Problem Solving

Before I read the chapter I never thought about the different parts of preblem solving. I knew that I approached different problems in different ways but never really identified the different kinds of problems. I had never heard the terms The Gap, The Hole or The Obstacle. Knowing what kind of issue you are dealing with will help immensely when trying to come up with a solution. I will use what I learned from this chapter to try and identify the source of my problems in the future. Also, practicing this technique in your own life will help you when trying to find solutions for the problems that your students come to you with next Fall.

I really liked the section about creative problem solving methods. Like the book says, not all situations can be solved with the same techniques. Even if the problem is similar to one you've dealt with before, that does not guarantee that the solution you used last time will work again. The creative problem solving method seems to work very well with my ENFP type. It encourages all possible ideas and discourages scrutiny. Like the book says, hundreds of ideas are better than a select few. Maybe I like this method because my mind is constantly full of ideas so this gives me a method to put them to good use. I plan on following the steps in the book so I can structure my problem solving technique a little better in the future.

So this week marked the beginning of social media week. I've enjoyed it thoroughly so far. It has finally given me a reason to start using twitter again. I look forward to using it more often in the future.

Interpersonal Communication and the first retreat!

This week Coreen and Katie directed discussion about interpersonal communication. They did a great job of facilitating the discussion and allow us to explore the topics. We talked about how to communicate when someone comes to you with a problem or question. I learned that I definitely react differently when helping a friend than when helping a peer. I tend to be more personal and direct with a friend than I am with a stranger. It's important to recognize these tendencies and use them to become more effective leaders. The entire topic of interpersonal communication is extremely important for the success of our groups next Fall. You can't help someone with their questions and problems if they don't feel comfortable coming to you with them. You can't provide answers to questions that are never asked.

I really enjoyed the retreat on Sunday. I felt that we all became better friends and peers by the end of it. Each ice breaker provided a unique way for us to interact together. I also learned something about at least one other peer mentor during each game. The sucker game showed me that we are all nice human beings because no one asked me to do the Hixson intro backwards, luckily. The balloon game showed me that some of us are more competitive than others *cough Easten cough*. The deserted island game allowed us to use our creativity and think outside the box which seems to be a strength for some of us. Finally, the "Would You Rather" game let us show some of our personality and tendencies, in a fun and silly way. Overall, I had a great time and can't wait to get started on the digital story telling project. Fair warning, I plan on writing at least one Peeta and hummus joke. You've been warned.

Being Different

The lesson this week was all about diversity and how to deal with differences. I think Easten did a great job of leading discussions and following up fun activities with conversations about how they applied to diversity. He allowed us to talk about the topic which I think helped to make everyone more interested in the lesson.

The "all my neighbors" ice breaker is one of my favorites. We played it during my freshman recitation session and I've played it multiple times during social events at my fraternity. It is a great way to learn about things you have in common with the other people you are playing with. It also showed me how many different groups we all fall in. As peer mentors, we are a fairly diverse group which I think is necessary for effectively helping the 100 incoming Hixsons next Fall. Having a variety of people with different cultural experiences is a definite advantage for us when facing the numerous questions the freshmen will have for us.

I consider myself very fortunate when it comes to accepting people that are different than me. My older sister, Cassie, was adopted from South Korea so growing up I didn't see her as different, I just saw her as family. Now we like to mess with people every once in a while. One time she dropped me off at an activity and some of my peers came up to me and asked who she was. I said she's my sister and that I'm the adopted one. We both think it's pretty funny. One of my cousins, who still stays in close contact with our family is gay so I've been exposed to that culture quite a few times. I think experiencing different cultures as much as possible is the best way to understand them. I can understand how some people aren't as accepting of certain groups if the only things they know about them are stereotypes. I believe spreading awareness of the diversity of people and cultures in the world is the only way to achieve global empathy.

Life as an ENFP

The thought of thinking that four categories can completely describe who I am seems weird to me. More than seven billion people are on the planet and every one is completely different. Some people make the comparison that people are like snowflakes but I think it is even more amazing than that. Not only are we different from each other as a whole, every little quirk that we each have that makes us different is significantly different than any quirk anyone else has. It just astounds me. I know this test in no way is supposed to tell me what kind of person I am. It is just a guide to show how you tend to handle things in different situations. With all that being said...the test was pretty accurate.

My main preferences were Extraversion, Intuition, Feeling and Perceiving. I guessed all of them correctly except for extraversion. I had always thought of myself as shy person that doesn't usually initiate communication. I tend to wait for someone to start a conversation and then I let loose with everything was swimming around in my head. Once I read why they placed me as an extrovert, it made quite a bit of sense. It said I was a receiver rather than an initiator and I chose to be more private than self revealing. Both of those make a lot of sense to me. The reason I am an extrovert is because I scored relatively high towards extraversion in joining groups, interaction and enthusiasm. Overall, I think the test nailed it on the head. Looks like I was an Extrovert the whole time and didn't even know it.

I leaned heavily towards Intuition in every category. I had fives in intuition for both abstract and imaginative. I completely agree with that. I find myself constantly analyzing everything and then asking the question "What if..." I found myself doing this one time when my sister used the phrase word vomiting. The normal person would just laugh and move on...but not me. I spent a good twenty minutes thinking about what word vomit would look like if it was a literal thing. I came to the conclusion that you would suddenly feel sick during a conversation and then some embarrassing or private phrase would slip out. I thought it was hilarious, my sister thinks I'm crazy. I may be too abstract and imaginative for my own good because I just realize I went on a long tangent about word vomit. I guess this test is pretty accurate.

I am a F instead of a T even though three preferences were towards T (including a 3 for questioning) and only two towards F (both of them were only a 1). I guess I have tendencies for both sides in each category. This is about how I base conclusions so it makes sense that I am both a thinker and a feeler. I think that every situation is different and therefore requires a different type of solution. I like to take everything I possibly can into account before making my decision. I think that's what the results are trying to show.

Finally, I got perceiving instead of judging. This one was extremely lopsided towards perceiving. The only category that I wasn't in perceiving was my 1 towards methodical. Every description of perceiving fits me almost perfectly. I'm very easygoing, flexible, motivated by pressure and spontaneous. I feel that when you make concrete plans you already ended countless activities that could have been better than the plans you made. I think every second is spontaneous and important so I like to let life come at me and lead me where it wants me to go. I understand this method isn't for everyone. I still make sure everything gets done when it's supposed to, I just don't map out exactly how or when it will get done. To me, spontaneity is the spark of life. I hate having pre-made plans because most of my favorite memories happened at the spur of the moment.

Overall, I don't think I was giving this test as much respect as I should have. It was fairly accurate in describing my tendencies. I'll use these results to remember what my strengths and weaknesses are as a leader and grow from them.

Jeopardy and Johari Windows

There was a lot to process this past week. I had never attended a leadership learning session before so I wasn't sure what to expect. The amount of information I received during the Friday and Saturday sessions was insane.

The first one I attended was multicultural jeopardy. The speaker did a great job of mixing important helpful information into a fun and entertaining format. I had no idea how little I knew about the resources for multicultural students on campus. I guess I had never needed to use them so I never got around to learning about them. I found all of the information during this session very useful because it was mostly new to me. I feel much more confident in helping multicultural students now.

The second session I attended on Friday discussed community building, something I thought would be extremely useful next Fall. The speakers had some great ideas for different types of events to get students together and interact with each other. Having a variety of activities to get they students involved is important to me. I get bored when I have to do the same routine over and over again. I'm all about mixing things up. The speakers also had some good tips for dealing with someone who feels alienated from the group. This kind of information will be very useful next Fall.

I went to some ISLE sessions with the president of my fraternity. He went to it last year and found it very useful. The session I enjoyed the most was the Johari Windows presentation. It was about analyzing how much of yourself you let others get to know. It was also about learning new things about yourself as well. I learned that I definitely could share more with others right when I initially meet someone. I still consider myself an introvert for the most part so it can be hard to show my personality to people I've just met. This is something I intend to work on a lot during the semester. I really like who I am so I shouldn't be afraid to let other people get to know me.