Liam's English Blog

February 18-22          The weeks continue to be uneventful, though I did manage to have one student come in for a walk-in on Wednesday. They were interested in having a second pair of eyes on their paper for feedback purposes. The session itself was rather uneventful as well, however it did make me realize/think of something that I will be discussing here, that being how consultants should have a few basic steps that they cover at the beginning of every session. This would differ from the usual steps of explaining the writing center's services, and focus more on basic steps to get a session rolling, so to speak.          The thought occurred to me as I was starting the session and had to double back a few times for clarification on the assignment. This strikes me as a result of not having many students come in lately, but I feel compelled to make a short list of steps that consultants (and myself) can follow if they're having troub...

February 4-15         This will be a relatively short post, as I continue to go through my time in the writing center twiddling my thumbs. That said, I do expect next week to pick up, as midterms approach and paper assignments are handed out by professors across campus. I would feel concerned that all this free time has dulled my ability as a tutor, but for two things: 1) we're usually advising on structure and other errors, which are easy to spot, and 2) Winter Break wasn't enough time for me to forget my usual methods of advising, so a couple weeks won't be any different.         Now, I believe in a previous post I discussed the merits and drawbacks of taking sessions outside of the writing center. I also said I would discuss this idea further in future posts, so I feel somewhat obligated to continue where I left off. To readdress the perceived problem, there are students who are nervous when discussing their work, and while we have small s...

February 4-8        This week passed as uneventfully as the last in terms of consultations I received. That is not to say that the writing center was empty during this time, however. I noticed several appointments being fulfilled by my peers, notably those with longer shifts in the writing center. It occurs to me that I would be in a similar position had I the time to work a four hour shift this semester, but alas time is not so forthcoming this Spring. Instead of discussing sessions for this week, as I have had none, I think I will consider something more "interesting" or at least worthy of discussion. That is, the location of sessions and the effect it has on a student's 45 minute session.         I will need to expound on this, of course, as the idea is still in its infancy in my own mind, but the basic gist is that I've been thinking about students that may be too shy to speak or give their input during sessions, leading to a one-sided se...

January 28 To February 1         It would seem that I'm regretting the words that I wrote last week, as the slowdown this week was unbelievably poignant. Not a single session all week, and while that gives me time to reflect and talk about expectations for the coming semester, I'd still prefer the happy conversations of having some appointments. But all of that is beside the point now - I think I'll try and dedicate this blog to students that give me the most trouble and how I might come to manage them better.         Even with that set up, it's a bit of an exaggeration. I've never quite had any student that "gives me trouble" per se, more they just come in and expect me to fix things for them. When I try to adapt to their request, maybe pointing something out that they should focus on or asking focused questions, it's a 50/50 chance that they respond well and understand that this is my best way of helping them, or simply looking from their p...