Consulting thus far

Hello all,

I haven't really set aside time to think about my consulting this semester, and after reading all of your interesting posts about observations, I think it is probably a good time to do that. I've worked two full shifts in the center now (Fridays from 9-2) and feel quite comfortable. However, now that I've been teaching (I left the Writing Center in 2004 and have been teaching for the last 3 years), one thing that seems to always be on my mind is responsibility. Am I putting enough responsibility on the writer during our sessions? One of the biggest obstacles I faced as a new teacher was acknowledging/negotiating my authority in the classroom, so I became very conscious of the ways I interacted with my students. For example, I struggled to understand when to be directive with my students--like writing on his/her paper, writing comments in the margin, etc. Although I thought that my writing center consulting experience helped me prepare to be a teacher, I sometimes felt like I couldn't do the "hands on" stuff because I was so used to being "hands off." I had to do a lot of thinking about the kind of teacher I wanted to be, what I believed writing to be, how I thought it was best taught, and how my classroom reflected my ever-changing pedagogy.

And now I'm back to consulting. So, after working so hard to become comfortable in my new role as a teacher, how do I again become comfortable as a consultant? I don't know if I have all the answers yet as I've only been back for 2 weeks, but I think that weekly reflections will be really important for me. Stay tuned...