Rebecca’s Reflection

Rebecca Tamblyn

December 11, 2020

Tutoring with the Writing Center has been the perfect position for this semester, and it fell into place effortlessly. Over the last 12 weeks, I have been so grateful for this job and the learning opportunities it has offered for my tutoring skills and my own writing. I have appreciated the support, patience and opportunity for personal growth. I look forward to what is to come next semester!  

Despite the overwhelmingly positive experience I have had so far, sometimes I leave sessions and feel disappointed with how they went. With some sessions, I feel that my communication style is not supportive for the student or that there was some other barrier that prevented growth. In the future, I hope to develop more diverse teaching methods in order to best meet the needs of every student that books a session. My goal is to help them feel supported, not make them feel defeated or frustrated by the end of the session, so it is discouraging when a student walks away with outstanding questions. 

It has been really encouraging to work with students that book repeating sessions. Developing relationships has been rewarding as I can see their writing style strengthen over time. I also have appreciated my sessions with nursing students as I feel better equipped to help them with issues that arise that I do with some other faculties. With all students, watching their ideas fall into place is rewarding for me. I have also loved brainstorming with students and seeing their ideas develop over time. One of my favorite parts of tutoring is helping student to think deeply and identify where their passion lies in relation to a certain topic.  

In the future I would like to continue to develop a further emphasis on higher order concerns in addition to focusing on the small details. Sometimes I struggle with steering the session towards big priorities I see when a student has come for grammar support, and I would like to become more observant and confident with this. I hope to develop further assertiveness when it comes to directing sessions according to higher order priorities. In addition to meeting perceived and unrecognized needs in students’ writing, I want to engage with students on a deeper level during the Spring semester as a Writing Center Tutor.