October 1-5

      This week in the writing center was relatively slow. I only saw one student in six hours of working. As a direct result, I had quite a bit of time to think about our prior meeting last Sunday and the concerns that it raised. However, before discussing any of these, I want to discuss the short meeting (for it only lasted about 20 of the allotted 45 minutes) that I had with a student on Monday. It was near the end of my shift, and the student came in with a graded paper full of professor comments, as well as a revised paper for our (the student and I) review. 
      I immediately noticed the professor as one I had taken in the past, and when the student began detailing the professor's hard stance on things like "be verbs" and "passive voice" and "cliches," I understood completely. Having some experience with these kind of nitpicking habits, I gave what I considered to be good advice when revising several areas of her paper - suggestions on how to remove cliches, filler, and useless "be verbs." Unfortunately, the student had to cut our meeting short, as they entered as a walk in to the writing center 30 minutes before an appointment with the aforementioned professor. They said I was very helpful, which is always nice to hear, and exclaimed that they would certainly come back again. Let's hope that's true.
      In the rest of the time I had to twiddle my thumbs, do homework for unrelated classes, and think - my mind was occupied with the old problem, which we discussed on Sunday, of how much help is too much for a writing consultant. I always endeavor not to be too over bearing when giving suggestions to students, and often stick only to recommending that which I have been explicitly taught in a classroom by a professor far more certified than me. That's not to say I don't have worthwhile personal experience that I am sure to share whenever it's applicable; that's just not my "go-to" response to people's papers. Regardless of my own worries, I have still yet to have a student leave unsatisfied with our session, and I certainly hope that trend continues next week.

Comments

  1. dremmelhainzOctober 21, 2018 at 11:14 AM

    Liam, Never underestimate the value of your experience when working with your peers in the writing center. While you should always admit when you don't know something, and always ask the student to speak with the professor about assignment or class specific questions, what you've done as a student here is important and useful for others to learn from. Keep up the good work!

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