Hixson Blog #12 - 

    In class last week, we have a lecturer discuss diversity over ice cream. Towards the end of the class the speaker displayed photos of a woman and man and had us characterize how we felt or viewed their image. For the most part, responses were what I expected. Some classmates put down the typical denigrating stereotypes. One student, in my opinion, put a couple of offensive terms up. For the most part however, I felt the group was even-keel in their descriptions based on what they could possibly know from a picture of a model on the screen during a diversity lecture.

   I live in Iowa. It is a fairly white, middle-class state. For the most part, myself and other Iowa State students included are not exposed to as much to diversity as we would at other colleges it seems. This can be a problem at times. Unfamiliarity breeds uncertainty and can perpetuate stereotypes. The naive rural Iowan in me often overlooks the most basic physical differences. I'd like to think it does not matter what your racial background is or your sexual preference or anything along those lines. But dealing with diversity is something everyone needs to be accustomed too. Too often do bad things happen because someone puts an irrelevant difference into the spotlight and uses a difference to denigrate that someone's overall being.  

Hixson Blog #11 

    In class this week, we talked about ethics and strategy for good practice. There was something particularly awesome about the presentation of this chapter in the Hixson book... might have been the presenters or something but who knows... Anyway, the lesson focused on dealing with situations in which there may or may not be an obvious "right" answer. These situations involve dealing with alcohol, professionalism, and relationships as a small subset of potentially difficult decision-making situations. 

    One of the hardest parts of freshmen year to me was figuring out what was the right thing to be doing. As a freshmen, I really had no guiding compass other than the beliefs and values I carried over from my parents and pre-college life. At times, college can be a quite adept at putting new students into situations where knowing the right thing to do may or may not be apparent. College can often confuse one's moral compass. I was in environments in which I had never been in and some of them I wish I hadn't. I believe, after looking back, I made correct and ethical decisions most of the time. But, I could have used a lecture or a reading like this past weeks to help me think of all the consequences and outcomes of the decisions I make. I never thought about potential employers looking at my facebook a few years ago or my thoughts were never about anything more than what lie a weekend away. I truly hope that I can use this lecture in my seminar next year to maybe even help one student make a potentially life-altering decision for the better.

Hixson Blog #10 

     There really isn't too much to talk about in this week's blog. In class we worked on our digital story telling project.  From the look of things, it appears we have nearly all, if not all, filming done. At this point, we need to finish editing and applying background music.  It was a shock to me to hear that a few Hixson videos from last year were taken down for copyrighted material. Next year I will have to make sure to tell my Hixson class about using copyrighted music or video material. 

     This week, Easten and I have our Hixson presentation. I'll give you a sneak peek and say its about Ethics but other than that, you'll have to find out in person....

Hixson Blog #9 - 

     Spring Break and back again - so much has happened since my last blog. This Sunday, our Hixson group covered two major requirements set out in our syllabus:  the digital story telling project and lesson plans. Before meeting with Silas, I believe nearly everyone from class met to finalize the acting scenes set out in our movie. Sebastian and the other writers have done a great job making a workable script and Easten has done fabulous work in putting everything together. I had a lot of fun filming a scene where I got to be a henchman. With the exception of the karate chop from Jame Bond/Dane that sent me spiraling to the ground, filming was finished without a hitch. I believe we're now moving to the editing portion so hopefully we're getting close to a finished product.

    The latter half of the day was devoted to working with Silas on our lesson plans. If i'm not mistaken, I will need to have five completed before the end of the semester. One will come from my in-class lesson plan (I present next Wednesday fyi ), two will come from what I've done so far, and i'll have to scrounge two other ones up from somewhere. We focused on building a practical and workable lesson plan. One thing I learned to do was to have a grid style layout and include time estimates. It's always good to have backup plan in case I go too short on time. I can't imagine I'll have a day lecturing where I talk too much, but then again I've been known to ramble. The semester's end is within sight and its time to get everything in order to finish strong and have a solid foundation to work off of for next fall.

Hixson Blog #8 - 

     Tonight we had the etiquette dinner at the Memorial Union. It was, in my opinion, one of the best Hixson events we've had to date. We started off with a brief mix and mingle before being seated. I never really heard the ladies name (Artie???), but she had so many tips and suggestions. I was surprised something as seemingly insignificant as a dinner interview could be towards displaying to prospective employers attributes about myself. I've had a few formal dinners in my life, but never anything amounting to this level. 

    We learned about silverware placement, situational faux pas, mild mannerisms, and about presenting a strong and confident appearance to a host/employer. I've always been taught no alcohol at any work-related or formal event. I never knew how to set my silverware and where to begin. Can you believe it's most appropriate to chew at least 9 times on every single bite? Grab with the right hand and pass with the left - make sure to pass left to right though. Don't rip off the tops of any sugar packet or creamer, set your coffee cup in a specific place if you want coffee. Don't have your desert fork in the correct position? Well, then no desert for you. 

     There were so many things tonight which have been greatly beneficial to me. Some people feel a dinner interview is a time to relax and feel more confident. While the confidence part remains, your level of concentration and etiquette should be as much as you can give if you find yourself in this situation. I know now that before I go on any dinner interview with a potential boss I will review some of the things I learned tonight.

Hixson Blog #7 - 

    The first part of class this week was devoted to partner communication. To do this one partner had to guide the other partner, who was blindfolded, through an obstacle course. This event was symbolic of the need to have beneficial and purposeful communication when working together. Without adequate communication, a Hixson Peer Mentor group could be blind. In the sense of the obstacle course, this was expressed both figuratively and literally. Dylan and I worked well together. We would have been the first ones down with the obstacle course, but no amount of communication can overcome my disability of clumsiness caused by my height. 

     For the second part of the class we did a brief activity that involved flipping a blanket over but the blanket had 14 people on it. To do this, we had to further practice our communication skills and it involved a lot of group game planning and probably a little bit of rule-bending. Everyone got to know each other a little bit more up close and personal before the game was up.

    And for some reason, we finished off the night with a game of telephone pictionary. This game maybe illustrates how our messages can be misconstrued when they are passed from person-to-person. Another hypothesis - maybe we're not that great at drawing as a class. Regardless, I got a good laugh at my duck evolving into an alien autopsy(?) somehow. Class was cut a bit short at the end but I'm sure we'll go over it all this next Wednesday. I'm once again looking forward to another interesting Hixson class  this week.

Hixson Blog #6 - 

    In class this week, we had activities focusing on problem solving as a unit and a separate survey about leadership personalities. For the first half of class, we focused on Chapter 5 in our book which entails, "Problem Solving with Individuals." The class was split into groups of twos and every group was given a different task in which they had to work together to achieve a goal. One group had to build with play-doh, another (very lucky group) got to play super Mario, and in my group we had to create a story by alternating words. It was difficult in that it took a lot of effort to create a simple story. Michael and I did a good job and appeared to work well as a unit. This task was important because as peer mentors next semester, we will be called upon to problem solve with others and not just handle everything 'lone-wolf' style ourselves. 

     The second part of class was devoted to understanding different conflict management styles. I took a brief survey and after tallying my results, I was determined to be a collaborating conflict manager. This type of individual seeks win-win solutions where both parties are satisfied. This style works well in long-term relationships and when varying concerns are too important to be compromised. I feel this may be the best fitting conflict management style heading into next fall. My second highest score was accommodating. This means I have a tendency to shy away from conflict if I have no strong interests in the decision and mainly want to promote group harmony. I believe an accommodating conflict management style works well when trying to solve a lot of life's little problems. I feel it is best not to get too worked up or something if it isn't important to me.