Mentor Reflection

The purpose of this memo is to reflect on class readings and discussions, share emerging questions, and capture evolving thoughts about my own philosophy and sense of identity as an educator. Reflecting on the class readings, my philosophy and identity as an educator developed and evolved over the past five years.

My passion and value for education derived from my parent’s inability to attend school past the third grade because they needed to work to support their families. My parents struggled with a low socioeconomic background and moved to America for the American Dream. My parents’ American Dream was to search for opportunities to make a living and create a better life for their family. As a minority in the United States, my parents frequently

I recently facilitated a Resident Assistant seminar and implemented learning tools into my curriculum. The seminar was flexible for me to provide a space for various learning styles, such as individual reflections, pair sharing, and small and large group discussions. The different learning styles encouraged the resident assistants to challenge their process of learning and engage in activities outside of their comfort zone. To accommodate the challenges of trying new learning styles, I incorporated a support mechanism where I can encourage and motivate them to come out of their comfort zone and engage in the learning environment. In addition, the course offered flexibility for students to study things that are meaningful and relevant to their life and interests by selecting their own paper and presentation topic. The course also embraced Cogenerative dialog for the students to generate ideas and set goals for each other while taking ownership in the curriculum. As an educator, I am interested to enhance my personal growth and development by learning from students and accepting feedback. I implemented a fast anonymous feedback form in each session for the students to provide suggestions on how I can improve as a facilitator, changes to the structure of the course, and whether the lesson plan fulfilled their needs. The feedback was important to me because my philosophy and teaching styles may change throughout my career and I want to remain receptive to suggestions and open for improvement. Although the seminar was for six weeks, the resident assistants were motivated to work hard and master the skills necessary to reach their goals of becoming better leaders on