Hey all,
Well, here it is: my first foray into the world of blog madness. I'll be surprised if by the end I don't sound like a total idiot, since most everyone else has a chance to sneak a peek at mine: "Don't do what Ryan does". I am, it seems, unacquainted with blogging as a means of "highbrow" communication (read: something we're graded on for class). My only real exposure to this "blogging" (as the kids say) is limited to MySpace and the like, where any prepubescent yahoo with an email address and a penchant for bright backgrounds, brighter fonts and bad emo-core can assail our eyes, madden the ears, and cause the stomach to turn. To be honest, I had my misgivings when I heard that our curriculum included regular blogging as a part of the course, which is why I include this paragraph as a kind of disclaimer for my rather... stiff language at first. It seems I need to work out the kinks. I believe I'm almost there. Let me... *ahem*... lemme try this.
Okay, I think that's better. *cricks neck* Nothing spells "informal" like "onomatopoeia", right? Oh yeah, sorry. That's really more of a sound effect.
Alright, enough wasted time. I'll be perfectly honest: as much as I have enjoyed the readings we've all done so far, I can't help but think that anything I bring up here will be echoed in class the next day or the next week, so it doesn't really avail me to touch on it here and bore ya'll about it here . So I'm going to try a different approach. Since this blog is somewhat... removed from the sphere of the course proper, orbiting out there in the aether, I've picked a topic that seems (at least, to me) similarly removed from the classroom. Well, not "removed", really. Just one door over. Unless the door is open. Then it's technically the same room. They share carpet. Any guesses? Right.
At the time of this first posting (midnightish between Wednesday and Thursday), I've participated in two shifts at the Writing Center in 300 Bessey, and I certainly feel more informed about the process, if nothing else (there's something else; I'm not that fatalistic). I had a chance to observe my first session with a client as a third-party observer, I turned in my paperwork, learned to use the copier, puzzled over where to sit, and drank way too much tea the first day and nearly rattled my hand off. All in all, a good first few days.
But even though I have spent five hours in the Center independent of class meeting time, I can't help but think that I could be better spending my time more... well, efficiently. Five hours is nothing, when you think about it. Nine 'til noon on Monday, and nine through eleven today. It's like another class, only eventually, you get paid for it. The time I didn't spend observing consultant-client relations I occupied by reading ahead several weeks in the Ryan book (really disorienting if we keep calling it that; I mean, I know I didn't write it, but...) and with a few ANGEL readings. As a result, I'm extra-ready for class, but I can't help but think I may exhaust the prescribed material at this rate.
So, here's the dilemma: what else could a newbie do to better acquaint oneself with the Center? And not just in a skills or professional sense, either. After all, the Bruffee reading for Thursday posits a working social relationship between working peers as the most important ingredient for success. So far, this seems a link that meek newcomers (like myself) find difficult to forge with new people and one that the hardened veterans (everybody else) don't seem interested in hammering out themselves. Everything runs rather smoothly, it looks. Everybody seems to have their little groups, and I'm not seeing the nerd table near the vending machines anywhere, ha ha. After all, we're talking about English majors here; we're not exactly renowned as the most outgoing people.
Now, I'm not asking that anybody agree with me, here. I'm just airing my own observations over... two days. So, yes, it's not much. Granted, it's work, it's a job, and I'm sure it will pick up later, but I don't want to go through the remainder of the semester without picking up on some ideas or techniques that one couldn't get any other way, save getting to know one's fellow consultants' styles. Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm not sure if anyone else has spent any time in the center to answer/discuss/think about this question; perhaps everyone else just has better luck or a more magnetic personality than myself, ha ha. But I would appreciate any general thoughts that ya'll might have on the center. Perhaps successes/failures/anecdotes/hilarious misunderstandings? Honestly, I got nothing else.
Well, I think that's as "open-ended" as a blog post can get before degenerating into personal problems. Worry not; I'll spare us all. You know, this isn't so bad. Perhaps I could get to like a more open space in which to share thoughts without fear of immediate recourse or reprisal. Dirty looks and the like. It's very liberating.
And I'm spent.
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I think casual conversations (or even more formal interviews if you want to go there) with people in the center is a great way to learn more about it and about how various people tutor (or consult). I think you could even talk to clients, especially the regular ones who come back to the center week after week (day after day for a few). And of course, there's plenty of reading material about writing centers, about writing theory, and about learning theory, about specific types of writing or writing in different fields, etc. Feel free to supplement your reading : )
And thanks, Ryan, for staring the conversation about observations and time in the center. What I'd like to hear more about is the session or two you sat in on--what did you see, hear, say, learn, question, understand, not understand.....
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