Observations As Training: An Academonized Memoir

OBSERVATIONS AS TRAINING

An Academonized Memoir by David James Tibergien

My first experience at the writing center embodied a lot of what I expected. The client was a Freshman, a Caucasian male from the Detroit suburbs who visited the writing center as encouraged by the instructor in his WRAC course. The client was examining a magazine ad from IZOD, and he was writing a summary about the appeal of the ad, in essence he was making a rhetorical analysis.

The paper he came in with was a pretty solid framework, especially given the demands of the instructor. He fulfilled most of the criteria that the instructor sought. He has minor issues with a few sentences, coma placement, and parameterization.

I felt as though myself and the Established Writing Center Consultant were helpful in showing the client what he had done right, and how his writing stronger within the context of building better writing skills.

While the above does report my experience, it does not report what I had learned from my first observation, which encompassed what I did not expect and thus what I learned. What I had observed from my consultation is that the Established Writing Consultant sat next to the client, whereas my instinct would have been to sit across from them. I think that this was an important correction in my sensibilities, as sitting next to a person denotes a more peer-to-peer experience between consultant and client. This stands in contrast to me as the consultant sitting across from the client, which might make them (or me) feel like they are seeking legal council or financial planning advice. I feel now like sitting across from a client could result in less equalizing and thus less effective dynamic, that is if the peer to peer methods are as optimal as we would believe.

Also, the first thing the More Established Peer Consultant had done was to ask the client about the goals of their assignment. I think he could have done a better job helping the client frame his expectations more clearly, but I also consider the possibility that keeping the clients expectations pliable can be more valuable for a more a more fluid consultation.

The next thing the More Established Writing Consultant had done is asked the client to read his paper out-loud as we followed along whilst reading. In my view, reading a paper out-loud is the most helpful thing that people don't do in their writing process. In my own sessions with my own clients, I would like to seek opportunities to call attention to the helpfulness of this particular exercise. I think a lot of folks have reservations about reading out loud because they aren't comfortable expressing themselves verbally, they might lack confidence in the writing, or they might just feel silly reading out-loud to themselves. In this sense I think showing clients how to read their writing out loud is a practice that the Writing Center is in a particularly good place to promote that.

Finally, I learned why Writing Center Consultants find their work rewarding. In this particular session, the client appeared to feel as though I offered him more valuable suggestions, and he expressed authentic satisfaction and gratitude for the help he received. The writing center is user focused, the user was pleased, thus I felt the institutional goals were met and as I result I felt useful. That might be a bleak and cold way to describe my experience, but that’s about as far as my rhetorical excellence goes for today.