I have been fortunate to always be satisfied with the way my supervisor oversaw my work. I have been even more fortunate to have experiences within the last year which have shown me how much more satisfied and productive I can be with a healthy supervision style. Another stroke of luck for me is that I get to experience two supervision styles in my current internship. One is very hands off, but offers support when asked. He has also made me feel welcome to come ask for help or support which is even more important than being willing to help. My other supervision style experience in this internship is incredibly nurturing and gentle. Even when I make a mistake she makes me feel as if I couldn’t have helped it, and I never felt like she was mad or disappointed. These experiences and the other experiences I’ve had in work environments have made me realize that a work environment is so much more than just a work environment. It is also a learning environment, and especially for new professionals it is an environment where we should be able to grow. Just as we learn in student development theory and in theories on environments and apply them to the university setting for student learning, we can apply the same theories to our work environments. In hostile, uptight, and accusatory environments, you cannot perform to your best ability and you cannot grow in your professional knowledge and practice. Then, just as everyone has a different learning style, they also prefer a different supervision style and will perform best under that style. I know that I prefer one that challenges me and demands a lot of me (which I learned from my first student affairs experience), but is still nurturing, trusting, and understanding (which I have learned from my cumulative experiences at Penn State working in student affairs). This is also a good thing to consider when reflecting on my own supervision style working with students and something that I am aware will be very important in my professional life.
The wonderful thing about having an internship in a busy office is that I have been given some spectacular opportunities, the most engaging of which is meeting with students. While I am so grateful to be given this opportunity and be trusted my role so early on, I was still extremely nervous going into my first meeting. While I felt ready to actually meet with the students, discuss their needs with them, and even document the process after the meeting, I was concerned with some of the technicalities.
Part of that worry had to do with the fact that the Office for Disability Services is indeed incredibly busy at this point in the semester. That means that there is a real possibility that one of the disability specialists may not be available if I have a question or concern. While logically I know that I can wait until one is available, I also recognize that using that method would not be best serving the students. An additional facet of my anxiety heading into my first day of student meetings was the technology, which turned out to be warranted. Each student is given an accommodation letter which is created during the meeting, after a conversation about their classes and their needs for the semester. That letter is then printed on letterhead and copied for each class the student is enrolled in. During my first meeting I discovered that my computer was not connected to the printer which uses the letterhead. I felt really bad because I ended up keeping the student waiting for about 10 minutes while I spoke to the Director (who thankfully had just ended a meeting), emailed the letter to him and had him print it. It took until my third and final meeting of the day to iron out my technical problems, but at that point it all ran smoothly. Looking back (and even more my meetings I recognized this), I should have made sure my technology was ready beforehand. While I enjoyed my first day of meetings and learned a few things about interacting with students in these types of appointments I think I would have been more effective and learned more from the experience had I been more present. I’m truly looking forward to next week’s meetings, feeling more prepared, and being to engage more deeply in conversation with my students. |
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