HONORS 397A
This quarter in the peer educator training seminar has been a huge learning curve for me. Prior to this class I assumed I would be easily prepared to take on the challenge, but I did not fully appreciate how much work went into every unique aspect of a lesson. I have found that I tend to under explain things to myself and, without being recommended to do otherwise, I would have probably left myself incredibly vague instructions for Fall. I think that a major source of help in cultivating my understanding of what it really takes to run a class was through the readings that we did for the discussion posts. I think it is all well and good to possess traits that would make you a good teacher in once respect, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you will be skilled at facilitating a conversation or creating a space in which people feel they can talk freely about things. So, above are my discussion post responses.
One challenge that I faced was getting more confident in public speaking. To others, I do not seem the type to struggle with delivering information to large crowds, I am the first person to acknowledge that I talk a lot. However, in my experience my talking abilities are limited to group discussions and reading scripts. This class has both helped me develop the skill that I lack, but also I have adapted my lesson plans to be a lot more discussion based than they originally were, because I realized that I could tailor my teaching style to produce a lesson plan that benefits myself and the other students as much as possible.
The part of this class that I enjoyed the most was taking part in the icebreakers every class. This is not just because I found them enjoyable (the other peer educators did a fantastic job at creating fun, inclusive activities) but it is also because it gave me the opportunity to watch how other people would facilitate activities and gave me ideas for things to do in my lessons/ how I should be delivering my own lessons. For example, I loved the beach ball icebreaker so much that I decided to incorporate it into my teaching. I believe that my leadership and teaching skills will be better in September than they would have been had I not had the fortune of experiencing everybody’s ideas for kickstarting a lesson.
The thing that I am most proud of following this class was my individual teach. I decided to do mine on the health and wellness class because, in my opinion, it is the optimal class to really make an impact in. Mental and physical health are so important to me and I am so grateful that I get the chance to run an accepting and open class discussion about them. This teaching experience was the thing I was most nervous for but I felt well prepared and as though my fellow peer educators found my lesson to be insightful and enjoyable. It was also a great way for me to practice delivering a whole topic by myself because previously I had only done the group teach.
This has been such a different experience than any teaching I have done before, it has really required me to reevaluate what it means to be an educator. I am so excited to put everything that I have learned and worked on over the past three months into practice this Fall.
One challenge that I faced was getting more confident in public speaking. To others, I do not seem the type to struggle with delivering information to large crowds, I am the first person to acknowledge that I talk a lot. However, in my experience my talking abilities are limited to group discussions and reading scripts. This class has both helped me develop the skill that I lack, but also I have adapted my lesson plans to be a lot more discussion based than they originally were, because I realized that I could tailor my teaching style to produce a lesson plan that benefits myself and the other students as much as possible.
The part of this class that I enjoyed the most was taking part in the icebreakers every class. This is not just because I found them enjoyable (the other peer educators did a fantastic job at creating fun, inclusive activities) but it is also because it gave me the opportunity to watch how other people would facilitate activities and gave me ideas for things to do in my lessons/ how I should be delivering my own lessons. For example, I loved the beach ball icebreaker so much that I decided to incorporate it into my teaching. I believe that my leadership and teaching skills will be better in September than they would have been had I not had the fortune of experiencing everybody’s ideas for kickstarting a lesson.
The thing that I am most proud of following this class was my individual teach. I decided to do mine on the health and wellness class because, in my opinion, it is the optimal class to really make an impact in. Mental and physical health are so important to me and I am so grateful that I get the chance to run an accepting and open class discussion about them. This teaching experience was the thing I was most nervous for but I felt well prepared and as though my fellow peer educators found my lesson to be insightful and enjoyable. It was also a great way for me to practice delivering a whole topic by myself because previously I had only done the group teach.
This has been such a different experience than any teaching I have done before, it has really required me to reevaluate what it means to be an educator. I am so excited to put everything that I have learned and worked on over the past three months into practice this Fall.
HONORS 232
This quarter I had the amazing opportunity to attend the annual luncheon for the alliance for gun responsibility. Gun responsibility is something that I care deeply about, I have grown up in a country where I don't have to worry about being the victim of gun crime and I personally believe that it is so twisted to think that growing up in my circumstances has been a privilege instead of a right.
Attending this event was certainly an emotional experience, hearing from the parents of children killed in school shootings reduced me to tears.
This event did give me hope though, that so many people coming together to fight against a bigger evil made me so optimistic. Gun crime could drastically decrease in coming years.
Being involved in this event was probably one of the most enjoyable part of my quarter because I was able to take part in something bigger than my own life.
HONORS 212
"Although I cannot offer any insight as to which relationship has more moral worth, I can confidently say that both cases I have explored come with their unique prescription of what a relationship should entail. Both have their strengths in empowering women and providing for strong, passionate, long lasting love. There is still much to be evaluated in the cases of these Gods and Goddesses. Perhaps in the future, I will explore the ways in which these relationships are portrayed across many religions and traditions across India, and beyond. In the meantime, I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about these individuals, reading stunning poetry about them and thinking critically about how they apply to my own life."
Above is the concluding paragraph of the hardest assignment I faced this quarter. I had to write a paper pulling in everything I had learned in the ten weeks with my own unique perspective. I decided to write on Comparing the Relationships between Rama & Sita and Shiva & ‘Sati’. This class and paper were challenging to me because I had little to no prior knowledge about India or Indian culture, but I am glad I pushed myself and ended up being the most proud of this piece.