Trinity Western University (TWU) has been an integrated part of my life for the past two years. I was a teacher by profession in India. In Canada, I was craving to fulfil my desire to guide and teach students. I was not aware of the fact that TWU will be the first one to give me this opportunity. It was my first experience of working with the Writing Centre. Initially, I was scared that how will I manage everything and will I be able to do justice with students or not. I must say the work environment was so welcoming, cooperating, and helping. Emily and all other writing coaches helped me to become familiar with the system and to become a better tutor. It all started with intensive training, in which I was able to gain an insight into the working of the Writing Centre. The training modules were indeed helpful. Training modules assisted me in knowing how to deal with multilingual students. The sources that were provided on the Moodle were extremely useful. The document on strategies for basic writers helped in knowing the importance of breaking down the huge assignment into the sub-parts to relieve anxiety of the students (n.d.). I implemented this strategy in one of my writing sessions, where a student was struggling with a huge research paper and was laid down with stress. I helped him to break down the whole assignment into various parts, which helped him in learning strategic planning.  

My training and work experience in the Writing Centre made me realize the difference between listening and active listening. I believe being a writing tutor, it is essential to listen actively to a student. Active listening includes observing body gestures, giving feedback, maintaining eye-contact, summarizing, paraphrasing their ideas, and asking leading questions (Sarah, 2020). It is important for a writing tutor to invest their time and energy while listening to students and solving their queries regarding an assignment. 

Moreover, it was interesting for me to learn about a new concept- Neurodiversity. I was not familiar with this term before. It enabled me to understand that diversity is an essential element of society, and we should embrace it (Oolong, 2019). Being a writing tutor, it is crucial to comprehend the challenges that are faced by neurodiverse people, such as autistics, dyslexics, and ADHDers (Oolong, 2019). Learning about neurodiversity made me think that it is important to be open to the needs of divergent learners. It is essential to know the different techniques that ease the process of learning not only for the neurodivergent but are beneficial for others also. 

References 

Oolong. (2019, October 19). Neurodiversity is for Everyone. Medium. https://oolong.medium.com/neurodiversity-is-for-everyone-f375a27aa3c9 

Strategies for Basic Writers and ESL Students. (n.d.). https://learn.twu.ca/pluginfile.php/424641/mod_resource/content/1/Strategies%20for%20Basic%20Writers%20and%20ESL%20Students.pdf 

Sarah, A. [Anmol Sarah]. (2020, September 30). Active Listening [Video]. Loom. https://www.loom.com/share/21297efa4a524e788a2b2ba0feb0f4be