The Joys of Being a Writing Center Advisor

It seems like everyone is pleased about their time spent with the 101 students.  That’s great!  As I read through the blogs, I noticed that everyone seemed to have a greater level of composure and were able to give the writer a better sense of direction.  I think the improvements in our sessions are a result of increased confidence and experience.  I know I went into the session with a lot of excitement and more of a “game plan” of how I wanted the meeting to go.  However, I could have never predicted what I would learn as a result of this experience.  I felt like my time spent with the 101 student was more than an advising session; it was a time to help the writer’s confidence, and really help them get their thoughts on paper.  For me, the session was so rewarding because I was able to see real potential.
I think that the “quiet” kid of the class can be overlooked by the teacher/professor and is sometimes regarded as unenthused or uninterested in the material.  Honestly, I felt like my advisee could really fit this description.  Although I don’t know his level of participation in the classroom, he was very quiet, and quite shy.  With that said, I could tell that he was really eager to answer my questions and produce a quality paper.  He was a very deep thinker, and I soon discovered that his ideas were really great.  It was just difficult to for him to get them down on paper.  I felt like the entire session had to be a delicate balance of encouragement and direction.  At times, the silence lasted for what seemed like an eternity.  The whole time I was praying that Mike didn’t walk by and wonder why my advisee and I were just staring at his paper! J

I previously hinted about my epiphany—being a Writing Center tutor is even more rewarding than I previously thought.  As I worked with the 101 student, I realized that he truly wanted to produce a great paper, but he was an inexperienced writer.  However, my student was surprisingly knowledgeable about the novel feed and I could tell that he really did have some great ideas for examples/ points in his paper.  The issue was simply his ability to transpose his thoughts onto the paper.  I don’t want to lead too much into my session and the strategy I used, but I did want to make it clear that I learned a lot from the meeting. 

I realized that our role is so important and incredibly rewarding.  We can be the person that helps a student increase their confidence—probably one of the most important things you could help an individual gain.  For me, the session was about taking a series of thoughts, and showing the student how to bring them to life.  It was about breaking down the barriers, and letting his truly abilities shine through.

Oh shoot, I like too much of what I said.  This reflection is going to be tricky to write!