Reflection #5

If I were to design a new university from the ground up what would it be like? :) I would have the best professors ever. While I feel that it is great to have professors with a great background in their own education it does not necessarily make the professor a better teacher. I want people who will teach my students. I also understand that just because you have background in a certain area that does not mean that you should be teaching that subject at a college. Well to that effect I think that co-teaching is a great way to go. This could be an issue because adults may not be used to this method of teaching and working together. But, I feel that it opens us up to know what it feels like once again to be in college. We all keep learning no matter where we are and what we are doing so I believe that this will give the professors a greater understanding of what the students are going through. Although the professors may have experienced college life before we do often forget what we do not need to worry about any longer. We could have a team of someone who has a degree in what the subject is as well as experience in teaching the subject. The other professor will have experience in field work on the subject and/or a heavy background in personal participation in the subject. I feel that this is the best way to reach students from a position on leadership touching on how we get people to listen and follow. This will help us to encourage the heart, enable others to act, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, as well as model the way. And this is just the beginning!
While it is the opinion of the individual whether there is enough diversity on the campus I feel that there needs to be a lot of diversity, whatever it may be to you.
I would also have more themed housing.
Overall I believe that an institution of higher education should be concentrated more than it is. The old fashioned idea of a higher education institution is a class of maybe five people who meet in a relaxed setting and have intellectual discussions. These days we dismiss this idea as too informal or not of a true learning setting. I'd like to bring that back. I love that Chatham is a small institution but not small enough. I'd like to bring to the table an idea of a small institution without making it feel that we are elite and exclusive. To have a laid back environment where you learn more because the professor is able to pay more attention to their students. This gives the student an opportunity to have a meaningful relationship with their professor. A personal relationship is not necessarily a negative effect to professionalism. It gives students a reason to be more interested in school.
Also, I do not see the need to take so many classes at one time. It is said that if you are trying to be good at one thing essentially you will never master anything. I think that this fully applies to classwork as well. While we should have to take classes in many different areas is there a reason that we really need to take them all at once? I did not think so.
The location is essential. I feel that a place that provides enough of a getaway is great. I farm setting that can easily be accessed but at the same time does not provide such an easy escape.
I just to create a place that feels like a real home. Not a house with nothing inside. A home with people who are willing to change and make their new house a home both in academics and in social aspects.

Reflection #4

I think that the most unrealistic aspects of being an RA placed upon us by students is that either we know everthing or that we can act as their mothers in the absence of their own. I love that my residents come to me with questions and I love that I can help them but I do not like the attitudes that I get whenever I do not have an answer. I feel like I am disappointing them but honestly it is more disappointing to me that the residents feel the need to make us feel about the same knowledge that they are lacking. I do everything in my power to find the answers that everyone needs. Also, if I do not know they usually do not ask anyone else. I think that as apart of coming to college is learning not to just ask questions but to ask a lot of them to anyone who may listen. I also think that every small concern should not be brought to an RA's attention every time it happens, especially if it is the same thing over and over again. Instead of stopping by the RA's room three times a day they should take care of it themselves, leave me a note, or send me an email. It's not that I do not want to hear it but it makes me feel like my mother when I am at home. I will repeatedly tell her that I am hungry until she sends me away, feeds me, or tells me to do it myself. I do not want to keep feeding my residents.
I feel that administration places too much stress on programming. It is already difficult to survive in college without the extra work. Taking the job we all know what we are in store for but it seems unnecessary at times. There is not high attendance at both programs. The six programs plus the cross campus and our teas are a bit much. If it was just one of these sets per house or apartment that would be fine but we forget that every RA is doing this amount of work plus what student activities are doing. It is a bit unreasonable.
I think that these things are expected because people associate the title with assisting in every aspect of living. Students expect us to help with everything and administration expects us to be the middle man or even catalyst to activity on campus and bringing everyone together as a community. I think that bringing everyone together is so important but at the same time it is more difficult when we have to spread the word and try to get participation for everything that is going on, on campus as well as do the same for our own programming.
I do feel that I have handled this well so far. I pass on necessary emails of programs or just have spontaneous conversations about programs that I know about. I take more effort into spreading the word on my programs as far as going the extra mile. Not that other programs are not as important but we should all expect that if we all pitch in to spread the word about programs that together the word gets spread. For our own programs we need to take intitiative more because no one else will do it and in fact it is our responsibility.

Reflection #3

I think that my SLPI results are interesting. I feel like I scored better in many areas than I thought that I would. I never thought that I would be the person who would enable others to act. For myself, I feel like anyone can make change, except me. I don't feel that I'm noticable. I think that my voice is too small to create change. I guess others don't see it that way. This gives me hope that maybe they are right. Everyone says that they want change but I am truly willing to give my life to change.
Encourage the heart is something that I take pride in being. Since it was a tie between this and enable others to act I chose this one to be my pride. Sometimes people call me sensative but it's not that I am sensative I just care. We all have emotions and sometimes this is what drives us to do what we do. If we don't have a drive then in what way will we be motivated? We cannot depend on others for a modivational source. It starts within.
I think that this will help me in our leadership project. Now that I know what I am good at I know where I should come in on the project as far as the process. I also think that it will help me as an RA because I know what I need to work on either within groups or individually to get better at. I know what to pay attention to and also I will get to understand how to use what I am good at to strengthen my weaknesses. Not to say that if I am good at something I will not work on it but I'd rather not have my strengths outway my weaknesses. Being fully capable, mobile, and well-rounded is a vital part of being an RA. I'd like to do anything in my power to see myself in a better place for my weaknesses.

Men vs. Men AND Women

I feel that gender always takes a role in the leadership experience. Whether its who is leading or who is being lead the atmosphere changes, so in turn you must as well. I do not believe for a moment that we all lead women and men the same. If we are in a group of women we tend to be harder on each other because we expect more from women. When leading men we take into account that we expect them to be strong as well but do not relate ourselves personally to their strengths as we do women. We do not know what it is like to be a man so we do not force more on them than we think they can handle, from an outside prospective. It takes a good woman to know a good man. But, in a position of leadership we do not always know the persons who we are leading very well at the beginning of the journey together, we are often times building relationships not extenuating them. So, it seems as if there can be one of two things going on: we expect a lot from the men that we have known previously, and we expect too little from men that we do not yet know. If you are a woman leading amongst woman you feel strong and empowered much of the time. You feel that there is an immediate connection because of the biological relation to one another. Although there are times when we may feel discomfort around women, we, as women, are usually able to find something within one another to ease the discomfort. We can always talk about our kids, cramps, OBG/YN appointments, or any other womanly aspects of our lives, because there are going to be commonalities no matter what type of person we may be, we are all women. On the matter of leading men and women, this can be a tricky subject. It becomes more of an individual thing in this case. I would initially treat everyone equally but as I see how everyone works, and what people prefer to do or not do I will adapt to their needs and come to them individually for encouragement in a way that I see fit for that person. There are certain aspects of leadership that appeal to men and women. Most people want their leader to exemplify stength and confidence in what they are doing. But sometimes men need for a woman to make them feel like a man to encourage them to work for the team; and woman may need to feel stronger, or as strong as the men in some fashion to work with them in a group. Everyone needs to feel like they have strengths in a group and of course everyone will have weaknesses, and these come by the person. By identifying the group strengths/weaknesses and individual strengths/weaknesses it is easier to lead men and women at the same time because the group does not always have to be divided into these two groups. If we ignore sex then it truly takes no merit in the group. If we just see a group with different aspects we can fix them as a group not as men and women.

My Residential Experience

My first residential experience was here at Chatham. I live in Fickes on the first floor. At first I felt independant... and then my family left and went home. I began to immediately miss their precense. But with the help of my friends I got over that feeling soon enough. I started to feel independant and like I belonged. I noticed that while everyone seemed to keep to themselves that only lasted about a few hours. By the third day of orientation eveyone had formed "cliques" and stayed with the same people at all times. Everyone was friendly to each other in the hallways and passing each other on campus but once settled that's where they were. We may think that college is different but it is the same as high school in the sense that when we find where we want to be and that's where we stay. The only difference is the labels. There doesn't seem to be any of that. But there is still the "Oh Laura, the one who hangs out with Allison from down the hall Laura? Oh yeah, I know her" type of thing. That is how we identify no matter where we are, or so it seems. No one is ever an individual or else we would not know who they are. But that is not always such a bad thing. People are always known for something whether it may be who they hang out with or what it is that they do. It's just that we do not know each other well enough to identify with anything other than the daily habits that we witness. Although, it seems as if people have known each other for years in how they interact with one another. People are always leaning on one another, talking about their problems, sharing anything that their new friends may need. It's not just that they are generous but everyone genuinely cares about the people that they hang out with. It is miraculous to see that people can be so close in such little time. That's the one thing about college that will always be good. The cycle of life is different. You live with these people, eat with these people, learn with everyone, and at the end of the day you are that much stronger together because of the massive time spent together. Never would we have gotten that in high school. College is a beautiful place.