I have now finished my writing pedagogy course, and I feel that I must reflect upon what I have learned; how can I explain this new want I have to help others with their papers? And even more so, how can I go about perfecting my new position as a writing tutor?
I have to be honest readers: I am afraid! I tutor at home, au pairing a 7th and 8th grader, and there is nothing worse than studying a few hours with one of them and see them bring back the test, D+ in hand. What's often worse, however, is the look on the parents' faces...
How can I perfect this art of consulting? How can I become fully comfortable and stable and present in all of my sessions?
First, I firmly believe in presenting myself calm and incredibly confident. If I question myself, then my student will as well. Second, I will prepare myself for each tutoring session; no paper will be unread, unedited, ignored. And third, I will listen extremely carefully. Nothing else is that important; it is only through active listening that I may acquire the talent to find where the student is having the most trouble, and tackle that.
I look forward to meeting new people, new minds, and voices. I look forward to working with my peers and others outside the norm. However, most importantly, I am looking forward to learning and growing as my own person; becoming a writing tutor is something I am very fortunate to have achieved-- and now, comes the difficult part: making myself and others proud.
Your attitude is refreshing. I think your determination to do the best job possible will lend to your success as a consultant.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Shannon, I think that you have a great approach lined up here. Like we discussed in class, fear of failure seems to plague all writing consultants, but in the end, having confidence in ourselves and our own abilities is our best weapon. We have all had those moments where we know we haven't helped a student or they have walked away confused, but I think as hard as those moments are, in the end they push us to keep working and to keep learning to become the most effective consultants we can be.
ReplyDeleteBut "Grace," you all will fail at some point. Perhaps not regularly, but on occasion. It's a teacher, so respect failure.
ReplyDeleteMy best defense against it is to listen, ask questions, and have a set of priorities in mind if I have a draft in advance.
Experience will do the rest.