KENNETH VELEZ

URI 101 Section 66Fall 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction Learning Contract Annotation One Evidence for Annotation One Annotation Two Evidence for Annotation Two Annotation Three Evidence for Annotation Three Closing Statement

INTRODUCTION After taking URI 101 as a freshman in college, I learned so much just a student. My mentor, Corrine Hawes,

did her best to make sure our class was best prepared to encounter all of the new experiences we would go through while at URI. Her attitude, charisma, and organization made the class so enjoyable for me and ever since then, I became interested in following her footsteps and I started to see myself as a URI 101 mentor. I didn’t immediately apply at first because I was unsure whether or not I actually wanted to stay at the University of Rhode Island. At the time, I was deciding on whether or not to transfer however I was able to finally able to come to a decision to stay and while here, becoming as highly involved as I could. After my future was more certain, I was already set on applying to become a mentor and had no doubt in my mind I would be accepted. This was something that I really was adamant about being apart of and now with my first full semester under my belt, I can confidently say, it was what I expected and more.

I am a Marketing major and so I was content with being chosen as a mentor for “wanting business” students. However, there were a couple of changes made within some of the URI 101 sections and my “wanting business” changed to “Political Science”. When I first heard of this change, I was really hesitant because I became less confident in my ability to help students who were studying a different major than I was. Regardless of the change, my instructor, Deb Grant, and I were ready to go to work and make the semester an interesting one. I was also really happy with having Deb as an instructor because she already had prior experience teaching a section the year before. When we first met, we immediately clicked and we had similar plans and goals for our section. From the beginning, I was ready to meet my students and actually take the drivers seat and see what it felt like to teach a URI 101 section.

I had many different expectations on how my class would receive me and even in my CSV class, I felt more comfortable knowing that my fellow mentors had some of the same fears and expectations that I had. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous to see how the semester would start off including how it ended up. However with a superstar instructor by my side, a motivated group of peers to provide as a support system, and with two outstanding CSV instructors in Kim Washor and Kate Scozzaro, I was so ready and excited to start of the semester.

After starting our first class, I really enjoyed getting to know all of my students and I lost that nervousness and began to feel more comfortable in class. My main goal for the class was to make sure that the students came away with at least one thing, whatever it was. Going through the whole semester, it felt good to interact with the students and be there to help them with any questions they had. Being able to be a positive influence to freshman in college was probably the most rewarding aspect of URI 101 for me.

LEARNING CONTRACTSKenneth VelezLearning ContractURI 101 Section 66 Topic: Facilitation and ProcessingGoal: To plan and implement a successful class activity about Time Management.Activities: Conduct a time-management activity found on the URI 101 Mentor website.

Process the activity with the class.Evidence: Include a copy of activity sheet.

Include a description of the post-activity processing I conducted. Include student evaluations on the success of the activity.

Topic: Utilizing Campus ResourcesGoal: To motivate my students to become more responsible and active academically and socially within the Kingston campus. Activities: Attend AEC presentation.

Invite Dan Graney, Director of Substance Abuse, to hold a presentation on alcohol abuse. Facilitate activity about Diversity on campusPost forums on Sakai about utilizing campus resources.

Evidence:Include copy of processing questions of Diversity activityInclude copy of my posts as well as student responses on SakaiInclude of copy of handout of all student organizations available on campus.

Topic: Presentation and Communication SkillsGoal: To have each student lecture in front of the class and communicate with their peers effectively. Activities: Facilitate an activity where each student teaches a 3 minute “How To” course called “Mini-University”.

Have each student present their Diversity week and student organization involvement papers to the class. Conduct an activity that mimics “Bingo” and each student has to interact with one another to find out which student corresponds to one of the boxes that lists an activity that someone has done.

Evidence: Include copy of “How To” instructions and criteria sheet. Include copies of bingo sheets.

ANNOTATION ONETopic: Facilitation and ProcessingGoal: To plan and implement a successful class activity about Time Management.Activities: Conduct a time-management activity found on the URI 101 Mentor website.

Process the activity with the class.Evidence: Include a copy of activity sheet.

Include a description of the post-activity processing I conducted. Include student evaluations on the result of the activity.

The following evidence is an example of an activity that I implemented with my class regarding time management and creating a “self budget”. I just called this activity the “Personal Budget” because each student was supposed to allocate a certain number of hours from their “budget” to everyday activities, tasks, and chores they normally do. I gave each student about 10 minutes to think about all the activities they spend all their time doing and then we processed how many hours were used and weren’t used by each student and what ways they could better manage their time.

I felt it was really important to show my students that now that they were full-time college students, they had to invest a lot more time into their school work as well as balance many more responsibilities. This activity is very crucial in some ways because it actually lays out how many hours each student invests into certain activities. I believe the post activity processing was the most effective part of this exercise because it was a great discussion starter on how each student personally has adjusted to college and be able to share advice with each other.

The purpose of this activity was solely to show the students on how important and helpful managing time is, especially in college. I know for a fact that I never used a planner before I came to college. Being in college, I became so involved in so many extracurricular activities and of course there are only so many hours in the day where learning how to prioritize becomes such an essential skill. Coming to college can often be too much for new students and so you become overwhelmed with so much that is going around you and it is easy to get distracted. This activity was meant to act like a guide and help the students realize what they need to spend more time doing or instead spend less time doing.

While doing this activity, I learned that a lot of the students spend around the same time doing a lot of the same activities. Many of the students , work part-time, play sports, and/or are involved in organizations. The same students said they spent at least 10 hours a week on one of these activities, if not all three. Processing the activity, many of the students were able to explain to the class what they needed to spend more time on doing compared to the rest of the activities on their budgets. It surprised me how involved all of my students were and it was good to know that a lot of were able to prioritize effectively within their budgets and not go over budget on hours.

EVIDENCE FOR ANNOTATION ONEPersonal Budget

WorksheetPersonal BudgetFor your personal budget, make a list of all the people and activities

you will be committed to this semester. Include taking care of yourself, eating, sleeping, exercising, and commitments. Make an

estimate of how much time each week you will devote to each one. Finally add up the time. If you exceed 168 hours, you are over the

limit—there is literally no more time left in the week. 

EVIDENCE FOR ANNOTATION ONE “Personal Budget” Processing

Questions “What are some of the activities that you filled in on

the blanks?” “How many hours did you spend on school related

activities?” “How many hours were spent on activities outside of

school?” “Did anyone exceed the budget of 168 hours?” For those who didn’t exceed hours, what do you

think you could spend more time doing?” For those who did exceed hours, what do you spend

time doing the most?” “What activities could you spend less time doing and

which activities should you spend more time doing?”

EVIDENCE FOR ANNOTATION ONE Student evaluations of self

management “I try to do my homework the day I get it instead of procrastinating and doing it an hour

before its due…..I have a lot of activities I have committed to everyday which makes it harder to do my work, but I think that even if you only have a half hour, doing even just part of a paper or studying a small section of what will be on the test helps keep your stress level down later on.” - F/18

“Self management is an important part of living on campus at college. it is important that you find time to do things that uphold you self image such as eating right and exercising, and also things like being polite, not obnoxious and just making friends feel more at home. I think that these things are some of the ways in which you can uphold your self image while in college.” M/17

“I believe that the best way to manage ones time is by using an agenda.  My agenda is my life. I don't know where I would be without it.  It has helped me keep myself organized.  It has also helped me keep track of my assignments and their due dates so that I can make sure everything is handed in on time.  I highly recommend that everyone uses one.” F/17

“I feel that the hardest thing about college is trying not to procrastinate. There are so many things to do it's hard to actually sit down and do work.” M/18

ANNOTATION TWOTopic: Utilizing Campus ResourcesGoal: To motivate my students to become more responsible and active academically and socially within the Kingston campus. Activities: Attend AEC presentation.

Invite Dan Graney, Assistant Director of Substance Abuse and Prevention, to hold a presentation on alcohol abuse.

Facilitate activity about Diversity on campus (Stand Up, Sit Down)Post forums on Sakai about utilizing campus resources.

Evidence: Include copy of processing questions of Diversity activityInclude copy of my posts as well as student responses on SakaiInclude of copy of handout of all student organizations available on campus.

The following evidence is an example of different techniques and ways I tried to get my students more involved on campus. This goal was really broad and so I tried to encompass all different aspects of campus involvement as well as tie them into the different assignments they were required to complete such as the involvement paper as well as attending a diversity week event. My evidence shows how I got my class involved in different aspects of campus involvement including the writing on forums, attending presentations, and discussing their reactions.

I felt it was really important to include different types of media when trying to implement my goal. Having the students attend presentations kept them interested visually while having them log onto Sakai and write on some of the posted threads, also helped them to become better acquainted with using the Sakai website. Incorporating all these different presentations and lessons was important in informing the students about what dangers and conflicts they will encounter now that they are in college. It also was important to inform the students on what resources are available to them and give them an outlet to help each other out.

The purpose of this activity was to show the students how to get involved on campus as well as how to have fun in a safe, responsible way. The main purpose of all these lessons was meant to get the students more involved within the URI community and have them think more deeply of their actions, involvement, and beliefs. Using Sakai was really helpful in our class because its purpose was to allow the students more than one opportunity to express their ideas, feelings, or beliefs.

Throughout the presentations and lessons, I learned that our class had a lot in common with each other. Of course as with every class, most of the students kept to themselves however with the diversity activities, I was able to learn more about all of the students and they were also able to see how much they all had in common with each other. I also learned that using an alternate way for students to respond to topics, such as Sakai, makes it easier for students to share their opinions with each other. Students also tend to discuss more when they get a chance to post a topic thread or respond to another thread. I learned students react best to visual presentations so I plan to use more visuals in my future classes.

EVIDENCE FOR ANNOTATION TWO

Diversity Activity (Stand Up, Sit Down)

“Who was an only child growing up? Middle child? Youngest child? Oldest child? Twin? “

“Who was born on the West Coast of the U.S.? The Southwest? The Midwest? The South? The Mid-Atlantic States? New England? Rhode Island?”

“Who identifies their ethnic or racial heritage as being African American? Latino/Latina? Native American? Cape Verdean? Italian? German? Irish? Asian American? Scandinavian? Anglo Saxon? French? Russian? Indian? Did I leave out any groups?”

“Please stand if religion was important in your family growing up. “

“Who here had less than sufficient monetary resources in your family when you were growing up? “

“Who had more than sufficient resources?” “Who had just enough? Who went to a private

school? Public Middle Class School? Inner City or Working Class School?”

“Who has any piercings?” “Who has any tattoos?” “Who owns over 5 pairs of sneakers? 10? 20? 30?

Etc.,” “Who knows someone who is disabled or

handicapped?” “Who currently has a job? Who has more than one

job? Three?”

Processing Questions

“Does anyone have any reactions to seeing how many groups’ people were members of?”

“Does this exercise have anything to do with what is going on campus?”

“Why do you think I had you do this exercise?”

“What stood out for you?”

“Were there any surprises?”

EVIDENCE FOR ANNOTATION TWO Sakai Posts on campus resources

“Meeting with my advisor was very helpful. She suggested what classes I should take next semester and answered questions I had.” M/17

“Meeting with my advisor was very helpful, he helped me to change my major and set up my classes for spring semester.  He also gave me some helpful tips on how to organize my schedule to make myself be most productive.” M/16

“Since I am still Undecided, I have more freedom that others who have already chosen a major. However, if I didn't have to choose a major or a "practical career" in the near future, I would take as many art courses as I could. I would specifically take photography courses. My dream job would be to travel the world and document my travels through pictures. If I couldn't travel I would love to be an action photographer, focusing on the movement of dancers'. I could probably turn this passion into a profession, however, I do not think that URI offers enough courses for this to be my major. I would probably have to go to a big university, or a school that has more of a focus on art.” – F/17

EVIDENCE FOR ANNOTATION TWOStudent Organization

Contact Sheet

ANNOTATION THREETopic: Presentation and Communication SkillsGoal: To have each student lecture in front of the class and communicate with their peers effectively. Activities: Facilitate an activity where each student teaches a 3 minute “How To” course called “Mini-University”.

Have each student present their Diversity week and student organization involvement papers to the class.

Conduct an activity that mimics “Bingo” and each student has to interact with one another to find out which student corresponds to one of the boxes that lists an activity that someone has done. Evidence: Include copy of “How To” instructions and criteria sheet.

Include copies of bingo sheets.

The following evidence shows how the activities got the students involved in communicating more with each other as well as getting to know each other better. The bingo activity I did with my class was based on every students favorite band, artists, or song. I asked every student at the beginning of the first class to write down their favorite songs, artists, or groups, and from there I created a bingo game where each student would have to go around the class and interact with each student if they wanted to achieve “BINGO”. The mini university activity was meant to take each students best skill and in turn, turn that skill into a how to lesson for the class. Each student had to come up with one thing they would teach the class and then they would proceed to teach the class. After the activity was complete, we processed each of the lessons and discussed different teaching technique used as well as discussed different learning styles used by everyone.

It was really important for these two activities to get the students involved and talking to each other. My main focus was doing some fun activities that in the future would also help their confidence in public speaking and interacting with large groups of their peers. The most important aspect of both activities besides enhancing interpersonal communication was that each activity would be fun for the students. I also stressed to my students how important it was to consider their audience and what was relevant when teaching a lesson.

The purpose of these activities was solely to increase communication between the students and learn how to effectively speak in front of a group as well as learn about different styles. As I stated before, I believed both activities were a lot of fun for the students and although I did not give out evaluations of the activities, student feedback was all positive.

While doing these activities, I was reaffirmed on how interpersonal communication is so crucial in working in groups as well as in life. Doing these activities, I learned a lot about how each student decided to teach their lesson . I also learned more about each student and their skill set depending on what they decided to teach. I also learned a how freshman college students learn compared to how I learn now and how learning styles change throughout the years and learning about what does and doesn’t work. Most importantly, I really learned that letting the students take over and facilitate a lesson was very interesting and you realize how many interesting things they have to contribute to class discussion.

EVIDENCE FOR ANNOTATION THREE Mini-University

Each student is giving an index card. Then students need to develop a brief (2-5 minute) course on something that they have expertise in (how to change a tire, how to get more money from your parents, how to make Easy Mac, etc.).  After everyone is finished, each student goes around and explains their lesson.

Debriefing Questions

“How did you learn to do this skill/activity?”

“What do you think the best way to teach this is? Why? Is that how you learn?”

“What was the most comprehensive lesson to follow? Why?”

“How can we relate this to our academic career?”

EVIDENCE FOR ANNOTATION THREEBINGO Activity

Sheet

CLOSING STATEMENT I can’t even begin to explain how much fun it was being a URI 101 mentor

for the first time this semester. The experience was like no other I’ve experienced on campus. I am so grateful that I was chosen to become a mentor because now I couldn’t imagine myself not being one. Teaching this course has taught me a lot about other students but most importantly, it has taught me so much about myself. I’ve learned to become more responsible, organized, and professional thanks to my CSV instructors and my URI 101 instructor. Without their help, my semester wouldn’t of went nearly as well as it did. Being a URI 101 instructor has also given me a lot of confidence to speak in front of a group of other students and lead them in learning about what this university has to offer.

After going through the semester with my class, a lot of my expectations and fears I had in the beginning were quickly erased and the semester went so much better than expected. URI 101 was such a unique experience because it was me that learned a lot of from my students and the opportunity for us to learn from each other was special. I believe that having an instructor who already had gone through a semester, helped me out tremendously because she was able to know what does and doesn’t work.

My favorite part of the whole experience was interacting with my students and creating a comradery with them. I let them know from the first day that I was there for them and whenever they needed something, I was there. Along with the URI 101 experience, being in CSV was equally incredible. Being in a class with fellow mentors was helpful because I was able to draw so much inspiration and ideas from everyone else and bring those ideas back to my class. I hear it all the time but it really is true that being a mentor is such a rewarding experience. I can’t wait to have the opportunity to do this again next year.