In honor of the National Day on Writing, several of us at the UWC wanted to share our thoughts about working with student writers. Check out what Liz Brogdon, Anthony Pannone, Amanda Hendrix-Black, and I had to say.
Where I’m supposed to be
by Liz Brogdon, writing consultant and undergraduate
I was scared when I started consulting. But like, for real. How was I, a junior Communication major, supposed to help undergrads and grads of all majors with any part of their writing? What if I didn’t have the words to say? Or worse, what if I told them the wrong thing?
And then I just sucked it up and did it. And loved it. Scared freshmen with English 104 rhetorical analyses. International grad students working on their electrical engineering dissertations. Group projects and presentations and resumes and personal emails. I went to each session and gave myself to the cause: to help better communication and writing. I learned two major lessons: 1. teaching doesn’t have to be scary and 2. I love it.
Teaching seemed like the one career choice I never gave any thought to. (In truth, there are many career choices I’ve never considered; never have I ever had a desire to be an astronaut, for example). My best friend was on track to become a teacher and I always thought: that’s perfect, she can do that, and I won’t.
But something happened to me when I started working at the Writing Center. I found myself genuinely concerned with others’ learning. I felt responsible to share with others the information I had acquired over the years. And I realized that maybe not everyone knows how to effectively use a comma or organize a research paper. Maybe not everyone knows how to write a thesis. I went from feeling like I had nothing to give in a session to looking forward to using the resources I have been given.
Giving classroom workshops only furthered my desire to teach others. I guess I never understood the point of speech class; my understanding was that one gives a speech in order to give a speech. What I didn’t realize was that a speech is used to convey information to an audience who needs it. Standing in front of a class and talking about the writing process, or how to avoid plagiarism, does have a significant purpose. It becomes my responsibility to give that information over to others. Learning that lesson took an enormous amount of pressure off and led me to really enjoy presenting. Through these workshops, I have fully realized my passion to stand in front of a class and teach.
Working at the Writing Center has taught me I don’t need to (and can’t) know everything in order to teach others. Maybe that was the one roadblock I needed to break through in order to fully consider this career path. I am not afraid now to admit that I still need to ask for help in consultations and that I don’t have all the answers. Even more, I have realized that I can learn from the clients I serve! Learning truly is a two-way street.
Now when I stand in an elementary school classroom, I get a sense of my future, not just my past. I can’t wait to use what I’ve learned at the Writing Center to help others learn. I’m sure I’ll be nervous like I was when I first started consulting. But now I know that that’s where I’m supposed to be. Time to use what I’ve been given.
Writing Real Is The Individual’s Natural Genius Challenging Every Notion That Enters Reality
by Anthony Pannone, writing consultant and graduate student
Searching your thoughts for natural genius began when you exited the Dark and, awakened by a crisp breeze and strange noises, entered the Light. You chose not this continuous search for Self, but on this journey you need to locate the source of strength that is found in The Writing Center. Not any particular one, just, The Writing Center. A place to stop along the way to ensure your thoughts convey clear meaning and maintain originality. A place where your real Self escapes its shackles and roams free, even if for a short time. During your stop, seek to write the truth—whatever that means. You will find pieces of your real Self in writing the truth. To write true is to commit to your ideas. To take a chance. To leap from the ledge. At The Writing Center, someone will catch you.
Only by writing real will true Self emerge from within. Writing real means not that you followed the rules or did what you were supposed to do: Writing real means you corralled your thoughts and released them into life’s pasture where they may encounter threats from the outside. Keep grazing the land. Face these threats and conquer them. Keep your thoughts alive. Your true Self needs you to succeed.
Working with international graduate students
by Amanda Hendrix-Black, writing consultant and undergraduate
Before I started consulting on my own I asked one of the older consultants if she ever felt intimidated by graduate students, because I sure did. She told me that it’s ok to admire the work they’re doing, because by coming into the writing center they’re admiring our work too. I still get nervous when working with international students, because I want to help improve their work, but keeping her advice in mind always reminds me of the importance of our own contribution.
My first consultation with an international student went better than I could have expected. She was very kind and eager to get started. The student’s main concerns were sounding like an English speaker and maintaining nonbiased voice. This is something that we see often at The Writing Center, and it’s a desire that we hold to high esteem. Being able to help an international graduate student contribute to his or her work is a privilege that consultants get to experience almost every day. I worked with her on how to describe people without using any characteristics that would prompt the reader to make a judgment. The student had several labels she wanted to run by me, and after we eliminated labels that could potentially encourage the reader to make a judgment, we decided to label them by their T-shirt color. This collaborative effort between consultant and student is the best situation any consultant could ask for. Essentially, a consultation is two students sitting in a room working together to achieve the best result. After the student was satisfied with the labeling she drew attention to the word “the.” She told me that her native language, Chinese, made this word difficult to pronounce. We had just had a linguistics meeting at the UWC that morning and it was remarkable to see the material come into play so quickly! The student asked me if pronouncing the word like “ze” or “de” would be understandable to English speakers. I explained to her that this would be more than sufficient, but she was determined to pronounce the word correctly.
This type of enthusiasm and determination truly inspires writing center consultants. We love to write, and we revere it as an important skill, so to see another student with a similar passion is inspiring. She was so grateful for my help, and her enthusiasm really moved me. Students with the passion and determination to improve their skills continue to propel me forward, and illustrate the amazing work that I get to be a part of at the UWC.
Why I love the UWC
by Nancy Vazquez, writing consultant and staff member
I’ve worked on one college campus or another for a couple of decades now, and over time I’ve grown cynical about much of what we say about education. I’ve seen too many reform movements that were going to be revolutionary and weren’t. I’ve heard too many good ideas presented with no thought to who would implement them. I’ve watched technological innovations fizzle. I’m tired of buzzwords.
Working at the University Writing Center, though, breaks through my cynicism.
First, I love the consultants we hire. They are smart, responsible, warm-hearted, good-humored, creative, and humble. I wish I could meet their families because I’d like to thank them for raising such wonderful people. Here’s an example: The other morning we had to evacuate our building for a fire alarm. The consultants on duty escorted their clients out of the building, found some benches nearby, and carried on with their sessions—all without a word from a supervisor.
I love that our scheduling software randomly assigns our clients to consultants, leading to a glorious mash-up of races, ethnicities, genders, ages, and academic specialties. At the UWC consultants and clients from all over the map—literally and figuratively—work together on everything from resumes to dissertations.
I love that our consultants are so invested in our mission, like the group of consultants who proposed and then started our International Student Workshops a few years ago, as well as the consultants who have continued to run them every year since.
I love that we get to take consultants to their first academic conferences and watch them give presentations like the true professionals they are.
I love that when a session goes wrong—as invariably some of them do—our consultants aren’t afraid to talk about it, but instead ask each other about what they could have done differently, looking for what they can learn, how they can be better.
I love seeing our consultants come to understand that the essence of what we do isn’t about giving answers but rather about asking questions.
Most of all, I love walking by a carrel and seeing one of our consultants sitting alongside a client, both heads bent in concentration over a paper or laptop. “Engagement” is one of those education buzzwords I distrust, but I think this is the kind of thing the reformers are after: two students thoughtfully considering how to make a piece of writing or a presentation better. They’re talking about organization, logic, audience, evidence, citations, formatting, grammar, and style.
They are teaching each other and they give me hope.