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...
Hi, Ali! I'm glad you got to work with Heath--he is quite infectious, indeed. I suggest you take two doses every week.
ReplyDeleteEmail consultations make us better people, I think, because it forces us to be conscientious in our interactions with others. That's a good thing. It's a hard thing, too. Being a better person is hard. Sigh.
Next week will also be super practical in class, so I think you'll appreciate it!
~mk