Briana McNeil EDLD 8735 March 5, 2014 Mid-Term Reflection Describe your practicum environment.

Identify your mentor, other employees, clients served, and the organization itself. Identify some ways you initially tried to orient yourself to and gain acceptance within the organization. Rank your practicum experience thus far on a scale of 0-5 with 0= poor and 5= outstanding. Explain your response. My mentor is the Program Director for Higher Education Administration programs at Georgia Southern University. She is also an Associate Professor in the Educational Leadership program. As it relates to other employees, clients served and the organization itself, I have not had much interaction. The majority of my interaction has been with my mentor. We communicate primarily through email and conference calls. Some ways that I have tried to orient myself to my mentor involve time management. I have a lot of things on my plate that I am trying to balance and have struggled to keep my head above water. I found it encouraging finding out how much my mentor has on her plate. She is involved in various professional organizations, she is a professor, and doing all she can to pave the way for minority women in higher education. Knowing this has made me work a little harder at all that I do this semester. I would have to rate my practicum experience as a 4 thus far. I have enjoyed my time and all the projects I have had the opportunity to complete but I would have preferred to be on site completing this internship. I am a hands on person and I really wanted to be working in a department and seeing first hand how that particular college and department runs daily. However, I have gained valuable experience by revising my vita, drafting a syllabus for a doctoral level course, designing a PowerPoint presentation, and now preparing to work on an article. I am really looking forward to drafting and writing an article for possible publication. I have never completed something of this magnitude and I feel it will challenge me as well as offer me great experience in writing in higher education. I look forward to the remaining weeks of the practicum and all the things I have to learn.

Briana McNeil EDLD 8735 March 5, 2014 Mid-Term Reflection Discuss/reflect upon at least one of the components of your portfolio and its application to your practicum experience and/or a work experience. All the components of my portfolio will be a great tool to use when applying for a job. The portfolio serves as a visual resume in a way. I have chosen to use Weebly to design my portfolio for my practicum. One of the components of my portfolio is the key assignments area. This tab will list in detail all of my assignments and projects completed throughout my graduate program. The component is a major part of my portfolio as it features all of my work and objectives completed. This tab along with the overall design of the website will show that I can do various tasks and am comfortable with different forms of technology. The portfolio will help me focus on all the program standards and goals that I have met over the past two years. It is always nice to look back and see where you started to you can then turn and keep moving forward. This portfolio will help me to show potential employers what I can do and how what I have learned will benefit their institution. This portfolio is a valuable tool that can be shared not only with this class but something that I can use once employed. I can continue to add work completed to this site and build upon it every year. Even if I cannot continue to build upon this current portfolio I can create another one or create a hard copy of my work. What has been the biggest eye-opener from your experience thus far? Explain your response. The biggest eye opener from my experience thus far came when I spoke with my husband about the assignments I was completing for my practicum. It was then that I solidified my passion for academic advising and mentoring. I decided that day that I want to interview advising departments and find out their secret to success. I want to find out what these

Briana McNeil EDLD 8735 March 5, 2014 Mid-Term Reflection departments feel is there most important goals and how these goals are accomplished each year. In that moment I wanted to find out more about college advising models and their effect on students and their success during college. I want to conduct research and find out the student success rates, retention rates, completion rates, and student ratings for advising departments in colleges in Charlotte, North Carolina. I want to use this information to create a mentoring program that will benefit primarily first-year students but college students in general. One day I want this program to be implemented in colleges across the country. I want my program to have a curriculum that benefits all types of students who may need a mentor. I desire to revive peoples faith in colleges and their ability to educate and prepare our students for the real world. In that moment on that day I renewed my drive to make a difference in this world by first making a difference one person at a time. How is your and your mentors administrative philosophy the same? How is it different? Explain your responses. My mentors administrative philosophy is very similar to my philosophy. We both value mentoring and realize its importance for students and faculty in education. My mentor believes that mentoring relationships are essential for career advancement. She values mentoring especially that of minority women in education and aspires to mentor young women but especially women of color. After graduation I would like to work in the academic advising office and provide assistance to students more specifically first-year students. In the future I want to create a program with activities and support services that would cater to the specific needs of first-year students. The program that I create will hopefully meet the needs of the students. My

Briana McNeil EDLD 8735 March 5, 2014 Mid-Term Reflection mission is to teach, motivate, recruit, and equip students with the skills they need to be prepared for their first year of college and beyond. I am not certain of the administrative philosophy of my mentor, but I am sure that it is not too different form my philosophy. My mentor has to juggle a lot of different tasks at once and wear many hats for different people at different times. I also have a lot of things to complete on a daily basis and feel that if I had the same load as my mentor I may not do it as gracefully as she does. She has mastered time management and knows how to prioritize her to do list. I still have a lot to learn about time management. I hope to develop her philosophy towards administrative tasks and determination when it comes to mentoring young women.

Identify areas in which you wish you had more content knowledge or skills to better perform within your practicum experience. Explain the areas and the reasons. One area in which I wish I had more content knowledge or skills is the field of higher education itself. When I graduated with my undergraduate degree I was planning on going into the health services field. This was a dream of my family and not a dream of mine. I later realized that I wanted to use my skills in the field of education, which is when I decided to pursue my masters degree in higher education. I started out with middle school age children and found myself drawn to higher education. I feel that if I was currently working in the field of higher education that I would have been better prepared for my practicum experience. It would have made it easier to help my mentor construct my internship and I feel the benefits may have been greater.