Preparing for Finals

Below are some tips for your students as we are approaching the finals week:
1. Organize your materials: Gather together your notes, handouts, and reading materials for the class.
2. Make up a study guide (some instructors do provide study guides for you): An outline of the material that may be covered on the test. In addition to topics, your study guide may include the readings and the pages and dates of the notes for each topic.
3. A few weeks before the exam, ask the instructor to tell you about the test. Here is the info you might want to know:

• What material will the exam cover?
• What material should be considered most important?
• What type of test will it be?
• What type of questions will be on the test: true-false, multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, matching, identification, short-answer, essay, problem-solving, other?
• How long will the test be, and where will it be given?
• How would the instructor recommend that you study for the test?
• Could the instructor provide a study guide of what to study?
• Will the test follow the forma of earlier tests?
• Are any old tests available for practice?

4. Make a study plan: Make a list of what you need to prepare to learn all what you need to learn. It is a simply TTD list for a specific exam. As a general guideline, figure at least an hour of study time per week of instruction. If the exam covers an entire fifteen-week semester course, you should plan on studying fifteen hours for the final.

When you are facing finals, make a calendar with allotted time for all courses you are studying for, for each day the week before finals. If you work, see if you can take time off work during exam week.

Before the exam:

• Get enough sleep.
• Eat beforehand.
• Be sure you know when and where the exam will be given and allow yourself enough time to get there.
• Have all your equipment with you (paper, pencils, pens, erasers, other special equipment)
• Bring gum or hard candy if it helps you concentrate

Handling test anxiety:

• Make a phone call.
• Take an exercise break.
• Take a meditation break.
• Learn one thing well.

During the exam:
Follow exam directions carefully. If you can write on the exam, underline key directions, and make notes on each section to remind you of the instructions.
Plan your time: the basic principle is to allow the time in proportion to the amount of credit given for each section.
After the exam:
Take time to reward yourself for your hard work!

Strategy of the Week

One of our graduating academic mentors Kelsey Baubie suggested this idea - and I thought it was great! To help you continue incorporating strategies in your sessions, I've decided to run a regular strategy of the week/month feed on this blog. The purpose of this idea is to have everyone use the strategy posted as the "strategy of the week" during their sessions, and perhaps offer some feedback in the comments section of this post about how useful this strategy was, how you've adjusted it to your sessions, and whether you would like to continue using it in future.
I would update the strategy of the week bi-weekly until the end of the semester. There is also a possibility to identify the "strategy of the month," and the "strategy of the semester"!

So this week's "Strategy of the Week" is:

The one minute paper is designed to help students realize what they know or do not know i.e. "check for understanding." The academic mentor should ask the student/-s to take out a piece of paper and write on the topic presented by the leader. Remind them it is most important that they put their thoughts on paper in their own words, not that they produce polished piece of writing. If you are working with two or more students, you can have them share their response with each other.

You may use one-minute papers at the start, in the middle, or at the closing of your session. At the start, it would be used to check student's understanding of the material covered in lecture, and to identify the challenges needed to be addressed at the session. At the closing, you may use it to get students' immediate feedback about the session, to measure the degree of student's understanding of the material, and see whether the material discussed presents further challenges for the student. 

I also think the one-minute paper strategy is great to be used in the beginning of the semester, as a tool to tell each other more about yourselves. In this case, both mentors and students could do a "one-minute paper," and share it with each other as a way to do introductions. All in all, great amount of imagination & exploration could be used with one-minute papers!

Messages to Mentors

I was thinking for a while about what it means to be in a mentor-mentee relationship, and what the unwritten rules of this relationship are. As thoughts started to pile, I thought I should put them on paper and post here - to facilitate your reflections around the topic.

So here it is - my finalized (but not final) list of messages to you, mentors:

Mentorship is a two-way street: you will get as much as you give. I've heard this saying a few days back, and the idea has stuck with me: "What I am to be, I am now becoming." No one expects that you are perfect in your mentor role, shortcomings are essential, and growth is an important component of this process. Mentorship requires courage, not only from a mentee, but also from a mentor, to be able to face and acknowledge their own shortcomings. Be okay to receive feedback. Think back to your experiences working with students so far. What have you learned from these experiences? What have you learned about yourselves as individuals and as mentors? Are you okay with the feedback you've been getting so far (verbal or non-verbal), and how does that influence your own growth as academic mentors?

This leads to the next line of messages:

As a mentor, you have to know yourself. You have to know what you stand for, and that will influence what your mentee stands for. You have to know what your values are, and how you communicate them. Do you value honesty, work ethic, or integrity most? How do your behaviors communicate these values? Are you explicit about them in your messages, attitudes, and actions? Continue reflecting on these as each one of them makes impact on your students.

As a mentor, you also have to think how you cultivate the stories. Are you curious about your mentee? If you like someone, they will like you back. Be available (I know it's hard, but make time to be available). Strive to make those around you important. This note is especially important, and it ties back to our previous discussion around building the self-worth and self-confidence, breaking stereotypes, and facilitating the trusting relationship with your mentee.

We are who we are through other people. Think of mentors in your own lives, people that affected your decisions, choices, paths. What were the messages they sent you? What sort of behaviors they cultivated in you? How did they go about influencing you? Think of your own experiences as mentees and how these experiences affected your current mentoring relationships. Think of the messages you find yourself repeating to your mentees. How did they come to life, and how did you grow into accepting them as your own?

Lastly, think of the biggest message you send to your students through two-three months or semester of academic mentoring. Are you igniting the life-long learners, individuals passionate about biology/chemistry/math, or those interested in making good? The one thing I've heard the other day that stayed with me: become an interesting person. What is one or two things that will ignite in you that interesting person? College is the time to identify these one-two things, and pave your way to them. I hope this message is also among the many others you send to your mentees.