Eng 383 Long Trinh: 2010

Friday, December 10, 2010

Last words

So I guess this will be my last blog post. Looking back through our entire class together, I just feel that it has been an extremely rewarding experiment. We did a lot: helping high school kids with their college application essay, working with the Boys and Girls Club, working on one-on-one consultation and, of course, having tons of fun. That last one is the most important thing for me. I reckon we will see each other again pretty frequently as we will be co-workers in the Writing Center. That's why I wanted to have this cooking thing together so we could have some fun and get to know each other better. Provided that I don't cook terrible food, that is.

See you all this afternoon! It has been an honor to work with and get to know you all!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Is consultant the right word?

I had my meeting today with Ms. Dolson to talk about my consulting project and my overall experience of the course. It opened my mind up to many things. It seemed my idea of consulting is too...literal. I always think that when the writer comes to the writing center, they either seek an answer to a problem or a way to improve their writing. As consultant, we are the one who would have to provide the solution. Being vague and just "talking" about their writing seemed to me like a way to slack off our duties and avoid responsibilities. It turned out to be different.

While it would be more beneficial for some students if we help them on some technicality issues, most of the time it's not our job to make decisions or changes on students' papers. That's their job and their job alone. Our task, seems to be on a much more humanistic and individualistic level. It is to create a conversation, through which the writer can better understand their writing and ultimately, themselves better. To that end we should keep asking open-ended questions that prompt the writer to go through the heap of ideas inside their minds. More often than not the best thought is hidden deep inside layers of ideas that we need to help the writer peel off, layer by layer. Such idea, however, is still his and his alone. We just need to guide him to it by helping him in rediscovering his writing. This is a very humanistic viewpoint, because it assumes that everyone has deep-down a brilliant idea for a great paper. However, I think it changes our roles slightly. We are becoming more "writing therapist" than "writing consultant". It's a funny thought, but if it's should be our goal, then I will strive to achieve it.

It's not procrastinating! It's called waiting for artisitc inspiration. Which is triggered by the abject terror or last minute deadline, of course....

It's final exam week and everyone is stretched to the limits, torn between studying for exams and completing final assignments. Lots of it has to do with writing a lot of papers. Writing papers is also one of the things I hear people complaining about most. I myself has a 12-pages final paper and of course, the final project for our class. Since such tasks are often very time-consuming, most people start early. I have always been the exception. My first semester of freshman year I had a 20-pages final paper. I put it off until the last weekend and submitted it Monday morning. The semester after that I spent the night before the due date to write up a 10-pages book review. Again, this semester, I pulled an all-nighter writing the 12-pages research paper and submitted it the next morning. People invented a word for that: procrastinating. In terms of works ethics, it's bad. Yet nothing is more popular in college experience than procrastination, at least for me. It's like McDonald food which everyone knows is bad but they keep eating it.

Personally it has always been my way when it comes to writing. I simply can't write something way ahead of time. Nor can I sit down, write 5 pages today and finish 5 more pages the next day. I just don't feel the desire, or more importantly, the inspiration to. I have to sit down for a whole day and whole night if need be, just a day or two before the deadlines depending on the assignment. I feel that the sheer terror of facing the deadline makes my thoughts much clearer and my writing much better. So far it has yielded me great results, and thus I have decided not to change it. When my friends learn about that, they just don't have anything to say. Another friend at whose house I spent the night writing the 10 pages book review last semester was even angry about it-about the fact that I put off work until the last minute. Most of the time I don't have anything to say back either. Procrastination is still a bad thing and there's simply no excuse for it. Deep inside I am always afraid that if I keep up this work habit it will brew complacency and ruin my success in the future. For the moment though, I simply can't resist it. That terrorized feeling and the work drive I feel at the last minutes, it's... addictive. I love that feeling and I seek it whenever I could.

I simply hope that by the time I learn the lesson it will not be too late.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Last day of class

Our last day of class was quite memorable. Every time Dr. Essid visited us I had this strange feeling. It's a mix of inspiration, admiration and intimidation. I feel that Dr. Essid generates all of those feelings like an aura. He seems to me a model figure: successful, knowledgeable, friendly, serious and demanding. What was most memorable among all the things he told us was the assurance that once we started working for the writing center, they would be looking out for us. For many people protection from employer is a vague issue. The pressure and problem generated by clients are taken for granted and employees would rather keep quiet than bring it up to their boss for fear of disapproval. It seems like it's not the case with Dr. Essid. According to him, a professor was being really harsh to a writing consultant that he knew. The consultant came to him crying, and he went to see the faculty member. He stated that the writing consultant in question was in fact brilliant and the professor was being rude as well as unrealistic. His ultimatum was that that professor would never again receive a writing consultant from the writing center. I was really amazed to learn that Dr. Essid took such action. It was a very bold move, and normally faculty members would not risk the relationship between them just to protect student's feelings. It didn't seem like Dr. Essid cared at all. He just did what he thought was right. His confidence as well as the value he placed in us made me feel very secure working under him.

That is not to say we would be able to "slack off" on him. Far from it. I guess it has been made clear that he is a serious "badass" and that he expects no joke in the job. The stories of how he fired some unethical writing consultants, as well as the fiery determination that he told them with made me feel quite intimidated. In the long run it's exactly the kind of experience you want to get from a campus job: dedication to your responsibilities, time-management skills and proper work ethics. I had no doubts when he told us that this job would give us an edge in the corporate world.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Last shadowing session

It took me so long to get this blog post up, but I actually think it's for the better. Due to the work I have reviewed recently I feel better to reflect on past experiences. And that time, the writer who came to the writing center was a "non-traditional" student, no less. The important thing was that, I didn't know that she was a "non-traditional" student until the very last minutes.

I was chatting with my writing consultant as we waited for the writer. The writer was a bit late, and that's unusual according to the experience I have had with the writing center. After 10 minutes, she finally came in. It was an African American woman of an age I could not tell exactly. She also dressed in a fairly...unusual way, and that's despite the extremely diverse fashion in our school. For some reasons I felt uneasy. My consultant however, was as comfortable as usual. The session proceeded. The writer went straight to the point and did not linger much with all the greetings. She claimed that she was frustrated by her paper, having rewritten it many times and still she received an F. That was somewhat frightening to me, for I reckoned the tension would be much higher. To my admiration, my consultant remained unflinching and calm throughout the whole session. She patiently guided the writer through the issues with an easy-going manner and the usual professionalism.

It wasn't until the end that the writer revealed that she was a continuing student. She had been working for sometime, had had children and then returned to school to finished her MA. Although I suspected as much, I was still taken aback. It was true that we had a whole class dedicated on dealing with "non-traditional" students, but nothing we had read or talked about prepared me for this. It was due simply to one fact: all such readings had been based on the assumption that we know the writer is a "non-traditional" student by the time he/she came in. Obviously this was not the case.

Monday, November 29, 2010

On the issue of censor

Sherwood's article on the potential dangers of exercising censor touched me deeply. It is indeed true that although we are taught to pay the utmost respect to students and their writings, we as writing consultant also seem to share a common idea of what is and is not acceptable in academic writing. Either through our training or our absorption of academic values, we are always concerned about expressing ideas that could be potentially offensive, sexist or racist etc... Yet it is important to notice that NOT all good writers uphold such notions equally. I've read papers that are very, very well written but contain full of politically/religiously charged bias. That, however, doesn't mean that we can feel free to take away their freedom of speech. By doing so we are violating one of humanity's most natural rights. Although we are "trying to help the student" because we think that such writing would give them into a lot of trouble, we should also remember that more often than not, the students who are confident and reckless enough to write such things are also confident and reckless enough to accept criticism the world can throw at them. Sometimes it is the best form of learning. Holding students back from expressing their beliefs could be detrimental to their academic development.

This reminds me of my Vietnamese education and of my primary reason to come to the United States. Back home, teachers act as constant and watchful overseers and enforcers of the state's doctrines. They ensure that students will only say what they are allowed to say, and that revolutionary ideas are suppressed with extreme prejudice. I remember well the frustration of such mental imprisonment. Consequently, I would not travel half way across the Earth to enact such censorship on students again.

It is true though that sometimes students are not sure of what they are saying and thus they put much faith in writing consultants. In such case I think the best course of action is to inquire a little deeper to see if the students' beliefs are adamant enough to hold up on their own. If yes, we should do what we are supposed to do: helping them articulate their ideas. If not, we could offer a more careful approach and encourage students to go deeper in their beliefs. By doing so we eliminate the risk of censorship and we encourage pro-active learning.

Interview with Academic Skills Center tutor

As stated in my last blog post, I have been asking myself question on how to improve the writing center. How can we gather feedback from students? How can we use that information to better serve our goals of making better writers? Has anyone put such ideas to good use?

In order to find out more about how our peer departments solicit feedback from students, I scheduled a meeting with a friend, Ryan, who was a tutor at the Academic Skill Center. We had a long talk over an hour and what he said really interested me. Basically, according to him, Academic Skill Center operated upon a strict and highly structural system of feedback from students. At the end of each tutoring session, the tutor would give the student a sheet of paper containing the link to the online evaluation form. There the students would take about a few minutes to rate the tutoring session and the tutor, as well as giving their own recommendations. The evaluations would then go directly to the overseer of the Academic Skill Center, and they would be entered into the tutor's specific service record. Not only did this practice help the Academic Skill Center improve itself, it also sped up promotion or demotion in the Center. "That way we are able to distinguish the great tutors from the bad ones, if there is any", Ryan said. Interestingly enough, Academic Skill Center tutors don't work permanently. Employment in the Center is merit-based. The head staff of the Center decides which tutors will continue to work next year based on the students' evaluation and their own evaluation. Ryan referred to this as "being called back". Obviously, evaluation is vital to the employment and promotion of the tutor. It helps maintain fairness in the workplace and instills motivation in the tutors to work hard and to be responsible.

On a side note, Ryan also mentioned the overseer of the Center could sometimes drop in suddenly and watch the tutoring session to get an idea of the tutor in question. This system of monitoring is thus highly structural and instrumental to the principles of the Academic Skill Center.

Ryan also mentioned the Speech Center employed a similar system, but he could not specify.

It is such a great system and its incorporation would greatly benefit the writing center.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Possible suggestion for the writing center

Throughout the whole class and my shadowing experience, there was a consistent idea that has been hammered into my head: that a critical element in the success of the consulting session lies in the writer-consultant relationship. Needless to say, it consisted of several things, from the initial greeting to the actual written commentary. Every discussion we have had so far has been on how the writer could better perceive his/her own writing and how or what he/she could learn more after the consulting session. In the end, I personally think it all boils down to what the writer thinks about the session and the tutor. Indeed, the consulting session is a learning experience. If the writer does not think positive of it, how can he/she feel motivated to become a better writer? Simply put, the skill of the writing consultant and the quality of the session is determined by what the writer thinks or how he/she feels after leaving the writing center.

Yet important as it is, to my knowledge the writing center has no system or procedure to obtain request from students. If any, it's in the form of good-bye talking between the student and the consultant. How can we determine the success of that session then? By the consultant's gut feelings, which are prone to misjudgment? How can we separate the good consultant from the exceptional ones, since what determines their successes and skills lies with the student? Even worse, how can we improve the writing center if we don't know what people are saying or talking about us? I think the writing center might need some ways to felicitate feedback from students writer. It would benefit everyone greatly. First, it shows that students' opinion is highly value and that we regard the consulting session highly. Second, it helps us better improve the writing center. Third, it can serves as an indicator to the skill of the writing center and felicitate promotion. How we are going to do that is the big question here. I will ask around our peer departments like the academic center and see what they are doing. If we can put it together it can become a big reformation project for the writing center.

A mark of readiness

I've always felt a little anxiety whenever we went for the out-of-class projects, whether it be with the high school students or with the Boys and Girls Club. The first consulting session with the high school student went out smoothly, yet I was still feeling a bit tense, since I was still new to the "job" and did not know much to do. This time it has changed. I came to the last consulting session feeling very easy. Part of it had to do with me knowing exactly what to expect and the rest was the confidence honed through training and many shadowing sessions. I met with my student again. When I called her by her name, she was pleasantly surprised that I still remembered. Maybe that's something I should keep in mind from now on: always call the writer by their name when it is appropriate to do so. She had THREE drafts that needed help with. Based on what I had learned about prioritizing, I knew there was no way I could adequately help her with all the three. So I asked her which one she thought was the most important. She pulled out the one where she described her most important accomplishment up to date: relearning Spanish. Upon finishing reading, I told her that she accomplished two things instead of just one: learning English and relearning Spanish. That was something she did not see in her own writing. We made some changes in order to highlight the most important points. Seeing the significance of her own successes that she had not discovered before made her feel much more confidence. I was very glad that I could instill such good feelings in my writer. With the 10 minutes left we went briefly through her second draft. At the end of the session she was confident that she could revise the third draft herself based on what we had worked on together.

When we were leaving, Emily asked me how I felt, for she knew I was not comfortable working with the Boys and Girls kids. I told her and Ms. Dolson that it was "just as expected", if not just like textbook. That was something I was trained to do and has become familiar with. I could see that the same could well be said for all of us. Ms. Dolson was right. I am ready to be a writing consultant.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

ESL writers: what works and what does not

It's good to have Dr. Nuray in our class today. It was very engaging and, in a way, surprising. Dr. Grove started by speaking out loud in Turkish. For a moment we were all startled and confused. I personally found it funny. She continued speaking in Turkish while giving out hand gestures. We had to rely on the latter to glint a hint of what she wanted us to do. Later we learned how to exchange greetings in Turkish. It was quite fun, but Dr. Grove later explained, in English, that the feelings we had at the beginning of class was exactly what most ESL student experienced here: confusion, being overwhelmed, being alienated. That were the first and most difficult challenges for them.

Later, Dr. Grove moved on to answer our questions. The first two issues were priority and grammar. What Dr. Grove revealed to us proved to be one of the most unorthodox practices we had heard so far. She explained that for ESL student, we were not simply writing consultants, but also teachers. We were the only ones who could tell them that they were now in America, and that that fact elicited a new way of writing that they would have to learn. Therefore we needed to be more directive. We should not use suggestions. It will further confused students since they would not know what the options were. It made a lot of sense, but it clearly moved away from the textbook instructions of being suggestive. What works for native speakers clearly do not work for ESL speakers then.

The rest of the class was devoted to watching an interview video Dr. Grove made. It described in detail the problems of ESL speakers and how we should best address it. Overall it was very instructive. It shed lots of light on my understanding of ESL speakers, and of myself.

Classes like these were so educational. I wish we will have more of these.

Monday, October 25, 2010

4th shadowing experience

It has been such a hectic time that I have had to delay writing my blog posts. Last week was my 4th shadowing experience. The assignment this time was a paper on feminism: how women eating habits perpetuate the in-built stereotypes of the ideal female body in our society. I was very excited to learn more about a new topic. Indeed, each shadowing experience I've had so far was unique. Each dealt with a new, particular issue and a different form of writing. The one thing that made this particular session special was that my consultant was very enthusiastic about the issue. Having studied it herself, she was very active in proposing changes and making suggestion. This time it wasn't mere general, structural advices that she gave, but concrete and specific examples from her personal knowledge. It seemed to have a positive effect on the student writer. Sometimes she marveled at how much my consultant knew. She left the session with many new ideas to revise her paper with.

I also think that if the consultant also possess knowledge on the topic, the session would become much more vivid. It would no longer be a writer-consultant dialogue, but a conversation, a discussion and exchange of knowledge on the topic, in addition to being a consulting session.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Living up to the image of a writing consultant

Whenever I tell someone that I am a writing consultant, they say "oh, so you must be a great writer then". It is a natural and very likely reaction. Even our Bedford guide states somewhere that student writing consultants represent the cream of writers in colleges. Such idea is further hammered into my head when Dr. Essid stated with undisguised enthusiasm and pride that our nationally recognized online writing resource was made by undergrad writing consultants, a feat that many graduate writing consultants from other schools could not have accomplished. Undoubtedly such idea and reaction instill great pride and motivation in us as aspiring consultants. However, it also raises a fear in me: Am I good enough for the task?

I hope that I am not alone in this experience. It is prestigious to be labeled as a good writer and having people come to you for help. Yet at the same time you are in constant danger of not living up to such expectation. Students think you have some superhuman powers of turning their trash papers into A papers, and your boss radiates a constant reminder: "You are one of the best, so I expect serious shit from you". Let not forget the fact that we are also students, meaning we have our own writing assignments. This gives rise to my question: Are we supposed to get the best grade possible in every writing assignment, just because we are writing consultants? Of course we have the right to say "no", for we above anyone else understand the arbitrary nature of college writing assignments and the different expectations of teachers. Yet to an outsider it looks like a lame excuse. "How can you correct my paper if you didn't get an A on yours?", they would say. Because of this my recent writing assignments are getting more serious, not because the work has increased, but because the emphasis I place on it now that I am a trainee. I hope to hear your opinion on this matter.

Third shadowing experience

Today was my third shadowing session. Unlike the usual schedule, I showed up at 10 instead of 11, for my consultant has told me that she had no appointment later on. I found her in the room doing some work. She didn't look as fresh as usual. The same could be said for me, or anyone else caught during this week of midterms and exams. We talked for a while while waiting for the writer to show up. Wanting to learn more about being a consultant, I asked mine what the most unpleasant things that could happen to you in this profession. To my relief, she said there wasn't many, but no-show was one of the annoying things that were happening right then. Or the students forgot to send us their draft, making the session unnecessary long. It was like "the students forget the fact that we are also students", she said. That got me thinking for a while. I used to regard this consulting job as a profession, something I could take pride in. Yet I forgot that I was also a student, and that it had to come first. Thus, consulting wasn't the only thing we did, nor was it the only thing we had to do. Thus, having a no-show was a serious waste of our time and resource. Seeing that the writer would not come, I then proposed to come back later at 11.

The consulting session at 11 went out smoothly, just like textbook. There wasn't much to say. A male student from a Sociology 101 class needed a read-through for his paper. My consultant praised his paper for the excellent ideas he had. The only issue was some restructuring. Toward the end, he seemed to be satisfied with the session. After a while, I wished her good luck with all the work and left myself.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Consulting as a profession: on dealing with our dual nature customers.

As student writing consultant, we find ourselves in a quite a bizarre situation. On one hand, we are serious workers in a highly intellectual profession. On the other hand, we are also students, working with other students from our school where almost everyone knows everyone. Our job demands professionalism, while our status as students somewhat undermine the authority over the subject that our "supposed" clients need our help with. Such role conflict rarely occurs, but I find it being a biting nuisance when it does.

One dinner, I was having meal with my freshman friends. One of them boasted on the compliments he just had on his latest draft. "I just spent 20 minutes bullshitting that paper up, and the writing fellow (the one assigned to his first-year seminar) wrote a whole bunch of good comments on it", he said, "that I had excellent idea, organization and such." His blatant disregard to his own writing really bugged me, but since I had a deep respect for our peer writing fellows, I had to bite back my tongue and assumed that my friend was a born writer with uncanny skills. It turned out as a shockingly and enraging contrary when a few days later, he asked me to look at another "bullshitted up" writing. It was closely identical to the stuff I normally threw in my garbage bin. "Was this the same kind that your writing fellow approved?", I asked. He replied with undisguised confidence: "Yes! It was so easy. Took me less than half an hour." At that time I thanked goodness it wasn't a real consulting session, meaning I was allowed to tell this to him, something I normally wouldn't: "Then I think it's perfect. There's nothing you need my help with."

I would go so far as to assume that my experience wasn't personal. My tutoring friend also told me about similar encounter, when the students coming in for the session were completely indifference about their work. That begs the question: "IF THEY DON'T CARE, WHY SHOULD WE?" Yet what angers me the most is that, why did the writing fellow commended that paper, when the writer himself thought it was worthless? Not only did it show that the writing fellow was incompetent, but it also brought about a bad reputation for the rest of us. Then again, we are all instructed to follow the ethics of the writing center, which is also that of American professionalism: be nice to your customers, no matter what. Yet to blindly interpret such guidelines as saying great things about their work even though they're crappy is a betrayal to the spirit of our noble profession. Are we supposed to make better writers by luring them into an illusion in which they're already good? My senior colleague that I'm shadowing said in such case it was necessary for us to speak our mind, albeit in a gentle manner, about what we really thought of the writers' work. Yet in so doing we run the risk of them going around saying that we are rude, uncooperative and cocky. It is a fine line we are walking.

I couldn't bear the thought of what I would do if someone brings me a crappy paper in a totally "give no shit" manner. What do you all think of this problem? What should we do about it? And how should we reinforce the working attitude of our writing fellows?

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Second shadowing experience

It's my second trip to the writing center and this time I felt a lot easier. Meagan had been there since 10. She seemed to be fully booked. After a few greetings, she showed me the draft for today's assignment. It was a business letter of rejection. Fascinating, I thought. How many other kinds of exotic writing I would see in the next few weeks? But that wasn't all. Meagan mentioned the writer being an international student from China. Such was exactly what I had been looking forward to. One of my primary motivation for becoming writing consultant was to assist international, especially Asian students with their writings.

It didn't seem like an easy task, however. As we looked at the draft together, we detected many organizational, mechanical and grammatical errors. At some points Meagan was confused about what the writer meant. I insisted that international students had a much harder time than native speakers when it came to writing. A few minutes later the writer came. We exchanged introduction and started working. This time we sat on the big table together so I had a much closer look at the conversation. An important question Meagan asked was "What do you think you need help on?". For a writing session that lasted only a few dozens minutes, prioritizing became instrumental to success. To be honest, the writer's answer was typical, but it bugged me a little bit: "I need help on grammar, first. Then on organization." As good writers we knew through training and instincts that although good grammar was required, it was far from vital to a piece of writing. Mentally we, or at least I, always ranked organization and flow as the most, and grammar the least important elements. However, I had been through enough English learning experience to sympathize with the writer. Nevertheless, Meagan focused more on helping her restructure the sentences than actual grammar, for it was the necessary thing to do. Some sentences had to be completely rewritten. As of the style itself, the letter really didn't sound right at first. Because of the inherently hurtful nature of a rejection letter, the writer was torn between getting her point across and maintaining politeness. Suddenly I had a thought, and this time I decided to voice it. I suggested that she looked at the rejection letters that she received during her college application process. I had absolutely no intention of evoking bad memories, but let's face it, even the brightest students in the world would have received a rejection letter during that arbitrary process. Also it would turn the rejection letters into something useful. Who would have guessed. Megan approved my suggestion and the writer noted it down.

In the end, Meagan asked if the writer felt comfortable rewriting her work. In addition to a yes, she also said that she loved Meagan due to her honesty, something she felt lacking in other writing consultants. I guess I am indeed lucky. Meagan was indeed one of the most senior writing consultants we had. Shadowing her will definitely bestow upon me invaluable working experience.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Self-reflection

This class has been the most engaging for me so far. Unlike any other class, we get to talk about college life and work, as well as how you get your work, namely writing, done in college. The reading is intriguing and raises many questions I want to ask myself. Yet I'm still concerned about how it is going to get me prepared for my imminent job as a writing consultant. I guess we are still at an early stage, but my first shadowing experience really makes me impatient to start working as soon as possible. I also wish I could have more chance to talk with Dr. Essid. Despite such zeal I still feel unprepared. As far as work is concerned, I think I'm keeping up with all the assignments. I have finished the interview with my teacher and am planning on writing the script soon. I'm not anxious about the digital story itself. It might seem intimidating, but I've done it before. Just like writing, once I put my back into it I know I will complete it long before I know it.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Reflect on the Saturday work with high school students.

Truth be told, I was mildly nervous about helping these high school students with their college application essays. I didn't even know if I wanted to remember my own college application process, simply that it was arduous, stressful but ultimately rewarding. Yet the feeling of going through it and that of completing it are like opposing extremes. Finally I decided to quit worrying and just go with it. Fortunately Addie was there to back me up. Some mutual support was always welcomed.

The high school student we worked with was of Hispanic origin. A soft and seemingly shy girl. From her stories I could tell that she was seriously stressed out and nervous about this whole process and all the works associated with it. That realization did nothing to lessen my fear of screwing up. I was afraid of saying something that would make her feel even more miserable. Given my critique nature, it might well have happened. We went on to ask her about her college essay. She wanted to write the college essay for VCU, describing her educational goals. She said she wanted to become an ESL teacher. Somehow I already felt a connection with her. Somehow I felt like I knew what I should ask. So we delved deeper into the issue. I asked her the reason for such wish and to recall her childhood. Being an ESL student, she had gone through all the hardships of growing up among foreign people who didn't speak her language. Thus she wanted to become an ESL teacher to help others like her going through the process more smoothly. A noble and admirable goal. It's like what I'm doing at the moment, helping others, especially Asian students with their English. In the end, she looked relieved and told us that she now knew what she wanted to talk about.

In the end, I felt so happy myself. Maybe we didn't really do much to actually help her with the essay, but at least I felt assured that I made her feel easier and motivated to take on this rigorous application process. To kindle hope and inspiration in people, that alone is something worth fighting for.

First shadowing experience

This was my first official trip to the writing center. I showed up on time with a mix of excitement and nervousness. I was scheduled to shadow writing consultant Megan Reilly. A senior majoring in Psychology, she turned out to be a very likable person. The office we were in had a warm and welcoming atmosphere, with a large round table in the middle and a small table for writer-consultant work. Fortunately she had an appointment at that time, and I could start shadowing right away.

The student writer was a freshman girl named Amanda, a lovely and innocent-looking Puerto Rican. Megan greeted her with a friendly and welcoming attitude, asking about her background and her experience so far with Richmond. I could tell that it made Amanda feel easier. She has sent Megan a complete first draft beforehand, making the rest of the session pretty straightforward. Although I didn't have a chance to look at the paper itself, I could tell from the conversation that it was an Art History paper about an apocalyptic engraving. Such a fascinating topic! Megan herself told Amanda that she was delighted to get to know this topic. As I half expected, Amanda's problem lied with the organization and thesis statement. She had an excellent body paragraph as Megan remarked, but only needed some synergy to synchronize it with the whole essay. A typical problem for competent first year students whose only disadvantage was some familiarity with college writing, I guessed. The rest of the time went on smoothly. One observation I made was that Megan took care to use the suggestive tense extensively, such as "I would shy off from this..." or "I suggest you do this...". This practice both conveyed a sense of respect to the writer and made them feel that she was really in control of her essay. She left satisfied. So did I.

After the session, I stayed and talked with Megan about the job. It turned out to be much more enjoyable than what all the regulations and ethic practices made it out to be. It certainly helped fuel my passion for the job. The only thing I felt uncomfortable with, however, was that sometimes when Megan gave a suggestion, I felt like I could really say something to add more weight into her voice, or to suggest something when she played safe and said "I don't know what to say here". I refrained from all of that, however, fearing that it would undermined her authority and the exclusivity of the writer-consultant relationship. I really don't know if I should take this to her next time.

Overall, it was a pleasurable experience. This job grows more interesting to me day by day. I get a chance to look at all different kinds of writing. I have a serious boss who is very easy going yet has a take-no-shit attitude when it comes to the job. Yes, Dr. Essid is definitely a figure to aspire to. Finally, I get to meet with all these people and a chance to improve my social and writing skill.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Who are we, o' fellows writing consultants?

Sometimes I still can't believe I've made it into this class.

Dr. Essid's visit on Monday was so inspiring and motivating, if not intimidating. After that I was firmly assured that I was now in a community of serious writers who weren't just successful in writing, but were also determined to help people improving their writing. Such is a cause I didn't know exist...until now.

English is my third language, and I've been learning it for a mere 3 years. Not too long for me to forget much, yet I can't recall being taught any thing about composition or writing, during the course of my education in Vietnam. All we learned were grammar, grammar and more grammar. For the Vietnamese educators, learning a new language was simply a matter of putting words together so that they "coincide" into something barely understandable. Even the "5 paragraphs essays" that most American college students take for granted is alien to me. Guess I am lucky then, for I won't need to forget it. Nevertheless, such was the extent of my ignorance of English composition.

When I was accepted into this school, I told people that I would major in Sociology and Psychology, neither of which was popular in my country. The responses I received were rolling eyes and mocking silence. All Asians who would go abroad will study Economics, Accounting, Business and the Natural Sciences. No one but a minuscule minority would even bother with the Social Sciences, for they considered those subjects, along with the skills associated with them-writing especially-,useless and impractical.

Last summer I came back to Vietnam and helped hosting the biggest study abroad conference there as a representative of UR. When asked about the college essay, I tried to stress the importance of "being yourself" in the essay, for I knew it was what got me here. Yet I felt like I was speaking a different language to my own people, though I was sure I haven't forgotten a bit of my Vietnamese. In return, the only concern of the applicants was "what should I put into the essays that would make them like me?". The essay drafts they sent me were a showpiece of grammar and vocabulary that looked like they had been pieced together from different sources, completely devoid of personality or the "writer's presence". I felt frustrated for I couldn't find any way to help them, but my frustration was only as half as theirs.

After a meticulous search through my data drives, I finally found the old drafts of my college application essay. The final draft still sounded familiar, but my first draft completely shocked me. I read it again and again while kept telling myself: "There's no way I wrote this piece of crap". How I changed from the student who wrote that crappy essay into a writing consultant trainee, I will never know.

That begs the question: how does one become a good writer? My people used to think that writing is like singing, some are born to do it and some will just fail no matter what. My intellectual journey at UR has shown me that almost everything, including good writers, can be made and don't have to be born. Nevertheless, convincing others so will be a challenging process, both to us as writing consultants and to the writers. Isn't that a noble job we are doing? Finding talents in people and telling them how to use it. It feels like an explorer who discovers hidden treasures, unearth them and sharing them with the world. Though none of that treasure is ours to keep, the sheer excitement of discovery and the joy of success are enough to carry us on.

That's why I'm taking this class. In the end, I look forward to the day when I can go back to my country and start uncovering treasures. I have confidence that they will not be in short supply.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Writing: an art or a trick?

I tend to view writing as an artistic process: it requires inspiration, ideas, patience, technique and talent. I can not write when I don't feel like writing. That attitude explains the occasional nights when I suddenly got an idea while spinning in bed. Then I would wake up, start typing and my essay would gradually be formed. I can not write within a restricted constraint of time and space either, hence my horribly low SAT writing score, even though no serious academic would take that as an indication of writing capability. In any way, I take writing seriously. Most importantly, I enjoy it.

Unlike other art forms though, writing is an inevitable part of life. I might never have to take up the paintbrush and paint a canvas, but even a hydraulic technician will at some points have to write a report. Within the context of liberal art education, writing becomes even more essential. That doesn't necessarily mean everyone would embrace it equally though. I have this friend who is an Economy major who scored a 4.0 GPA during the first semester. During the second semester, he took English 103 and his impressive GPA started going down. He took his essays to me every time, saying "I've got to get a B on this man". I helped him as best as I could, but the situation didn't get any more optimistic. As a last resort, I asked him to pay particular attention to what the teacher said during the lecture, her keywords and key terms, and to put them on his paper. Next time he returned with a B+. My happiness for him was cut short with his saying: "This is a neat trick. So it's all about what the teacher likes, huh?"

On another occasion, I read a friend's college application essay. Her boundless vocabulary made me sweat, and I almost had to have my dictionary next to me. While being deeply impressed by her word choice, I struggled to find her main argument. As I finished, I asked my friend what she wanted the reader to get out of this verbally opulent piece. She told me "I've done this so many times. You just need to overwhelm people with fancy words and you are in".

Another time I was talking to a successful lawyer. Among what she said, this captured the most of my attention: "the key to writing in this field is to make people don't understand what you are writing about". I did get a chance to look at her proposal, and it was true, I couldn't understand a thing. How this confusing practice fueled her career I would never know.

I personally could never get myself to do what my friend or the lawyer above has done. Even though, their practices deeply questioned my opinion on writing. Is it an art form to master and practice seriously, or is it simply a collection of techniques and tips that will help you get what you want?

It will take a much longer journey into the study of the writing process to answer my question.

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