Variance--The Work We Performe

As I have been following the blog, tutoring, and watching others tutor, I have come to notice that the work we engage in a writing center is quite variant. I think Kate's post from this week really encapsulates this phenomena. For this post I'd like to touch on a couple of the sessions I've worked on:

• My First Session: A student arrives who wishes to feedback on creative writing project;
• My Second Session: A student arrives who wants to conduct research for a paper. The student has no experience using with Google, Helin, EbScho, or search engines.
  
• My Third Session: A student arrives who wants assistance with 1) APA References page, 2) In-text citations, 3) Abstracts, 4) Headings.

During S1, I repeatedly tried to focus the student on the text. What did he wish to accomplish? What did he want me to read in particular? Was there a part of the story or an idea that he wanted me to engage. Having some experience with creative writing myself, I know that these texts can be very tied to one's sense of self--we invest ourselves in these pieces of writing. (This is, I think true for all writing, but for some reason creative writing, at times, seems more emotionally loaded.) The student really didn't know what he wanted from me or what he hoped we would accomplish in the session. I came to realize that the student just wanted someone to read the story, and someone to be able to talk to about his ideas. He didn't want or need my insights: he wanted to share his. I think, ultimately, the session enabled him the time and space he desired to be with this text with an audience.

During S2, I found the student really positive and eager to learn. She told me that growing up she hadn't had a computer, and now her family had just gotten one, but she wasn't really sure how and what to do with one. This, for me, was a pretty eye opening experience. With our Iphone, Ipod, Blackberry, digi-net-text-infused lives it's pretty mindbogglingly to meeting someone who isn't familiar with computers. But it does crystallize the wide gap between those that have access to computers and developing computer literacy and those who don't. I explained a bit about Google scholar, how to access the URI library page, and left her at the controls to navigate through the process/internet while I walked her through the process. Then, I asked her to close out and try to do it independently. She successfully found sources, and then because she said she wasn't familiar with the library, and because I still had time to work with her, I offered to walk her over to the library and locate the book sources she was looking for. I think she was kind of surprised to have someone really want to help her and she was really happy that she came to learn how to use the computer (for research) almost independently. Just a little bit of steering advice from me, but she really did the work.

During S3, a student arrived with an APA paper she had written. She was really pretty anti-self about her abilities and very un-confident that she was "doing" APA correctly. We talked about styles, and conventions for a minute, and I tried to bolster her confidence that, in fact, she had done a very good job. Sure there were a few "technical errors" in the references page (a comma missing here a period missing there), but holistically speaking the page accomplished what its purpose and the APA structures were well followed. As we transitioned into working on her citations and the abstract, again, she had that "I'm doing it all wrong" attitude but after showing her what she had done right, I think she got to see that APA is pretty technical and that knowing every nuance isn't necessary. We worked together at finding the parenthetical citation models to follow, and while at times I felt like she was trying to "get me to do it for her" she ended up doing the work. I thought it was a pretty good session all in all, and we spend nearly an hour working together on the paper which was roughly 12 pages long.