Saturday Morning Opposites
Hello, All-
I had two polar opposite consultations this Saturday morning: my first was with a young, male student who had absolutely no desire to be at the Writing Center (WC), and my second was with an older, female returning student who was very eager to be at the WC. We'll call the first student John and the second student Jane.
John arrived about 20 minutes late (he slept in). We sat down, and, noting that he had been to the WC before, I somewhat expected him to know the basic routine--he did not (or at least he didn't seem to). I asked him what he would like to get out of the consultation and if there was anything specific he would like to focus on. To which he replied "umm, I don't know. Not really." I tried to liven up the mood by joking with him about being at the WC on a Saturday morning--it didn't work. John didn't care what we discussed because he didn't even care to be at the WC in the first place; his professor requires students to come into the WC. If the student fails to complete a consultation at the WC, then the student fails that unit. Anyway, we doggedly read through his paper (I read it out loud) and discussed local errors along the way. I had to stop several times because many of his sentences didn't make sense. When I tried to walk through these difficult sentences with him, he would say, "Well, it's true" or "I don't know what I was saying. I wrote it at 3 in the morning." He just wanted to move on, but I didn't know if his sentence was true or not because I didn't even know what it was saying. After reading the paper and discussing many of the local errors, I asked John again, "What else would you like to look at?" John said, "Well, do you think it's good?" What he meant was, "Can I go now?" After 30 energy-zapping minutes, I just wanted to say, "Yes, it's good. Go home." Instead, I suggested we take a look at topic sentences and make sure each paragraph was moving his argument forward. I felt like I was torturing myself. I wanted to help John, to teach him something valuable, but he was as good as back in his dorm in bed. After a brief lecture (it wasn't a discussion because that would mean he was talking too) on topic sentences and argumentative statements, I sent John on his way. While I think he appreciated the time spent on his paper, I don't think he actually learned anything. I failed at just about every attempt to get him involved in the revision process. I tried to bring some energy into the conversation at every opportunity--John just didn't want to participate. I am left wondering, did I do my job? I mean, I guess you can't win em all, but this was still a sadly, dissapointing consultation.
Fortunatly my day ended on a much more positive note. Jane came in full of energy and eager to work together. She had lots of ideas (quotes and brainstorming webs), but she wasn't sure how to organize an 'A' history paper. She did most of the talking and I was a sounding board. I listened to her ideas and took notes on what stood out. Together we created an outline, discussed ways to transition, looked at a possible attention getter, and crafted a thesis. Her ideas were large, all over the place, and together we narrowed her focus. She left relieved and with a clear sense of direction. She left me reenergized and with a confirmation that I am good at what I do.
John was forced to come in (if he wanted to pass the unit), and I imagine the teacher's goal is to help students be better writers. The WC is a great resource for students and I think all teachers should encourage it. I don't think John learned anything today though. He sat there unresponsive with his head in his hands. I would be amazed if anything I said sunk in at all. Jane came in purely by choice (motivated by the desire to get a good grade). I do think she walked away with a better grasp on the basic format of an essay,with a clearer sense of how to organize ideas, and with a focus for her paper. This leaves me to wonder whether or not teacher's should force their students to come to the WC. Advertise us, yes; offer extra credit, great. Have their grade depend on it? I don't know.
I had two polar opposite consultations this Saturday morning: my first was with a young, male student who had absolutely no desire to be at the Writing Center (WC), and my second was with an older, female returning student who was very eager to be at the WC. We'll call the first student John and the second student Jane.
John arrived about 20 minutes late (he slept in). We sat down, and, noting that he had been to the WC before, I somewhat expected him to know the basic routine--he did not (or at least he didn't seem to). I asked him what he would like to get out of the consultation and if there was anything specific he would like to focus on. To which he replied "umm, I don't know. Not really." I tried to liven up the mood by joking with him about being at the WC on a Saturday morning--it didn't work. John didn't care what we discussed because he didn't even care to be at the WC in the first place; his professor requires students to come into the WC. If the student fails to complete a consultation at the WC, then the student fails that unit. Anyway, we doggedly read through his paper (I read it out loud) and discussed local errors along the way. I had to stop several times because many of his sentences didn't make sense. When I tried to walk through these difficult sentences with him, he would say, "Well, it's true" or "I don't know what I was saying. I wrote it at 3 in the morning." He just wanted to move on, but I didn't know if his sentence was true or not because I didn't even know what it was saying. After reading the paper and discussing many of the local errors, I asked John again, "What else would you like to look at?" John said, "Well, do you think it's good?" What he meant was, "Can I go now?" After 30 energy-zapping minutes, I just wanted to say, "Yes, it's good. Go home." Instead, I suggested we take a look at topic sentences and make sure each paragraph was moving his argument forward. I felt like I was torturing myself. I wanted to help John, to teach him something valuable, but he was as good as back in his dorm in bed. After a brief lecture (it wasn't a discussion because that would mean he was talking too) on topic sentences and argumentative statements, I sent John on his way. While I think he appreciated the time spent on his paper, I don't think he actually learned anything. I failed at just about every attempt to get him involved in the revision process. I tried to bring some energy into the conversation at every opportunity--John just didn't want to participate. I am left wondering, did I do my job? I mean, I guess you can't win em all, but this was still a sadly, dissapointing consultation.
Fortunatly my day ended on a much more positive note. Jane came in full of energy and eager to work together. She had lots of ideas (quotes and brainstorming webs), but she wasn't sure how to organize an 'A' history paper. She did most of the talking and I was a sounding board. I listened to her ideas and took notes on what stood out. Together we created an outline, discussed ways to transition, looked at a possible attention getter, and crafted a thesis. Her ideas were large, all over the place, and together we narrowed her focus. She left relieved and with a clear sense of direction. She left me reenergized and with a confirmation that I am good at what I do.
John was forced to come in (if he wanted to pass the unit), and I imagine the teacher's goal is to help students be better writers. The WC is a great resource for students and I think all teachers should encourage it. I don't think John learned anything today though. He sat there unresponsive with his head in his hands. I would be amazed if anything I said sunk in at all. Jane came in purely by choice (motivated by the desire to get a good grade). I do think she walked away with a better grasp on the basic format of an essay,with a clearer sense of how to organize ideas, and with a focus for her paper. This leaves me to wonder whether or not teacher's should force their students to come to the WC. Advertise us, yes; offer extra credit, great. Have their grade depend on it? I don't know.
I hate when teachers SEND us their students. To me, it just feels like they're making us seem more remedial than we are, and no one wants to be remedial. I think extra credit is one thing, but there's a good chance that forcing a student to attent a WC session is just going to waste everyone's time. You can lead a horse to water...
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ReplyDeleteI always find it interesting HOW different every consultation is. You know, I think that the only ones that are "alike" are the ones that the writers DO NOT want to participate in.
ReplyDeleteI think that it was you--or maybe Nate--that I was speaking to about a consultation similar to the first one you describe here. The description of your session was very similar to the one that I had; the student was uncooperative, and she was unwilling to participate. There was no "conversation" in my session, either.
I makes me wonder how differently either session would've went if students would've come in on his/her own.
I'm in a curious position here. Not only am I writing center consultant, but I am also a teacher who requires his students to make at least one visit to the writing center at some point in the semester. And not with me unless there is no possible way to avoid it. I think that the fact that all my students love me (at least, in my mind they do) helps make the visit more bearable even if they don't want to go.
ReplyDeleteI have found that there are far more students who actually make a productive half-hour or hour out of the required session than those who do not. And many students who have become return visitors have told me they never would have gone if they hadn't been required to go the first time. I think the upside of required visits far outweighs the few uncomfortable sessions that may occur. And maybe I'm a little bit of a turd sometimes: if I get someone who really doesn't want to be there and it's obvious they don't want to be there, it motivates me to try even harder to crack the shell. Maybe a lot of this comes from my experiences teaching in a prison where there were some very hard shells to crack.
I agree with you Greg that it's good to give students a little extra push. I have had a lot of students essentially say "I never would have come here if my teacher didn't make me, but now I'm glad my teacher did make me." A lot of students have negative misconceptions about what we do in the WC. We're in charge, they're not; we're right, they're wrong; we're smart, they're dumb. The last one is a big one--a lot of students are worried that we are going to think they are stupid. Nobody likes to feel stupid. If we can just get students to come in, then we can show them the only things they are wrong about are the negative misconceptions.
ReplyDeleteBut...
I am not convinced that forcing someone to come in by threatening failure is a good idea. Maybe coming into the WC is required as an assignment, as a percentage of one's grade, but requiring it in order to pass the entire unit may be too drastic.