When I was introduced to the idea of becoming a writing tutor at PSU, my first instinct was to retreat to my room, binge watch Gilmore Girls, and never speak to another human again.
Okay, so that's my first instinct when I'm introduced to a lot of things that involve other people, but just go with me here.
I find it extremely unnatural to be in authoritative positions, so the very idea that I could present myself as someone who "knew more" or was better at writing than someone else wasn't something that I could easily grasp. I objected that I got a B+ on an essay once, and writing tutors just don't get B+'s. I was sure that anyone at the writing center could see through my phoniness and instantly demand a real writing tutor, a wise, learned writing tutor that says impressive things and writes groundbreaking essays about Paradise Lost.
As it turns out, none of this is true. Because, apparently, people at the writing center are not pretentious assholes who come straight out of British films. Good job, self.
I've gotten a clearer idea on what it means to be a writing tutor, but it's not something a lot of students readily talk about--there's still a misconception that the writing center is a "fix it shop" where we'll instantly turn your commas into glittering pieces of gold and guarantee that shiny A on your paper.
While I've answered my fair share of grammar related questions, that has rarely been the most helpful part of a tutorial. I've also heard more than zero freshman composition students say that they came to the writing center because they didn't trust peer review and wanted advice from someone who wasn't in the same boat as them.
If that's the case, go to your professor's office hours. Because as an undergraduate tutor, I'm still in the exact same boat as an Engl 15 student.
There's a lot of ways I can tell you how we don't tutor. We don't tell you you're "wrong," and, as much as I love em dashes, we don't start throwing them into your essay like they're made out of gold. We don't write your essay for you. We try not to sass you back when you get annoyed that we don't write your essay for you, although this sometimes fails.
It's more difficult to explain why we do tutor, especially at a time when we want to be better writers right now, and get that instant A like it's a cup of ramen noodles.
I'm not going to fool myself into thinking that students come into the writing center to experience the joys of the collaborative process --that's a far too hippie-ish perspective, even for me--but in all honesty, it makes for a much better tutoring session when the student comes in wanting a second perspective on his paper, rather than wanting someone to fix it.
A couple weeks ago, a student came in with a rough draft of her speech outline--it turned out that we had the exact same speech professor and both felt that our speeches relied too heavily on narrative rather than informative techniques. I wasn't going to try and trick her into thinking that I was the great speech master of the 21st century; rather, I expressed my frustration that our introductions had to "state the thesis and preview the main points" like we were in 6th grade. There's no way to make this not sound cheesy, but the fact that we were able to collaborate on an assignment we were both struggling with made both our speeches stronger.
Plus, just by working with people who are applying to graduate school, I now know how to write a killer personal statement. So there's that.
Namaste.
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