Shadowing #3

When I went to shadow this week my consultant did not have any appointments lined up. Instead of leaving right away, I took this opportunity to ask her a few questions.

One thing we spoke about was doing a consultation for students whose papers are on subject areas you are unfamiliar with. My consultant said that whenever this happened, she would tell the students that she was not versed in the subject area, but that she would do the best she could to help them. I think this is a good approach, because it tells the student that you are committed to working with them, while allowing them to feel free to schedule another consultation if they want to.

I also asked my consultant about Writer's Web handouts and how she used them. She told me that she hands out sheets at the end of a session, to help students improve things they spoke about in their consultation. Interestingly, she also told me that the scenario she mosts finds herself giving out tip sheets in is when she and a student are unable to cover a problem she noticed (like transitioning). She said that she wraps up the session with saying something like "you can use this tip sheet to help you make a transition between your paragraphs as you work to reorganise your paper in the way we discussed". I think this is a great way to bring up a problem that you've noticed without demeaning the writer.

Those are the two main things I got out of our conversation. Hopefully someone will be at the Writing Centre next week so I can watch my mentor in action!