Shadowing at the Center, Round 1

I was pretty apprehensive to shadow my first session, but the consultant quickly made me feel at home. Luckily, the client was nice enough to let two of us watch his session, something I'd have been apprehensive to do! As is procedure, the consultant began by having the client read what he had - I gathered that this was the second session he'd had on this project; the first was brainstorming and now he had the first small part done and was ready for some more input on how to make the paper come together. The consultant was very much a facilitator of ideas - he talked about the subject matter with the student, helping the student to clarify and determine his own view that he could then put on paper. There was no editing or directive "fixing" involved.

The consultant said things like, "Why did you choose this word," "have you thought about approaching it from this way?" "you raise this issue, are you prepared to address it?" and other helpful guiding questions. He helped the student navigate the professor's assignment sheet and sample essay, explaining how to conform to what the professor wanted while still making the piece his own. The consultant also helped with the structure, something the student was struggling with. He drew out sample structures and helped the student see how to relate different parts of the paper. At the close of the session, he asked the student what his next steps were going to be, what he was going to do when he went home, which I thought was a really great way to conclude and help draw everything together. Overall, the consultant/student relationship was very relaxed, which I think really helped facilitate the creation of ideas and learning. The experience definitely helped put me more at ease.