-
Inconsistency
-
Starting strong, finishing weak
and also vice versa, starting weak thereby making
future enforcement difficult
-
Lack of social life... becoming
too overwhelmed in the job
-
Trying to do too much early in the
semester thereby negatively affecting their academic
progress
-
RAs creating a floor dependency
on themselves rather than challenging the floor
to become autonomous and self-governing.
-
Violating a confidence even when
it seemed like it would be helpful to do so at
the time
-
Thinking they have to be perfect
and therefore being defensive or evasive about
a situation in which they realize they erred
-
Trying to appear too cool to residents
in an attempt to be
respected
-
Not being able to say no...they
realize mid-semester just how
overcommitted they've become and have to then
start begging off of things
-
Underestimating the time commitment
-
Not taking advantage of early semester
down time
-
Being overly aggressive towards
enforcement
-
Not spending enough time those first
few weeks getting to know the residents
-
Not studying the roster to aid in
the name/face recognition
-
Being unprepared for the first hall
meeting (too nervous, not planned out well, inappropriate
ice breaker, etc.)
-
Not giving concrete examples of
what it means to be in a community (acceptable
noise levels, use of public bathroom, saying "hi",
not leaving doors open/propped, etc)
-
Reflecting the message "I'm
here to be your friend" without the foresight
of how difficult that will make confrontations
-
Not realizing how drastically they
go from Jane or Joe Nobody to Jane or Joe the
RA everywhere they go...living in a fishbowl brings
about other mistakes like participating in gossip,
drinking with friends, etc, and they don't realize
just how those things can come back and bite them
later on
-
Not planning programs well in advance
-
Poor time management
-
They should avoid comparisons to
their predecessor
-
Not willing to ask questions
|
-
Confrontation style....letting things
slide "just this once" or being RA
Robo-commander
-
Lack of late in the year community
building
-
Not being available or accesible
early on
-
Not setting expectations early enough
in semester
-
Not clearly explaining the RA role,
especially to first year residents
-
Doesn't program early enough
-
Residents seeing poor organization
style
-
Friend/mentor/disciplinarian role
mixed up
-
Personalizing the behavior of residents...ie:
interpreting student misconduct as a personal
affront when in fact the behavior is not focused
on the RA at all
-
Being in for a rude awakening if
they think that student misconduct can be eliminated
simply by being friends with everyone...ie: assuming
that RAs friends "won't put them in that
situation"
-
Not taking enough personal time
-
Not realizing that behavioral changes
do not happen overnight
-
Forgetting that you have to gain
respect, it's not granted to you just because
of the title
-
Thinking everyone does see things from
the same perspective
-
Not thinking that its ok to ask for help
-
The willingness to work hard waning
too soon, meaning, they do a great job bonding
in training, getting the halls ready for opening
and welcoming the students, however, as soon as
the initial "welcome to college" programs
are done, they relax
-
Trying to do everything themself
without asking for help or delegating
-
Being reactive instead of proactive
-
Avoiding residents---try to spend
just 5 minutes a week with each resident at a
minimum to inspire confidence in using the RA
as a resource
-
Thinking, "Oh, I have a whole
semeseter to get this stuff done." They forget
how quickly those 15-17 weeks go
-
Trying to accommodate everyone's
needs and not being able to set up appropriate
boundaries
-
Not reporting incidents
-
Not establishing an open door policy
-
Using gossip, rumors or second hand
information for the basis of their opinion of
someone
-
Not developing a support system
on staff
|