(no subject)

[katallison]

So we have now lived through the first full session of Orientation (first out of 15 total), and I am, as always during this special time of year, utterly jellified with exhaustion. The usual jellification was enhanced this year by the fact that a couple of my colleagues prodded me at the 11th hour (e.g., last Thursday) to pretty much completely change the format and structure of the whole thing, which led to an insane weekend in the office lashing together new schedules, new handouts, new staffing rotations, etc. etc., and then trying to get the changes across to the rest of the staff in a high-speed training session. (Me: "OK, so we're now doing the College Meeting [this way]." Advisor X: "Uh, when you say [this way], do you mean [this way]?" Me: "Yup." Advisor Y: "I'm sorry, so you're saying -- [this way]?" Me: "You got it, yeah." Advisor Z: "So we're not doing it [that way]?" Me: "That would be a no." Etc.)

And after having gone through a whole session of doing it [this way], I am led to two conclusions:

a) my colleagues were correct; this is a better way to do it; despite which,
b) I really hate doing it this way.

Well, "hate" is a strong word; the way we're doing it now just doesn't work for me, which probably proves nothing more than the fact that I'm basicallly unfitted for working with college freshmen. See, what it boils down to is that my basic conceptualization of freshman orientation is:

--there are certain key pieces of information students need to have imparted to them (gen ed requirements, registration policies, etc.);
--this information is fairly complex and not intuitively obvious;
--thus, what is needed is to present this information to them clearly, with good visual aids, in a well-structured yet lively and entertaining fashion.
--And if there's one thing I am good at (I say immodestly) it is getting information across to people in the above manner; I am a *damn* good presenter of information.

HOWEVER. The salient truths I was overlooking in all this are:

--however much the freshmen may need this information, they really are not (for the most part) at all interested in it, or able to absorb it.
--Instead, they are utterly and consumingly preoccupied with their own nervousness, their social anxieties about fitting in and finding friends, their sense of lostness in this vast new place.
--So it doesn't matter if you're the best freakin' presenter-of-information on the planet, everything you say to them is basically going to go *splat* and slide to the ground.

In recognition of which, my colleagues proposed that instead we break the students into small groups, have them do dopey little exercises and games, and then have the advisors sit with them in their small groups and facilitate a discussion.

And, see, while I am a damn good presenter, I totally, completely, and unequivocally suck at any task that begins "Break into small groups and facilitate a discussion around ..." Just typing the phrase makes me twitch convulsively. I have no more conception of how to "facilitate a discussion" than I do of particle physics. (In fact, I'm probably sounder on the particle physics.) This was my downfall as a graduate student in Counseling Psych--the Group Therapy stuff. (Because the only thing worse than "facilitating a discussion around..." is "helping people process their feelings about..." Arrgh.)

However, having observed the sessions thus far, I am forced to admit that, once again, my colleagues are brighter than I am about stuff. The students are engaged, they talk, they seem to gain confidence and energy. And as my colleague J said, "I guess it doesn't matter that they're not getting all that stuff about the gen ed requirements and so on, because hell, they forget it all by September anyway."

Fortunately, because I am now Administrator rather than Advisor, I don't have to actually do the discussion-facilitating gig. I just get everything set up, and I have a little five-minute window to do my high-speed lecture about the gen eds, and then I sit and watch bemusedly as all my colleagues get in there and Discussion-Facilitate like champs, like this is something people actually do, which I guess it actually is. People who are not me, that is.

Comments

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm glad it works. But you're not the only one who comes out in a rash at the phrase "break into small groups..."

Eeesh.

[debchan.livejournal.com]

But you're not the only one who comes out in a rash at the phrase "break into small groups...">

*twitches* Ditto. The only thing worse, IMO, is the phrase, "Turn and greet/hug your neighbor." No THANK you.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Oh god, that's on par with "Tell us all a little something about yourself." ::SCREAM::

[umbo.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[flyingtapes.livejournal.com]

word.

[panisdead.livejournal.com]

Because the only thing worse than "facilitating a discussion around..." is "helping people process their feelings about..."

Ahahahahahaha! Preach it, sistah.

[namastenancy.livejournal.com]

Hon - you are about the only person who can write about this and make it both interesting and funny. Good luck on the changes that are coming.

Sometimes change is good??????????????????????



namaste SF nancy

[heresluck]

Yeah, see, I get a big kick out of the facilitating-small-groups thing; but I totally understand that if it's not something you're good at it would be a really twitchy uncomfortable thing to hang most of an orientation session on. It can be hard to give up what *we* do well, even when it conflicts with what students need -- I have to call myself out on that one all the time.

I'm sorry the changeover was stressful for you, but it sounds like everything went well; and given that you're no longer an advisor and thus don't have to actually *deal* with the small groups, it sounds like once you've adjusted a bit (hey, you have 14 sessions to practice) the new system might actually be a bit easier on you, too.

[alexfandra.livejournal.com]

OH, how I relate...we force our new grad students to stand up in a lecture hall full of fellow students and faculty members to "tell us a little about yourself". Aiiiiiiiiiiiiieeee. We also make them do a silly "ice-breaker" game along the "three true things and one false thing" line. It's just painful. Plus we require them to get their pictures taken. But to make up for all this torture, we feed them pizza, and because they're grad-level and old enough, we can toss in free beer as well. Trust me, *everyone* in the department looks forward to the end-of-orientation-week Free Pizza and Beer Bash.

Now relax and think about the weekend -- hopefully a weekend in which you don't have to work!

Not boring, sorry. Funny!

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

I needed it, too.
I was relating way too well to this, given events at work lately.
As a participant in such group follies, I've decided it's much more fun to identify the official slant on events, and then see where I can adjust it to suit me better, very much as I would in structuring viewpoint in a story. What angle can you take on this group effort that might be more entertaining, or insightful, or just break up the lockstep a bit?
It can be very funny when you assume a consciously different slant on the tasks at hand, especially since so many people herd together in panic and assume the whole point is to prove how much alike you are to everybody else.
I see very little point in attempting that, since I don't even pass the physical for "conventional", let alone the mental tests, and by this point everybody at work knows it. So why not?
I do love giving people some *really* amusing things to play with on that "Tell two things true and one false" game.
Being in Sf & F, with any tech background at all, you can really play with their heads. They're busily into the "social butterfly flit flit" phase, which is incredibly narrow. "I own a blue car! Gee, no, it's *green*, heee heee titter!"
I like to get out a can opener to expand their view into the wider world, now and then.
As a very large woman who resembles Sumo-Woman much more than Charlie's Angels, in the past I have hit them with, to wit,
"I own stock in Caterpillar Company, I am a green belt in Kempo Karate, and, every few months I replace my pressurized CO2 gas cylinder at a local welding shop."
It's always surprising how many people need to have it explained that Caterpillar makes earth-moving equipment. You'd think they never looked at those bulldozers working downtown all the time.
PS--the Caterpillar one is false.
And I need to replace the cylinder on my fish tank again, sigh. Matter of fact, I'm an amateur compared to the guys who use them all the time, and it still makes me nervous handling and adjusting the full cylinder, so I hate hauling that thing around.