Arden’s Reflection

Arden Medina

April 22, 2021

Working at the Writing Centre again this semester was very encouraging and very fulfilling. Different from last semester, I was part of a specific writing class and was no longer just a general writing tutor. It was really interesting to see what it was like to be part of a specific class and help out with their assignments.  

One of the most fulfilling things about working with a specific class this semester was being able to have reoccurring students every week. It not only helped that I already knew what their assignment for the week was, but also that I had formed some sort of relationship with them already, so sessions were easy-going and comfortable for the student and for me. I enjoyed being able to work with the same students each week because it meant we could spend more time on what they really wanted to go through, rather than taking 10 minutes to first understand the assignment. As well, I felt as though it was easy for them to talk to me about their grades and what was troubling them with an assignment. It was nice to know they could confide in me and trusted that I could help them out a bit with their assignment. It is amazing how relationships really make difference in the learning process, even just from 30-minute writing sessions once a week. 

As I was working with students in their writing process, it was always very encouraging to know that I was helping the student in some small way. There were times when I felt like a writing session did not go well and that I was not able to support the students. However, at the end of sessions, they would tell me that they felt more confident about where to go from here and I was relieved to hear those words. I think this really emphasized to me how students can truly come for any step in their writing process, and this includes the brainstorming/”talking it out” phase of the process. A lot of the time, I found that students just needed to talk about their ideas and thoughts with someone to fully understand what they were trying to say. Sometimes, it just takes an outside perspective to put it all into perspective and I am glad to have been of that small help for a handful of people this semester.  

I hope that more students will know that the Writing Centre is here to help! I definitely regret not using it as much throughout my undergrad but I hope that others will utilize this resource. After working at the Writing Centre for a year now, I can confidently say that they really only want to support you and your academic career and will do their best to help you. Tutors have weekly training sessions that help in preparing for working with all types of writers and I think these weekly meetings are a testament to how dedicated the tutors are to helping the TWU school community to the best of our abilities. I am very glad to be part of this program and work with the TWU students in this way.