WC Observation #1: Client

I attended the writing center once, as a freshman. The center was recomended to me by my English professor and I brought a paper in that I was working on for his class. So I have experienced being a client to the center before this visit. That being said I thought I knew what to expect. This visit turned out to be quite a bit different from the fist time I went. For starters I was very nervous this time. Not only am I an upper level English major (so I should know how to write well) but I am also in training to be a consultant at the center (so I should really know how to write well). I do not mean this to sound like I don't believe my writing can improve, of course it can, but I was nervous that people would have expectations for me that I would not meet. Also, the only writing that I have been working on this semester is a "Dear Parents" letter for an education course, where I layed out my reasons for being a teacher and the goals and expectations I have my theoretical classroom. Needless to say I felt very self-conscious, and felt that the writing I had brought in was extremely personal and it made me feel very vulnerable.

After reading through my paper with my consultant she pointed out a few aspects of my piece that she paticularly liked. I believe she was telling the truth, but I also know that complimenting at least one aspect of every paper that you read is a goal of a WC consultant. Never the less, recieving this compliment really did boost my self esteem and allowed me to relaxe and loosen up a little. The session did not last too long becuase I had brought in a short piece, and I admit that I did my best to have it pretty well polished before bringing it in. However, I was still very observant of the approach and process that my consultant took. I was suprised at how authoritative her approach seemed. By that I mean that I was suprised at how many surface and grammatical points that she brought up. There were no large structure mistakes or glaring comma mis-use, but there were a few areas that she suggested I restructure or reword because of repetitive sentence structures and complicated wordiness. Although she pointed these areas out, she did not tell me how to fix them or what I should say instead, but simply located areas of possible revisment for me. I found this very helpfull.

Her approach was certainly not too authoritarian. I also felt like I was in controll of the session the entire time, as far as what we focused on and how long we stayed on one specific area. After walking away from the session I felt that she had found the appropriate mix of hands-on and hands-off consulting. She located areas of concern, but did not correct them. She provided guidense in my writing, but allowed me to guide the sessiong. And, she provided the perfect and appropriate amount of hands-on consulting.