Rocky Start
This is my first year as a Writing
Fellow. During the first of the
semester, my colleagues in the writing
center discussed strategies and procedures that can be utilized during sessions
with writers. Despite the amount of
preparation I had, the anticipation of my first writing sessions still filled
me with nerves. The professor I fellow
for gave me encouragement before I began. She said, ‘Remember, no matter what
happens, you’ll give them something that they didn’t have before.’
Throughout my first day of group sessions,
I noticed that none of my groups were full with the students who had scheduled
to attend. Group sessions turned into
one-on-one sessions. To make things
worse, one session seemed to go completely wrong. One of the students that I also have another
class with started out the session by asking for notes I had taken in the other
class. When I playfully said, “How about
we do that at the end as a reward for a good session?,” he became
frustrated. He said he did not have the
assignment we were supposed to go over together. He only had a flash drive containing his
work, and neither of us had a computer.
Determined to accomplish something during the session, we searched the building’s
first floor for an open computer or computer classroom. After being turned away from a classroom, he
chuckled and said, “You’re new at this, aren’t you?”
I left that day feeling
defeated. The lack of attendance threw
me off, and the one student that didn’t bring in his work brought down my
confidence. Now, I think back to Muriel
Harris’s article found in Ben Rafoth’s A
Tutor’s Guide: Helping Writers One to One.
Her article is called “Engaging Reluctant Writers”, and was my writer
reluctant. Harris gives strategies on
how to break the ice and get to know the writer. Something that I really took from it was the
understanding that her article was just advice to tutors. There is no formula to the perfect
session. The writers have to want to
write, and sometimes, no matter how hard someone tries to assist them, there’s
only so much that can be done. I believe
that realizing perfection is something to strive for but can never really be achieved
gave me a great deal of confidence. With
each new session, I improve. I just have to take it one step at a time.
Dear Angelica,
ReplyDeleteDon't be discouraged. As writing assistants we all learn how to become better at teaching and communicating with each session. Think about it this way, when you were a Freshman in college many things that are easy to you now were hard for you. In the same way, as time progresses and you learn more about yourself and tutoring, and you will get better. Try to be very patient and confident, after all you are the writing assistant and not just the student anymore. You are both, a peer and a writing assistant. Don't feel totally defeated by a reluctant student, it happens to the best of us. When I had my first composition writing session, I was nervous because the class I had fellowed before was a political science class. The topics and writing, as well as the expectation from the professor, were completely different. As, you said, I took it one day at a time and one session at a time. I guarantee you will get better but don't loose your confidence over difficult students, even the best professors have to deal with them.
-Ally