Week 6

An idea that really stood out to me this week is the importance of setting an agenda for the tutoring session. Newkirk’s article “The First Five Minutes: Setting the Agenda in a Writing Conference” demonstrated what can happen when the consultant and the writer aren’t starting with the same expectations and focus. The session just bounces along from topic to topic without discussing anything to an extent that is helpful. Setting an agenda helps both writer and consultant determine what they can reasonably expect to get done in the time they have and gives both individuals the opportunity to determine what they want to focus on. In the end, the writer will be more satisfied because their expectations were shaped in the beginning and there is a better chance of them coming back. Setting an agenda doesn’t take more than five minutes and is the best way to ensure a constructive session. Agendas can’t guarantee a magical better-writer-producing session, but it is a great way to help writers feel like they’re not wasting their time.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about the importance of being able to read people in the writing center. It is important to be able to tell whether a writer lacks confidence, doesn’t want to be there, is very attached to their writing, etc, so I can respond appropriately. If I don’t recognize early enough that the writer isn’t confident in their writing, I may start discussing issues in the writing and further damage their confidence. The appropriate response would be to ignore those issues for awhile and focus on what they did well. As Newkirk writes, “in the near future [the writer will] gain enough confidence to deal with these technical matters” (306). One effective idea I’ve heard for gauging the writer’s attitude is by asking how the class and assignment are going. This will likely bring out their feelings about the writing and help me determine how I should interact with them. I’m usually pretty good at reading people, I just hope I don’t miss anything important and cause someone to have a bad experience.

Finally, I was really glad to have an opportunity to review some basic grammar rules and uses. Although I am pretty intuitive about grammar and punctuation, I can’t always explain the rule when asked. I know that writers need to understand the “why” of grammar and punctuation so they learn to do it correctly on their own. I don’t want writers to depend on me to edit their papers, so I need to be able to express the “why.” Going through Rhetorical Grammar is helping me develop the vocabulary to explain the rules and choices that writers have, but I still have a long way to go.

I had my first real walk-in appointment this week and it went really well! It was a pretty directive session since it was an ELL student who came in for grammar help on a set of chapter review questions. I’m feeling much more confident going into my first week on the schedule. A question did come up for me though. If we finish early in a session and the writer wants to sit around and chat, is that okay?