Final Recording and Reflection

Yenifer Mora

College of Education, Northern Illinois University

HESA 262: Helping Skills for Student Affairs Professionals

Erin Wilhelm

December 10, 2021

 Through our role-playing scenarios that we have conducted in class, I felt that I have

gained a lot of experience in how to handle potential real-life situations. However, this final

recording scenario felt rusty compared to the first one we recorded. I originally thought I had

created a scenario that would be easy for me to figure out, but I quickly realized I probably

should have practiced more and I also should have put more detail in my scenario. Although I do

not feel as though I did a terrible job, I definitely feel like there is room for improvement. In this

reflection, I will discuss the student development theory I tried to get across, where I felt my

strengths in my micro-counseling skills laid, as well as where I feel I can show improvement.

Learning Partnership Model

I chose to base my helping scenario around Baxter Magolda’s learning partnership

model, or more specifically the lack of a learning partnership model. The core beliefs of this

model are essentially to construct mutual respect and a mutual learning environment through a

built and established relationship between a student and mentor and/or supervisor (Baxter

Magolda & King, 2004). I chose to use this model to guide my interaction because I feel that it is

generally a model that is not heavily applied within Graduate Assistantships (GA) or other forms

of internships within higher education institutions.

In this helping interaction, I show that there is a struggle in mutual respect and mutual

learning occurring because my (hypothetical) GA reaches out to me to schedule a one-on-one

meeting outside of our regular meetings. In this interaction, my GA tells me that she felt like I

was not supporting her or backing her up when she shared an idea for an event for our

department to hold during LGBT+ history month. She felt that she “would have appreciated any

type of feedback” about her proposal, but instead felt “ignored and brushed aside”. From there I

let her know it was hard for me to defend a topic that neither of us is completely knowledgeable
on, and she goes on to say that she sees this as a great opportunity for everyone in the committee

to gain more knowledge on the subject. From there, we also discuss the lack of a learning

partnership model when my GA mentions that she does not feel as though she is gaining the type

of experiences she had hoped for and is looking to expand her time outside of the fraternity and

sorority life office.

Paraphrasing and Reflecting Feelings

Although I created this scenario to show a lack of a partnership learning model being

presented, I wanted to make sure that I, as the helper, did not take what my GA was saying to me

personally. The main way I felt that I showed micro-counseling skills in by paraphrasing and

reflecting feelings. These two are described as “helpers feeding back to helpees what they have

just communicated” (Reynolds, 2009). In short, it is a way for helpees to see that the helper is

listening to what they may or may not be communicating.

I feel that I really showed this when my GA describes the situation and how she felt

brushed aside and that she was not being taken seriously, so I paraphrased it while also reflecting

back/ clarifying her feelings by saying “so it is not necessarily that you were trying to push the

event to happen, but that you really wanted people to hear out the idea and you wanted

everybody to be more curious about the idea instead of shutting it down”. From there I affirmed

her feelings and stated that I would be more than happy to back her up if she felt comfortable

enough to present the idea at our next committee meeting. I know that this part of the interaction

went well because the helpee goes on to say “That is exactly what I am looking for I think I was

just also looking for someone to advocate for me”. So here the helpee is letting me know that my

interpretation of what she has communicated with me is accurate and she continued on to

problem solve how she can better prepare for the next meeting to propose her event idea.
 Although I felt that I showed a lot of strength within paraphrasing and reflecting feelings

throughout this interaction, I identified an instance in the beginning where I felt I did not do a

good job at doing that and in general missed the mark in that instance. In the beginning when my

helpee tells me that she created the meeting and tells me she was feeling unseen and dismissed, I

did not reflect her feelings back. I felt as though I jumped right into apologizing and telling her

that “I could tell something was bothering you” but then chose not to say something during the

meeting. In that instance I felt that if it had been a real scenario or if the roles were reversed, I

would have continued to feel as though my feelings were not being validated. In general I feel as

though throughout the interaction I did too much talking and not enough listening.

Conclusion

The biggest takeaway I feel I received from this final recording is how important it is to

continuously have student interactions, even when they are not centered on helping. I felt that

because at this point in the semester we were not doing as many role-playing scenarios as well as

in my real-life GA I do not have many student interactions, I feel rusty in my interactions with

people. Even this past week when I was meeting with students and other community people for

events and such, I felt like I was coming across as awkward because I am not getting that one-

on-one interaction practice at any point during this semester aside from the semi scripted role-

playing in this class.

 References

Baxter Magolda, M. B., & King P. M. (2004). Learning partnerships: Theory and models of

practice to educate for self-authorship. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Reynolds, A. L. (2009). Helping college students: Developing essential support skills for student

affairs practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. [Helping]