Hedge-smedge

Sitting in on veteran sessions with writers has offered a wealth of knowledge.  I have a really diverse group of consultants that share my shifts and it allows me to experience something different every single time.  And the email consultations are no exception.  

I was given the opportunity to work with Heath--so friendly and infectious, you even smile when you say his name... anyway, we worked together on an email consultation to point out the importance of "hedging".  How we communicate through email is left up to interpretation.  Tie this to the emotional distress a student may have waiting for your response and the result can be diabolical.  

What an eye opening task, to say the least.  I never realized just how "biatchy" I could appear through my writing.  So, because of how difficult this task really is, Heath showed me some tips and tricks to cut down on the red-tape to do's for email consults so I can focus on how to convey my advice to the writer:

1.  Create a memo/letter template that works for you:

• include headings that cover the requested issues.  you can still sneak in the HOC's and LOC's that will clean up the paper but the headings will help you remember what they are worried about.
• intros and closing can be somewhat generic so tweak the template to work with your session

2.  Save response before you start on it.  This way if the response takes the full hour, you don't inadvertently save it incorrectly.  

3.  Read response out loud, Sam or someone is bound to listen and share their advice.

4.  Accept any and all advice!!!!  collaboration is our middle name...

Unleashing Revision and Unlocking the Guilt

“The best thing you can do is the right thing; the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing; the worst thing you can do is nothing.” -Theodore Roosevelt

Our discussion last week about breaking through the “comfort blindness” that can take over a session reverberated through the back of my mind as my childhood friend asked if I would help her out with her first major college paper. Knowing that she came to me mainly because it’s familiar, partly because she knows that I love to help people with their writing, and possibly due to the idea of going to complete strangers to pull apart her work made her queasy—I found myself questioning the “correct” way to approach the situation.  And it’s so much more complicated than questioning the opposition…

The value she sees in education has evolved drastically in the last thirteen years.  A high school dropout at not even sixteen, she’s always been quick to judge what the point of an education when she believed that life experience carried more credence over book smarts. Even though we’ve grown up together, it’s always been on very different paths. 

I was what she called “a conformist”—I did what I was told to do, therefore I never learned how to find the answers for myself.  In a sense she’s been right.  But that’s not the point of today’s post…

She has always been a fighter---skipping the “bullshit” of high school, she received her GED/HSE at sixteen, ran away from home, witnessed the harshness of the “real world” losing friend after friend to overdose, suicide, to becoming a mother at eighteen.  Every step she took from that moment on was to provide the best possible life for her family. 

Now, married for almost ten years, a family of five children, Mandy carries guilt over her choice to return to college.  Not for the path she chose, but for the selfishness she believes her decision is for not “being there”-- to clean up after her family, to sit in front of the TV and bond over “The Family Guy”—because that has been their routine.  So rather than embracing this opportunity for what it really is, she came to me with a chip on her shoulder that her paper is more than just a paper, it’s a sacrifice for not being there for her kids and husband.

Before I could even address the content of her paper, I found myself needing to confront the boulder of resentment that wedged itself into the back of my best friend.  Not the easiest of tasks, mind you.  But I HAD to—she needed me to ask her the tougher questions--what choices brought her to this belief, what choices brought her to this point in her life—a conversation that I feared would be combative at best and fracture our relationship. 

What shocked me were her responses—she’s here because she needs to be. 

Every choice she’s made up to this point has been for her family and the decision to pursue a college degree is not different.  The value of academic education adds to her life experience to offer her the chance to have a career, rather than a life working paycheck to paycheck. Her piss-poor attitude about public education isn’t what she wants her children to adopt. Rather, witnessing her go back to school, struggle through elementary algebra for no credit for the next two semesters because of her choice to quit school all those years ago, could and should be a motivator for her kids to keep striving on through school, no matter how difficult it may seem. 

Helping her talk through her “walk” allowed Mandy to see how her personal educational experiences tied into the articles that touched on many different themes of education: the true value of knowledge, allowing one self to see the bigger picture, and the value of the “last resort college”. 

Provocative Revision

Our session, if you could call it that, moved into the ‘puzzle’ phase and I was able to utilize this week’s discussions about more provocative revision.  Her final draft is due next Fri, so there is a bit of a time constraint.  However, I was able to help her see where she could weave her personal narrative around the different articles and show her the benefit of saving her drafts separately rather than lose the opportunity to have hard copy evidence of the evolution of her project.  

We battled over phrasing, rearranging paragraphs, etc.  Because of the emotional attachment to the paper she still had.  But rather than it turn into an awkward, uncomfortable mess I felt that, because what I’ve learned thus far, I was able to approach the suggestions with the confidence that it was my responsibility to.

 

I needed to help her unlock to shackles of guilt over working on this paper rather than spend time with her family.  Not to the extent of “soapboxing” of course, but I had to get real with her at times and remind her that it’s not selfish of her to choose homework over daily chores.  The world will not end if her husband or two 12 year old kids have to pick up the slack now that she’s in school. 

At one point I said, “It’s not your conscience that your hearing or guilt that you’re feeling when you’re in the other room.  You are going through withdrawal.  You AND your family are detoxing from your previous lifestyle is all.  But it’s a change that’s necessary in order for you to succeed at your goal of getting a degree.”

I managed to open her eyes and see that the revision process doesn’t have to hurt.  I wasn’t attacking her or trying to erase the amount of hardship that went into the paper.  She here until almost 1 a.m.…

…writing, deleting, writing some more, getting the delirious giggles with her best friend and continuing a conversation about her goals to remain motivated—even in times of guilt.  And she went home prepared to hand in a first draft that fulfilled the assignment for the moment—I warned her that the next draft had the potential to go in a completely different direction.  

But she left my house with an action plan:  to keep a copy of this draft as a reference, to practice limiting by free writing about a very specific moment that involved her decision to go back to school, and to make an appointment with her school’s writing center (CWI) and not be afraid to work with strangers.  But that I’ll always be there for her. 

I recognize that I won't get this kind of session every time I work with someone.  Perhaps it won’t ever happen again.  But I’m glad I agreed to help my oldest and dearest friend—it definitely wasn’t easy, but this night will remain with me as a pivotal moment.  I am even more confidant in my choice of major just as Mandy is secure in her choice to go to college.

 

Getting Out of Our Comfort Zone

It is only as we develop others that we permanently succeed.

--Harvey S. Firestone

Our discussions this week about conflict resolution and experiencing the limits of “comfortable” collaboration really struck a chord with me.  I feel that all too often we shield our knowledge from others out of a fear that the writers asking for our help will see right through our guidance and only see opposition.  But what we have to offer the writers at Boise State is so much more than questions of clarity, mechanics, and form. 

I feel that sometimes what a writer needs is for the session to get “dirty”.  Ask the tougher questions that open their eyes to the opposition when their assignment calls for it.  Just as we need to understand that they aren’t attacking us as people when their claim goes against what we personally believe, they need to realize that we aren’t attacking theirs when we advise them to seek out their opposition.  Understand their “enemy” if you will.  Because, at the end of the day, one of the most fundamental qualities one must demonstrate in the real world is the art of rhetorical effectiveness. 

I believe that our center carries the burden of not just being there to help writers write but to help students understand their role as citizens of the world.  And it’s not so much as a burden but an opportunity to remind us that we have the ability to learn just as much from them as they do from us. 

I didn’t have the pleasure of witnessing a consultation this week.  However, in talks with consultants this week I found that this dance of advising students is a tricky one.  Once we’ve struck a chord in some writers, they can see us as more than writing consultants but as student guides and we must be careful in that we don’t have the luxury of holding their hand throughout their college experience.  Remember that we are there to instill the foundation, teach them to think critically for themselves. 

Maybe it’s a generational gap that I’m experiencing but I have to admit that this week was a bit difficult for me in that I saw the major issue of uncomfortable collaboration as something to look forward to.  The writing process is messy, and downright ugly-- at least for me—so as a writer I want a consultant that isn’t afraid to question my stance on an issue, force me to look outside of my little protective cocoon made up of my beliefs and values to see what my paper is lacking.  And in the end, I will know that my consultant is trying to make me a better writer; a better citizen of the world.  If we can take this approach with us when we consult will all writers, then I believe that success is truly ours for the taking.

Feels Like Home

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.
Henry Ford

Having the opportunity to observe the innerworkings of our Writing Center this week offered so much more than mere "training". Sure, we learned the system, the daily "to-dos" such as the necessary paperwork and consult follow-up summaries.  What I found intriguing was the community of veteran consultants themselves. What an eclectic mix of artists, technology buffs, business majors, English majors, traditional undergrads, and non-traditional undergrads.  

One would assume that such a variety of personalities would be at odds when it comes to collaboration and effective consulting technique.  But the reality is that it's because of the variety that the Writing Center is so successful.  Our differences allow for multiple perspectives and insight.  What was inspiring for me was witnessing the feeling of closeness and the unified desire to help writers become even greater.  Anyone wandering in can sense that they are in for a unique, personal experience no matter who is in the center.  The discussion of collaboration and community is actualized and a thriving practice in LA Rm 200.  

Our community within a community has already created a special place within my heart.  Not only do I feel like I'm in the right place at the right time in my life, but I can tell that our "clients/writers" have a lot to offer me in addition to the veteran consultants.  I've always been a bit gun-shy when it comes to letting my guard down-- letting people see beyond the "student" has burned me in the past.  But I feel at home here. 

As a writer who has no idea what they are doing (that's why I'm in college, right?) I feel like I can come to the Writing Center to share my work and gain the knowledge to enrich my writing.  As a 303er, I trust that our community embraces collaboration even utilizing our services ourselves.  Practice what we preach, right?

English 303: The Theory and Practice of Tutoring Writing is a combination of coursework utilizing scholarship demonstrating the history and evolution of writing center philosophy coupled with field experience through our internship.  And from our readings this week, I felt that we were offered the opportunity to feel the weight of misconception North throws at us in his manifesto, “The Idea of the Writing Center”.  Essentially a mission statement, he implores the English department community to open their eyes to the possibilities for a nearly transcendent experience between writer and tutor. 

I empathized with his frustration regarding the members of his own department not recognizing the true nature of his role as writing center director.  There is a parallel between the role of a parent to young impressionable children who seek guidance and a consultant offering guidance to writers.  And the same can be said for the ever evolving philosophy that drives the writing center today. 

Just as parenting styles have evolved from “tough love”, to “spare the rod and spoil the child”, to the ever present “love and logic”—Lundsford pointed out for us that the style of consulting and overall writing center philosophy has evolved from an authoritative approach to a more collaborative effort among the group of writers and consultants.  But what I can tell you from my own experience both as a student writer and a parent, is that no two writers (children) are alike and it takes the perfect combination of discipline and guidance to ensure that they learn the process and have the capability to apply what they’ve learned to future projects. 

The goal for this semester is to know what combination will work with whom.  Ancillary to that is to get writers who meet with us to get excited about writing.  All too often I feel like there’s pressure for efficiency, meaning spit out your assignment in the shortest amount of time.  But what happened to quality first, then speed??  We were asked the first day of lecture to think about our own manifesto, goals, etc. about the writing center and I can already sense a pull toward “building the fire within” rather than “lighting the fire beneath”.  Does this make sense?