Mentoring

A session was arranged to meet with the first year fashion and textile students the past week to potentially guide them and answer any issues or questions they have. Myself and Laura met with several girls who were worried about their upcoming PDP presentations, which I completely understand why. Whilst I was in the first year, I was filled with nerves for my first presentation as I am not a strong public speaker and was extremely worried about my out coming mark, however once completing my presentation I realised that I had overthought the whole process, as much as its important to succeed and gain a promising outcome, it wasn't as professional and formal as I thought it was going to be. I reassured them and told them about our experiences last year, we suggested to pick a subject that they feel strongly about or interests them the most as it is much easier to talk and work from something that you care about rather than not.

The use of images are extremely important and useful in the presentation as it is a visual presentation and also helps distract the audience and gives them something to look at (rather than you, which if you struggle speaking publicly, is extremely helpful). Although speaking in public is a big obstacle to overcome for some people, you have to realise that everyone in the class is in the same position as you and are probably just as worried as you are, which is what we advised them.

Another concern of theirs was the visual essay, as well as the presentation, its a first for them and they may not have touched on the subject since A Levels or GCSE (which I know I hadn't). I was extremely panicked with my essay as I often struggle to write and structure paragraphs, which is where an essay plan came in extremely useful. We also told them about all the help and information that Gill and Kerry will give them to help them throughout the task including how to Harvard Reference. I also prefer to start my essay in the first paragraph or middle of the essay rather than the introduction as I struggle to start at the beginning at times which I told them.

The past year has gone so fast and it is almost unbelievable how I'm over half way through my degree already! I enjoyed helping the first years and advising them on their work as I appreciated the help and advise I received from the second years last year.