Over the course of the semester being a preceptor for statistics has been an absolutely priceless experience. I have had the ability to help students feel more confident and succeed within this course in ways they didn't think they could and reach out to students in ways I didn't think I could.
Beginning this experience, all we wanted was for the students to grasp an understanding of this course, hopefully take an interest and relate it to other areas in their lives. I want to say that we have successfully given this class the knowledge and skills needed to know to thrive in this course.
One very valuable thing I learned was how to teach students in various ways. Some students needed me to draw more diagrams and charts in order for them to understand the lessons while others needed to hear examples where they could plug the numbers in and understand where this would be applied in real life.
Sometimes it was a struggle meeting with new students and trying to figure out what the best way was to explain the information that they needed help with. After a week or so of working with students, I was able to adapt to different learning styles and personalities and teach them what they needed to learn.
I thought that would be a challenge during this semester and I am happy to say I overcame it fast during this experience. I am the type of person that gets nervous giving a presentation on my favorite topic in a class. If you told me at the beginning of the semester that I would be teaching 30+ students and hosting review sessions, I would have laughed.
I never would have thought I would learn so much from helping these students. It truly was a very rewarding experience when students would come to the review sessions nervous and confused, then would leave thankful and confident for their next exam.
If you ever have the opportunity to help students, do it. It could be intimidating at first, but at the end of the day, they are just like you and you never know the influence you can have on them.
After being a preceptor, I realize that I truly do have a passion for helping students succeed and understand given materials in classes. I am thankful to have had this opportunity of being a peer mentor also being able to provide students with my own knowledge from taking the course and relating to them student to student.
