Final Shadowing

My consultant didn't have a session scheduled for the last week so I asked her some questions instead:

G: Is there anything you wish you knew before you started consulting? Or something you've learned this past year that you'd like to pass along?

H: Honestly, no. I feel as though my experience in 383 really prepared me.
One thing to pass along: don't be nervous! I was nervous during my first
couple consultations but after that it really becomes almost like second
nature.

G: What has been the most rewarding part of your job?

H: The most rewarding thing has been working with ESL students although these consultations are normally really tough becasue of (1) the language barrier and (2) the need to help with grammar and focus on the content as well.

The second most rewarding thing that I have gained from working in the WC has been its influence in my writing. Sometimes I find myself asking questions like: what am I trying to say here?, is this clear? or without looking, what is my thesis?. Working with other writers has really helped my own writing skills and my confidence in my writing.

G: Is there anything you learned that you found wasn't true? Or that didn't really help you?

H: No. As I said before, 383 really prepared me. However, I did discover that most UR students do not expect a fix-it shop consultation when they come to the WC which is really great.

G: What are your favourite/preferred kinds of consultations and why? (student w/solid draft, SCS student, brainstorming student...)

H: The best type of consultation is whenever a student sends a draft before the consultation. When students do this I have time to read the paper before the consultation and I can get an idea of what the consultation's focus may be and I can also write detailed notes. This makes the consultation go way smoother.

G: Do you think anyone could be a writing consultant or are there special qualities people should have?

H: I don't think everyone can be a writing consultant. I think that a consultant needs to be someone who is interested in writing. But this does not mean that they have be the best writer ever. I think someone needs to be confident in expressing their opinion but also reserved in so far so they do not give away answers, take over for the student or be aggressive.

G: If you could make any changes to the UR Writing Centre, what would they be? Would you make any?

H: No changes.

Questions for 21/4

Qualifying Claims about Contrastive Rhetoric
Severino puts forth some lofty research goals in this article. How far do you think they are actually possible? Can an outsider really reach into another culture and grasp its nuanced rules for language and writing? And then think about all the different subcultures within that larger state? Moreover, should we charge ourselves with trying to categorise everyone? Should we not leave it up to their own scholars to write if they so choose?

Influence of Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds
This was an interesting, but I fail to see how this knowledge can practically help a writing consultant (beyond what we have already read). It is not possible for us to take crash-courses in the language backgrounds of all the cultures we may encounter. However, since this isn't possible...can you think of something that might be?

Creating Common Ground
I think the most persuasive (and easily accomplishable) task this article calls us to do is be observant. I think it's cool that we might work with a student that holds on to their own cultural style of writing, because we could learn a lot from that perspective. However, we would also want to make sure they've written as clearly as possible within that style. Are we qualified to do that since we're not from the same background? With all the questions we could potentially be asking, it might turn into a reverse consultation session (not that that's wrong). What do you think?

Shadowing #5

This week in the Writing Centre, I observed a more directive session. The student came in with a Core paper, and although she had some good ideas, they didn't translate very well onto the paper. Some of the main concerns Helen had were that the student did a lot of plot summary versus analysis, and that her sentences weren't well constructed so they caused the reader confusion. To fix this problem, Helen asked the student a lot of questions. By explaining the point behind each summary, and what she meant at every confusing instant, the student essentially made all of the amendments herself.

On another note, something else happened during the session that I think is worth talking about, even if its more or less a common sense issue. The student started coughing a bit at one point in the session; she posited that she was having an allergic reaction to something in the room. Helen told her she could get a drink, but even after she came back, the coughing didn't stop. After a few minutes, Helen suggested that they switch rooms and we all got up and went to the waiting area. The student was relieved and could concentrate better now that she wasn't embarrassed about coughing so much. I think it was very observant of Helen to pick up on the coughing. However, I think it's more important that she considered the comfort of her student and gave her the option of going to another room, rather than feeling like the consultation had to be done in the Writing Centre. This was a really small gesture, but I'm not sure everyone would have done it. Its key to be flexible with students and their needs, in order to have a successful session, and although we've talked about SCS and ESL students, I think physical considerations should be entered into this equation as well.

Questions for 12/4

St. Martin's - "Planning for Hypertexts"
How do you feel about hypertext training for Richmond tutors? Do you think there is a need for this on our campus?

St. Martins - "Protocols and Process"
This essay really makes me wonder about the nature of the dialogue in these online tutoring sessions. I think it might be awkward if there were a one-sided balance for the tone of the conversation? If for example, the tutor didn't capitalise, spell words in their entirety or use shorthand expressions like "lol". However, they might do everything by the book and in so doing intimidate the writer a little because they are not used to online conversations being so formal. How could you regulate this kind of issue? Would you tell both tutors and writers up front how they should type/write/speak? Would you let the pair determine the tone for themselves?

Project: Ideas for Training Session

Since several people have already made great posts about the actual content for the orientation, I won't make this one redundant and will focus on more action-oriented aspects of the session instead.

1. Show a video to break up the monotony of discussion and provide another form of stimulation

2. Break into groups and allow them to complete a small task related to a consulting session or actually doing commentary

3. Only have 1 handout (even if the information has to be bound) so they are less likely to lose what we give them and can do "one-stop shopping" when referencing the ideas we discussed

4. This should be a more general session since it's the introduction. I think it's best to lay a broad foundation and then just pick maybe 2 areas of the things we introduced to focus on for later sessions, that way they still get a lot of information but aren't overwhelmed by too many details.

Questions for 5/4

St. Martin's "Cultural Conflicts"
The results from Harris' study sound like the students were all at larger universities. Do you think this would have an effect on how they view tutorials? I think that if they went to UR for example, they would be more comfortable with a one-on-one session because we have smaller, more discussion based classes (at least in the Arts and Sciences) and students are encouraged to go to their professor's office hours. I think that this initiation to a liberal arts education would help them feel freer to ask questions and be open with their thoughts/ideas about their paper.

Bedford Chp. 5
After reading the tips for writers who have learning disabilities, are non-native speakers or non-traditional students, do you think that there is one rule that we can say applies to students in all three categories? One single approach or attitude that would help us in consultations regardless of the writer's situation?