When I was a junior in college, I volunteered to become a peer mentor. I worked for a tutoring program offered by the school for international students. I was assigned to a young woman from Pakistan who was a biomedical science major like me. Being a peer tutor required a level of independent leadership that I hadn’t experienced before. They had given me a list of topics that I should cover with my mentee, such as time management or studying tips, and I was also to tutor her in her science classes. However, the lesson plans were completely up to me and I had to arrange the meetings myself. This taught me that I have to be well-organized in order to be a good leader, and be prepared for every meeting. Since I was the only tutor, I had to know what I was doing for the day and know how I wanted to organize our meetings.
Thinking back to my five leadership qualities, I think that this experience helped me develop the qualities of input and intellectual the most. They are two qualities that go hand in hand, it is the love of knowledge and putting it to use in leadership. What better way to do this than by being a tutor? Not only did I have to learn or reteach myself the topics for each lesson plan, I also had to find a way to effectively teach it to my mentee in a way that she would remember and understand. This was a challenge to me, especially when I first began tutoring. I hadn’t had any experience in teaching before, except to help my friends with their homework. I had to figure out how to be a guide to her learning rather than an answer book.
Being a tutor was my first experience acting as a leader, rather than just working in a group. I had to figure out for myself what methods worked, and which ones didn’t. For example, at the beginning of this experience, I was very lenient with my mentee in regards to meeting times. As a result, she often would show up late or not at all. As the weeks wore on, I learned I had to be stricter about it and enforce the meeting times. Leading a group means that I can’t be nice and easy-going all the time. When it came down to it, I had to take on the responsibilities of being her teacher and make decisions to get things done. My first experience being a leader was definitely a learning experience for me, but I believe that it was essential to my growth as both a leader and as a person.
Thinking back to my five leadership qualities, I think that this experience helped me develop the qualities of input and intellectual the most. They are two qualities that go hand in hand, it is the love of knowledge and putting it to use in leadership. What better way to do this than by being a tutor? Not only did I have to learn or reteach myself the topics for each lesson plan, I also had to find a way to effectively teach it to my mentee in a way that she would remember and understand. This was a challenge to me, especially when I first began tutoring. I hadn’t had any experience in teaching before, except to help my friends with their homework. I had to figure out how to be a guide to her learning rather than an answer book.
Being a tutor was my first experience acting as a leader, rather than just working in a group. I had to figure out for myself what methods worked, and which ones didn’t. For example, at the beginning of this experience, I was very lenient with my mentee in regards to meeting times. As a result, she often would show up late or not at all. As the weeks wore on, I learned I had to be stricter about it and enforce the meeting times. Leading a group means that I can’t be nice and easy-going all the time. When it came down to it, I had to take on the responsibilities of being her teacher and make decisions to get things done. My first experience being a leader was definitely a learning experience for me, but I believe that it was essential to my growth as both a leader and as a person.