Journal Entry - Feb. 23

I met with my Mentege this last Tuesday for the second time. It was a bit easier this time, although still kind of awkward. We decided to go to the library because we thought it would be quiet, but while we were in there her younger cousins class came in, and so her younger cousin was a bit of a distraction for her.

We talked about how her classes were going, and how her pug puppies (eight of them, which I want her to smuggle one in for me next week) are doing, and I gave her the information on the hospital shadowing and internship. She was very excited about it.

She had an Art project (that was the class she was in when she got called down for our meeting) to finish, so we talked while she finished that up.

All in all it was a good meeting, I most definitely think we're connecting and after a few more meetings we should be doing just fine.

Problem Solving

This article from Parent & Child magazine is on "How Your Child Learns to Problem-Solve" [Readable here].

Children really begin building problem solving skills at a very early age, and nearly all of these skills are built through playing and having time to explore and experiment. The same concepts I think still apply when you're older, just in different forms. I think that it's important that when a problem arises that you're not sure how to deal with it, you take some time to explore and experiment with different options and possibilities.

As a Mentor I hope that I can be a good resource to my Mentégé (Maybe not a good resource for made up words, though) in helping her view different options and avenues of solving problems she may have. I hope that I can assist her in looking at all the angles and possibilities of solving her problems so that she can make an informed choice that makes her feel comfortable and secure. I don't want to solve her problems for her, but I do want to be there to help her solve them if she needs it.

Journal Entry - Feb. 16th

This week was the first time I've met with my Mentégé (I've combined them, you see, because I'm lazy). It was a little awkward and she seemed really nervous, and kind of unhappy, about the whole thing. I'm hoping that things will get easier after we meet a few times.

We talked a bit about ourselves, what we liked and didn't like. We talked a lot about her plans for high school and college, and where she might want to go and what she plans on doing. She wants to become a pediatrician (which is awesome, and vaguely what I'm doing) and so I told her that I'd give her the information from Salem Hospital about shadowing a doctor, or getting a student internship, which would help her get a better idea of what kind of schooling she'd need and what they do every day. She seemed very excited about that.

I meet with her again this next Tuesday, and I told her I might bring something for us to do. I also gave her my cell number just if she needed to reach me to let me know she couldn't make it sometime for some reason.

Hopefully it all goes well, and gets a bit easier. It's always tough to talk about yourself or to someone you don't know for a long period of time.

Building Trust

The article 'Building Trust' [readable here] talks about the importance of trust in trade, business and scientific communities in order for them to really succeed and thrive.

They talk about how easily trust is lost, and how hard trust is to regain once you've lost the trust you had. In mentoring, I could see how easy it would be to lose your students trust - or never even really gain it at all - if you handled things incorrectly or were just inconsiderate to their needs or your weekly meetings with them.

Like it was pointed out in lecture once, if you fail to show up at meetings your meantégé (Protee?) is going to lose any bit of trust they may have built in you. You become a flake, and flakes aren't really trustable. It's hard to take someone seriously when they claim over and over that they'll be there, but then don't show up.

Trust is probably the most important factor in being a mentor. It doesn't matter how good of a listener you are, how much fun you are to be around, or how cheaply you do their homework for them if you're not trustworthy. How can you build a relationship with someone if they can't trust you, and what kind of role model does that make you? Certainly not a good one.

Journal Entry for Feb. 9th

Running a bit late this week with my entries! This week I'm supposed to journal about interesting questions from my life. Since the normal instructor wasn't there this week (....hookey!...) our Sub Cecilia said that she thought he meant asked to me or by me.

So, going with the interesting questions from my life that were asked to me, I have to go with, I have no idea. After thinking about it for a while, I still have really no idea. I guess I'll have to go with the question I get asked all the time, why do I want to go into forensics. Actually, it's usually phrased like this: "Why in the world would you want to do that? You seem like such a nice girl."

Apparently, nice girls don't go into lines of work where they have to mess with dead things.

This question is interesting to me not because it's unique or overly thought provoking, but because it's on a topic that I find interesting. I could be missing the whole point of the journal assignment (if I am, I'll redo it, promise) but it is interesting to talk about, and I enjoy discussing it with people. They always seem really interested in what I have to say, so it really does inspire me when I discuss it with people. I always feel bad afterwards though, because eventually I get asked if it's really like on CSI, and people always look so crushed when I say it isn't.

Side note - I have a meeting tomorrow at Stephens. Hopefully it goes well. I don't have to be at my work study job until 1:30, so it's timed perfectly.

Journal Entry - Feb. 2nd

Class this week focused on being a good listener, and how important it was to really pay attention to what the person talking was saying, rather then just doodling little flowers, clouds and houses in your notebook. I don't speak from experience, honest. I actually had just come from an extremely hard mid-term and so it was good that what we talked about focused on paying attention even when you've got other things on your mind. It's important that I remember to leave home stuff at home and class stuff on campus and not let everything that goes on in life preoccupy me from doing the best I can as a mentor.

I decided to go ahead and keep what I had picked for my toolkit in my toolkit, which was the Mad Libs and the card trick. If you want to read it you can here (I do not have this blog listed as public, but people find them anyway, so if someone stumbles across this and needs activities to do with middle school students...there you go. I aim to please!). Hopefully it will help someone out. I might see if the student I end up working with wants to paint a shirt or something, I have a good two hundred tubes of fabric paint, and it would be cool to see someone put it to good use. Someone besides me, that is. It's just sad when I do it.

I contacted Stephens, so hopefully the school contact there gets back to me soon.