April 9, 2009
Writing Center
Jessica Ramirez
ENG 484
Observation
April 9, 2009
Writing Center Observation
On March 31, I visited the Writing Center on campus. This was my first experience at the Writing Center, so I was looking forward to see what it was all about. I observed a conference between Emily, the consultant, and Jonathon, the student. Jonathon was working on his multiple source essay for English 112.
The meeting started off with Emily asking, “What do you want to look at?” Jonathon was interested in improving his thesis and introduction. I really liked Emily’s next question. She asked, “How would you like me to handle this?” I thought this was great because not all students can learn the same way. Some might want the consultant to read the paper to themselves, or aloud, or let the student read the paper. Some students may be shy and want to be told the solutions, and some may want to come up with solutions themselves. Jonathon wanted Emily to read over the comments that his instructor wrote on his draft.
Once Emily understood what she was helping Jonathon fix, she read the introduction out loud. She stopped reading when she thought there was something that needed improvement. Instead of telling him what to do, she would ask him how to make his writing better. Whenever Jonathan was on the right track of how to rewrite his introduction, Emily would praise him. She would enthusiastically say, “Yes!” or “Great!” If Jonathan struggled to come up with an answer, Emily would guide him to the best resolution or recommend different ways to get his point across. She would say, “Let’s think about how we can…” and “One thing I would like to see here is…”
I really enjoyed the time I spent at the Writing Center. Emily was a wonderful consultant. She used to be an English 112 instructor, so she was knowledgeable in the expectations of student writing. She offered great advice, and was friendly. She was not at all intimidating because she sat side by side with Jonathon. She let him ask all the questions that he wanted and never made him feel ashamed or embarrassed. She also introduced Jonathon to a helpful resource. He was unaware of the fact that he could use an online dictionary, and she showed him how to find a specific website and how to use it.
I was surprised that the Writing Center was so helpful and upbeat. Personally, I have always been afraid to step foot in the place because I thought it would be similar to meeting with a professor. The atmosphere was very relaxed, and the consultant was not overbearing. She wanted to hear the students thought process, and help him realize how to improve his writing. I think that is a great way to help students improve their writing skills, and I will be more willing to take my rough drafts to the Writing Center in the future.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Jessica,
You might consider identifying a particular age group for your change project, too. And you’ll want to be sure to get specific about ways general notions of creating comfortable learning environments translate into physical space, activities, and the like.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
About the WC write up: Your review speaking to the common misconception that seems to plague writing centers–that they are dull and dry places where bad writers go as a sort of punishment. clearly this isn’t the case. I wonder how we go about revising such perceptions?