Critical Reflection On The Cmcl 401 Class

This semester began on January 8th, and today is January 22nd. In my mind, today’s ZOOL 401 class was the last chance for something to happen before I have to submit this critical reflection on Wednesday. I have been worrying about how nothing “interesting” has happened in the class since January 8th that I could reflect on. I have not faced any particularly difficult situations or had to interfere and prevent a fight (like Bre and Dr. Stowe mentioned on the first day of CMCL 507 class) or even been asked any questions. My work thus far has consisted of walking around for about 10 minutes out of the total 50 minutes, listening to what a student group is talking about, and wanting to contribute but being unsure as to how I could engage. Altogether,

My past experiences with peer mentors were in Fall 2015 in BIOL 435. The class was arranged similarly to my host class – we were in groups, we had group activities, and the peer mentors moved through the class during group activities, stimulating discussion and clarifying concepts through discussion. The peer mentors were extremely involved in the class, and the way the learning was structured allowed a larger, more interactive role for the peer mentor. As I am writing this, I am beginning to understand that the differences between their role and my role as peer mentor lies in the way the classes were/are structured. Specifically, BIOL 435 was a very student oriented class, where we had to learn the material on our own before class, and the lecture provided explanations for the more difficult concepts. The lecture was perhaps 20-30 minutes long on average. The remainder of the time was devoted to group projects and worksheets. My host class, while similar to BIOL 435 in certain aspects, is more lecture-oriented. The time I have, as a peer mentor, to interact with students is very limited. Aside from asking a student what their group was