For the last seven years, I have served as a Four Year Academic Advisor in Arts and Sciences. Each year, I have the opportunity to work with 5 first year students to assist them with their transition to Washington University. And the joy of this process is that I stick with them for four years!
This year, I took on TEN freshman advisees and have structured my time with them in a more intentional way. I am affectionately referring to my group as the "Brookings Seminar" because they all live in Lien House in Robert S. Brookings Residential College. Their photo is above, and so far--it has been quite a joy getting to know them.
We will meet for the first 8 weeks of the semester, twice in November, and have a celebration dinner in December. Why am I doing this and why am I asking them to join me in this adventure? It goes back to a few things: "Flow" and "Connection"!
My thought process goes something like this: If I were going to invest the time and energy to get to know them so I can be an effective, helpful advisor, I wanted to build the relationship on the front end. Knowing my advisees by name and story is important to me, and through regular contact and connection--I believe this to be more possible. Furthermore, there are topics to cover with them that will foster their personal and academic success. The weekly seminar provides an effective format for delivering that information.
And....I discovered that my advisees enjoy food: thus--another way to connect with them!
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1 comment:
My classes have been pretty much what I expected except for my physics class. So far it has been extremely basic physics.
So far I'm doing ok with managing my time, but I have had a few hectics nights already because of underestimating the time it would take me to do things.
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