Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Jessica L. Thompson
February 9, 2016
Reflection #5
As the 2nd Annual William Monroe Trotter Lecture approaches and I sit in reflection
around our last class when we learned how to listen in a generative way, I am overjoyed! After
meeting with the students who are participating in the lecture this past Friday, I was approached
by one of the student speakers who requested we meet in private. Upon walking into my office
I could sense that something was weighing heavy on this student. After inquiring about how she
was doing, she began to express her fears around the upcoming lecture. I could immediately
assess that my moment to apply what we have been learning in class was upon me and I could
As I continued to listen I could tell she needed to be reminded about how amazing she
truly is; as well as, how much I admire her as a person and a student leader. She felt as though
her story was not as important as other classmates stories might be, she also indicated that she
feared she would be perceived to be tooting her own horn after sharing her story at the lecture.
I reassured her that I chose her for very specific reasons and listed them all in full detail.
Additionally, I needed her to understand that success speaks for itself. I have watched her
mature and grow as a young woman over the years. She has never bragged about her successes
as a student or student leader, and her humility speaks louder than her potential words or typical
boisterous billboard behavior, oftentimes displayed by young student leaders ever could.
The moment had presented itself for me to refer to the list of core capacities, skills and
values we were provided when doing the listeners worksheet last Tuesday. She shared with me
some of the challenges and successes she is currently facing within the student organizations she
serves on the e-board of, she also shared that she is helping her cousin with his local city
government campaign and finally shared her excitement for graduation. Throughout her stories I
found an extreme amount of consistency in capacities, skills and values. I informed her that her
Journal #5: Generative Listening 3
I was certainly glad we had more than six minutes to unpack all of this and I am grateful
that I was able to reassure, affirm and encourage her. Our conversation ended with a hug and a
smile! I have proudly earned my Mama Trotter title and I am beyond words grateful for this
masters program! Learning how to be a cutting-edge Student Affairs practitioner is the most