didn't either because the library has changed so much in the last three years, but after every tour I became a little better. This was a unique experience to me because you would think as a mentor/ tour guide you would be the leader where the mentee/ tourist sit back and learns. With our experience this wasn't the case because through the process we both lead and showed each other the way.
To me this exemplifies what a mentor-mentee relationship should be. Through the process of mentoring you have the opportunity of guiding an individual in the right direction. At the same time we must be willing to take the experience and reverse the rolls and learn from mentees.
Seeing that this is the start of our relationship I fell that we are going in the right direction and hope it continues not only through the quarter, but through our whole college experience.
In my mind I thought that my mentees wouldn't see this tour relevant due to the fact that they are upperclassmen which was the case at first. They ask, "so why am I doing this again." This changed my the end of the tours because what they received more then they expected. They left their tours saying, "We never realized that there was these many resources in the library." Little did they know is I didn't either because the library has changed so much in the last three years, but after every tour I became a little better. This was a unique experience to me because you would think as a mentor/ tour guide you would be the leader where the mentee/ tourist sit back and learns. With our experience this wasn't the case because through the process we both lead and showed each other the way.
To me this exemplifies what a mentor-mentee relationship should be. Through the process of mentoring you have the opportunity of guiding an individual in the right direction. At the same time we must be willing to take the experience and reverse the rolls and learn from mentees.
Seeing that this is the start of our relationship I fell that we are going in the right direction and hope it continues not only through the quarter, but through our whole college experience.
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